Help with cuckoo clock, please!

Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 1:23 am     Post subject: Help with cuckoo clock, please!

Hello All,

Let me begin by saying that I greatly appreciate this forum. Clock repair forums don't seem to be very plentiful. So, I was thankful to find this one!!

Over the last few years, I have bought a few cuckoo clocks off of Ebay. Most of them needed things done to them such as bellows tops replacements, chains put back in place, and movements cleaned and oiled. I have done all these things on my own and have had great success at it!

But, I now have one that is driving me nuts. I am unable to make out all of the markings on the movement. But, what I can make out says, "Bachmaier & (???)mfg." Maybe Bachmaier & Klemmer??? The previous owner says it was purchased by her parents while vacationing in Germany in the 1960's. And, it has been sitting in a box in a closet for the last 8 to 10 years.

Right now, there is only one of the bellows that is attached and functioning. The leather to the other one disintegrated and allowed the top to come completely off. I removed that one so loose parts wouldn't be "flopping" around inside the clock. Also, I have not taken the movement out and cleaned it. But, I have oiled the pivot points.

The pendulum swings freely, and the clock has a stong, loud "tick-tock, tick-tock." The clock even keeps good, accurate time.

Here's where it starts driving me nuts. I can use my finger to rotate the minute hand to the 1/2 hour position, and it will call (1/2 of the cuckoo sound plus a gong) one time. Further rotation to the full hour, and the clock calls the correct amount of times for the hour (1, 2, 3, 4, and so on). Once set to the correct time, it will call once on the next 1/2 hour, the correct number of times for the next full hour, and once for the next 1/2 hour. But, after that, it will call 1 time too many on the next full hour (4 times for 3 o'clock, 5 times for 4 o'clock and so on). At midnight last night, it even called 13 times for 12 o'clock!! My wife counted 13 times too!! And, occasionally it will call twice for the 1/2 hour! If I again manually rotate the minute hand, it calls the hour and 1/2 hour correctly. If I leave it alone through another full hour call, it again starts calling 1 time too many for the full hour!!

What the heck is going on with my clock?? Is it haunted??? LOL!! Or, could the fact that it has only one functioning bellow cause this? Or, could it be that the movement needs to be taken out, thoroughly cleaned and oiled? Or, could it be a combination of the afforementioned? Or, could it be something else??

Any help that you are willing to give will be met with great appreciation!!!

Robert (New to "fixing" cuckoo clocks, and thoroughly enjoying it... so far!!)

Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 5:34 pm     Post subject: cuckoo clock

It is very possible that the hour wheel is off by a single tooth. May have been that way since new. If you pull the movement you will note that there is a "snail" looking wheel that the hour hand will slip on. You will note that on the left side as you are looking at it, when the minute hand is rotated to the hour position, a lever raises up to the point the the count lever (looks like a rounded saw toothed blade) drops until the lower flat end of the count gear contacts the snail gear. This is how the movement knows how many times to strike. Then as the strike train operates the saw gear is moved one tooth at a time by a rotating shaft with a small metal pin that meshes with the count gear. Another lever raises and drops into the teeth of the count gear until it finishes the count then drops over the end of the count gear ending the strike.

Look to see where the count gear drops on the snail gear. It should fall near the back of each sucessive edge, just before the next raised edge for the next suceeding hour. On the full 12 count, the count gear edge will be almost against the tall ledging edge of the snail gear so that when the hour hand moves a full 360 degrees, the saw gear falls on the top edge of the "1" hour strike (single strike) and so forth. If the gearing is off by a tooth then its possible that when it gets to certain point, as in your case the 4 oclock position, it drops off to the next hour (5 oclcok) so it would strike an extra strike.

You can change the location of the snail gear by simply pulling the small blck c-clip and washer that holds the snail gear in its position, lift the snail gear up and move it one tooth in the direction that would give you the proper seating of the count gear, reinstall the washer and c-clip, test and verify correct count.

Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 6:45 pm     Post subject:

Thanks for the input ritzy! But, I have another question. If the hour wheel were off by one tooth, wouldn't the clock call also be "off" when I manually advance the minute hand? As I said, when I advance it manually, it calls the hour correctly every time. It only calls one time too many when the time is advanced by the movement of the clock. Plus, there's the "13 o'clock" thing that it does sometimes, and the occasional "two call" at the 1/2 hour. It kind of made me wonder if it has a sticky pivot.

Thanks again,
Robert

Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 9:36 pm     Post subject:

You have a point so what I would be looking fo is with the movement out of the clock, mount it on some sort of movement stand and get it running. this way you can see what the movement is doing when it does strike. There may be an issue with the count wheel and the mechanics associated with it. Seems like maybe the counter doesn't fully drop so it stops the strike sequence, sort of like a bounce or that some other interference is causing the counter to repeat a strike resulting in the extra strike. Cucko clocks are not that complicated. But you need to get that thing out of the case and really take a look at it when you have it naked to see what is actually making the strike add one count. Good luck