Cookoo clock instructions

[barry martin]

Dave:

D > Hi. I am having trouble on how to adjust my German cookoo clock time D > accurately. I checked Goggle and could not find anything on it. D > I would appreciate it if you could help me with this problem.

My cuckoo clock has only two weights (there are various mechanisms) but the adjustment is done by moving the weight on the pendulum in small increments - up for faster, down for slower. Remember, we need to fix this for a 24-hour period, not within an hour. By 'small increments' I would say one millimeter/sixteenths of an inch.

I've also found with my cuckoo the closest I can generally get is about five minutes per day accurancy. He'll be fine (on time) for weeks and then start loosing or gaining time. Haven't tracked it but seems to be related to temperature. (The grandmother clock also needs a slight adjustment at times, but has a 30-day mechanism vs 1-day, plus cost a "little" more.)

- ¯ barry.martinþATþthesafebbs.zeppole.com ®

• Going Metric: "Peter Piper picked 8.8 liters of pickled peppers."

[Jeff Wisnia]

Uncompensated pendulum clocks will be temperature sensitive because the length of the pendulum changes as it expands and contracts with temperature changes.

When pendulum clocks were all there were there were several systems in common use to correct for that. One of these used one (or two) vials of mercury for the pendulum bob, attached at their bottoms to the end of the pendulum shaft. The mercury volume changed with temperature and shifted its center of mass in the appropriate direction to cancel out the lenght change of the pendulum shaft.

Another system used a composite pendulum shaft made of steel and brass rods connected at their ends in a way which canceled out the overall length change of the pendulum with temperature.

If you want to play "Barry the mad horologist", you could scrounge an inch long strip of bimetal from an old wall thermostat and attach one oend of it to the back of the pendulum bob,oriented so the free end moves up with increasing temperature. Attaching the "proper amount" of mass to the free end of the bimetal strip should get you where you want to be after a few trials.

Good luck,

Jeff

[David Martel]

Barry,

Clocks need to be cleaned and lubricated occasionally. How long has it been since this was done? If the answer is 5 yrs or more then it's probably time. To disassemble, clean, reassemble and lube your clock. Expect to spend more than $100. You can buy clock oil and do it yourself. Parts and stuff may be found at slarose.com or timesavers.com

Good luck, Dave M.