Saturday, March 25, 2006

Mission creep


Mantlepiece Clock
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.
Simple job, tighten up the screws in the hinge of the front cover of the clock. While I’m at it, tighten up the bent iron thingy inside that holds the mechanism to the front.

Oh dear, the hinge hole is too large for the screw. The iron thingy hole is as well. Typical cheap wood construction.

So I take the minute hand off (remove the bit of wire going through the centre) and then remove the nails that hold the face on. The face comes off along with the hour hand. Then unscrew the other iron thingy and the mechanism falls out.

I glued bits of matchstick into the over large holes and reassemble. The screws and thingy are a much better fit. The cover can be opened without flopping around. When you wind the clock up, the mechanism isn’t wobbling around, something that’s pretty unnerving !

Incidentally, I know next to nothing about this clock. It’s old. I bought it from an antique trader at Stratford-on-Avon car boot sale with the proceeds (£26) of my one and only lottery win ever. It keeps good time since I extended the pendulum – presumably the one that can with it wasn’t original. If you are reading this and know a bit about clock history, please stick something in the comments to enlighten me. Thanks

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