It’s about time.

I've owned this clock since before my first tour to Vietnam. Its's from a WW2 Fletcher class Destroyer if you watch the movie Greyhound  with Tom Hanks you'll see one like this.  
A decade ago it finally stopped working.  
    I tend to be a DIY sort of guy and thought I'd just buy one of those cleaners. Set the mechanism in to clean and maybe give it a light oiling once out and dry.  
    There is a nearby clock repair guy as an alternative. 
What day the hive?  

I wouldn't DIY because it sounds historically significant and truly irreplaceable. If it was an antique hammer I'd feel differently but I've worked on watches and clocks with about a 50% success rate and I repair things like radiology equipment for a living.  I hope that helps, I tried to be anyway. Lose one tiny shaft or stretch a spring and......

Oops the picture didn't take.  Sorry. 
ps the ships wheel I mounted it on isn't original 

It sounds like a special clock. Way too many tiny moving parts. I say pay a pro.

In reply to Justjim75 :

My ego tells me give it a go. Look at all the things everybody said I couldn't do.  
My common sense agrees with you. 

I know nothing about this clock repair shop, other than I noticed it when I happened to drive by recently: http://itsabouttimeclockshop.com  They're at 5740 Nicollet Avenue in south Minneapolis.

gearheadmb said:

It sounds like a special clock. Way too many tiny moving parts. I say pay a pro.

 I'm watching the repair shop on Netflic  and all night they've had clock after clock. Some tasks look exactly like Re-bushing throttle shafts on Weber's.  A little smaller but somethings used frequently like eye loops, jewelers lathe.etc.  Well maybe I should defer. 
 

Sometimes it's worth paying a professional not because you cannot do it, but because it's not worth you acquiring the tools, skills, and experience necessary to do it once or twice.

It's much bigger than a watch, I would imagine that makes it easier to service. Parts must be available.

A full cleaning, service and new seals in my Tudor costs me about $400 if that helps with an idea of the cost.

WonkoTheSane (FS) said:

Sometimes it's worth paying a professional not because you cannot do it, but because it's not worth you acquiring the tools, skills, and experience necessary to do it once or twice.

You make a perfect argument except I like challenges. Heck my whole life has been about meeting them.  I only built one grandfather clock and one house.  
logic however tells me I can't just order parts from Amazon and get things delivered overnight. 

ShawnG said:

It's much bigger than a watch, I would imagine that makes it easier to service. Parts must be available.

A full cleaning, service and new seals in my Tudor costs me about $400 if that helps with an idea of the cost.

 

 

Thank you. For a tightwad like myself understanding costs is a big part of the decision making process 

With your tenacity, I would give you pretty fair odds on being successful. The tiny tools for a watch would be different answer. But a Clock from that era is really just another machine, and your a pretty handy guy. Since, however it is a somewhat complicated machine wit a lot of tiny parts, my one thought to the "take to a pro" is that we ain't as steady as we were 2 yr ago. Between that a vision, just give that a thought Other than that, the design was copyed from other clocks abd assembled by a man that was probably not any smarter / more talented than you are!

Just food for thought

I've actually watched some clock/watch repair videos recently, and one of the things the repair people say is owners often make things worse by trying to fix them.

 I'm all for jumping in and learning how to do something new, but the first attempt probably shouldn't be on a cherished heirloom.

I have successfully cleaned and lubed clock movements and put them back in service. About 30 of them so far. I buy them cheap in the antique stores and tinker with them.

I have also worked on more than a few and had no success because of the amount of wear in the movement. 

I use this stuff in a ultrasonic cleaner and drop the entire movement in the bath. https://timesavers.com/i-24051638-magic-cast-ultrasonic-soap-concentrate-pint.html

Rinse well with warm water and stick it in the oven at about 200 degrees to dry it.

Then comes the tedious task of lubing it. This is where most people screw up. If you think it has enough lube, you used about 10 times too much. I put it on with a needle one tiny drop at a time. 

I would suggest a close examination of the movement. If any of the pivot holes are worn or egg shaped, let the pros handle it. If they all look good, try cleaning and lubing it. Do not just spray lube in it. It will wash all the grit into the pivots and wear them out faster. 

This is the last one I worked on. The movement on it was completely worn out but was still available as a part so it got a new one. I'm still on the hunt for a set of matching hands.

This one is next on the hit list. It's a time punch clock from a factory and needs a serious cleaning of the movement and the time stamp. 

Some of the others I've brought back to life. 

Very nice and confidence inspiring. Thank you.  I want an ultrasonic cleaner for car stuff so I'm ignoring that cost.  
 

I've also got a chime clock up in the attic that may or may not work.
    Plus my grandfather clock I built which justified me building my house is now 30+ years old and has never had the works cleaned in spite of all the construction that's gone on around it. The pendulum is all the way up ( as fast as it will go yet I'm losing about 5 minutes a week.  
A good cleaning and fresh lube couldn't hurt. 

stuart in mn said:

I've actually watched some clock/watch repair videos recently, and one of the things the repair people say is owners often make things worse by trying to fix them.

 I'm all for jumping in and learning how to do something new, but the first attempt probably shouldn't be on a cherished heirloom.

I'm going to stop at the clock repair place and see what he says money wise.  I'm hoping just a cleaning and lube will do.  Then I've got to consider my two other clocks before I make my decision. 

03Panther said:

With your tenacity, I would give you pretty fair odds on being successful. The tiny tools for a watch would be different answer. But a Clock from that era is really just another machine, and your a pretty handy guy. Since, however it is a somewhat complicated machine wit a lot of tiny parts, my one thought to the "take to a pro" is that we ain't as steady as we were 2 yr ago. Between that a vision, just give that a thought Other than that, the design was copyed from other clocks abd assembled by a man that was probably not any smarter / more talented than you are!

Just food for thought

You hit the prime questions right on the head.  Am I still steady enough for clock work? And my eyesight while not bad isn't what it once was?  Is a clean and lube that hard to do?  My gut tells me I should be able to handle it. 
More than that it goes to the pro. 

In reply to frenchyd :

Oh oh,  it's out. Looks to be in great shape clockworks wise. In fact I tapped the second hand and it ran for at least 45 seconds. 
Now to buy a cleaner and have a go or have a pro clean it. 

Here's the question. I think a 6.7 liter size would clean the clock works of the Fletcher class destroyer clock but my Grandfather clock is much bigger.  
     I think to put the whole assembly in I need a 30 liter size. Nearly $175 more.  

In reply to frenchyd :

I have done larger movements 1/4 or 1/2 half at a time. Dunk what you can and run the machine. Turn it and run it again. Keep doing that until it's all done. Alternatively, a bucket and a aquarium pump for agitation will also work.

The grandfather clock movement I would be tempted to let a pro do. Just the thought of getting the strikes out of sequence makes me ill. They are also crazy expensive to replace depending on the manufacturer. I would also let them come get it and bring it back and set it back up. They are particularly sensitive to being perfectly level. Being out of level may be why it's losing time now.

In reply to frenchyd :

I would have ham fisted it to ruin or pulled off an incredible victory by now so the fact you're considering a pro at all makes you better than me

In reply to Justjim75 :

It's on its way to a pro for evaluation as soon as my routes today are done. 
If it's going to be too expensive it will justify my purchase of a cleaner. A really big part of me is hoping for that. On the other hand ••••••

In reply to frenchyd :

It's back and all it took was $150  cleaning. One cleaning every 80 years?  I can live with that. 

Hi frenchyd,

You probably already know this but in terms of the grand father clock running too fast.

It's not about the amount of mass (so long as you have enough to overcome sticktion) but the center of gravity so you've got two levers to pull...

1. Take mass off the bottom of the pendulum

2. Add mass to the top of the pendulum

If possible, do some of both so you're holding mass constant while raising the C.G.

If you'd like, PM me some values (i.e top setting = five minutes too fast per week, 1/4" down = seven minutes too fast over the same period, and 1/2" down = eight minutes too fast over the same period).  I'll run the numbers through my statistical software to generate a regression prediction model and tell you how much you've got to raise the C.G.  If you do it, please give me values for at least three settings so I can test and control for curvature (non linear relationship).

FYI, I've got a grand father clock (several donors but the oldest parts are from 1791), several wall and mantel clocks, a ships clock (I no nothing about it except it was made by Chelesa Clock Co., Boston and the case is made of bakelite) and my favorite is a solid brass one-year wedding clock (pendulum turns super slowly on a vertical axis) for extreeeeeme  efficiency.

Anyway, please feel free to send me some numbers and we'll math the berk out of that puppy.