I just now learned how the great wheels – the mainspring gears – work, by finding they didn’t work correctly in my Korean clock. The strike train Tension Washer, that is supposed to hold the gear firmly against the ratchet, has come loose. …so I had to disassemble the clock, after it had run fine for over 11 days.

In my previous post I had set the pendulum length, regulated (adjusted the speed of) the clock, and set it running for a 30-day test, to see whether its springs still run the clock for its full 31 days. If they don’t I’ll need to replace the springs.

In my previous post I calculated the theoretical length of the pendulum my Korean 30-day clock requires. You may recall that the clock as I bought it had a broken pendulum suspension spring, and the pendulum parts – the suspension rod and bob – were missing. In this post I order replacement pendulum parts.

In my previous post I finished cleaning my Goodwill clock, ending up with a jumble of gears and other parts. You may recall that when I disassembled this clock, parts sort of fell out willy-nilly, leaving me a bit fuzzy about what gears go where. In this post, I figure out which gears are part of the Going (time) Train (gear set), and as a bonus I calculate the length of pendulum this clock requires.

In my previous post I showed the early results of my cleaning of my Goodwill clock by hand. In this post I show why cleaning by hand isn’t really very effective at removing old oil and dirt.

After a few hours of scrubbing parts with SOS pads and toothbrushes, then rinsing in water – twice to get all the soap scum off – then rinsing in alcohol (wearing gloves this time), the clock parts are all “clean”.

In my previous post, I disassembled my Goodwill, practice clock. In this post, I begin to clean it. The pro’s use an ultrasonic cleaner, but I’m on a budget, so I’m doing it by hand.

Update: I’ve learned a lot since I wrote this blog. See Update at the end of this post.

In my previous post I covered the dangers of mainsprings, and bought the minimum of tools required to safely handle mainsprings. In this post I disassemble my junker clock.

In my previous post I explained how I got started on this strange path to clock repair. In this post I talk about the dangers, some videos, and my first clock repair tools.

The first thing I did was to remove my Goodwill clock’s movement from the case. This step is pretty easy: unscrew the nut holding the hands on, gently pull the hands off, unscrew the wood screws holding the face onto the clock and voila, there is the movement.