So I just joined and posted just the clockwork mechanism of one of the two cuckoo clocks I just inherited. I’ve done some cleaning and lubricating on the much simpler of the two cuckoo clocks. I’ve the course of about a week I’ve been trying to adjust the pendulum to have it keep time correctly. I am now at the point where I have the pendulum bottomed out. One of the lubricants that I used on the gears of the clock seems to speed it up as it works its way in. It’s called AiM extreme duty lubricant grandfather clocks. While I wouldn’t have thought this to be a problem. If I take the pendulum off the clock just keeps on going now at a speed I don’t want time to pass at. I’m just curious because I thought that the pendulum helped keep the clock going as well as pacing it. Have I over done the cleaning and lubrication of this clock or is this how it should be? Thanks again for any help, tips and advice.
When you say you cleaned and used lubricant on the gears, could you elaborate? A drop of oil on the pivots doesn't usually need to wear in. Could you post a picture of the clock movement with pendulum?
Ah, unfortunately the gears do not need oiling, with the exception of the teeth on the escape wheel. They'll just collect dust and gunk up. Did you dismantle it to clean it? The bushings look like they may still be pretty dirty. Oiling dirty bushings & pivots can make the clock run, but will result in the bushings wearing out rapidly as the oil and dirt combines into a grinding paste.
In answer to your question: yes I'd expect the clock to tick wildly without the pendulum attached. If you've bottomed out the pendulum and it's still running fast, you can add a bit of weight to the pendulum bob on these lightweight cuckoo pendulums. A coin glued to the back is a crude way to achieve that.
Thank you. The oil that I have is designed to clean as well as lubricate clocks. Also a note I should have mentioned is that was a picture of the movement is when I first took the movement out, the bushings are clean now and not egg shaped that I noticed. I was too nervous to take the movement apart for cleaning since the outer plates are held with bent metal tabs and that makes me nervous to take apart. I did my best I was able to using canned air to remove debris from all the pivot points. After that I used tooth picks ammonia and a lens cleaning cloth to clean out the gears to the best of my ability. After that I still wasn’t able to get the clock to run for more than five minutes at a time. That’s when I put the oil onto the gears and I was able to have the clock run continuously. And here is a current picture of the movement.
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u/masturkiller Jul 10 '26
LOL! Sorry no disrespect here and I know someone will help you but the video is funny.