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I wound up my grandfather clock too tight witg one of the weights.How can I fix it.
Already Tried: I have moved the pegelm back and forth thinking it would unwinde.
Hi there
It depends which weight it is.
The left and right weights operate the strike and chime respectively. you can unwind these by moving the minute hand forward a quarter at a time, and letting the clock chime/strike. As it uses quite a bit of chain each time this won't take very long before the weights come down a little. Once it's fixed you can just leave the world to catch up with the clock for a few hours, or reset the hands in the normal manner.
The centre weight operates the pendulum and moves much slower. What you can do is to remove the pendulum, then the clock will tick very fast and this weight will come down.
Hope this answers your qestion.
Thanks, Chris.
I removed the pendulm and nothing happened.It the middle one.
Try pulling gently on the centre weight. This should make it tick.
I pulled on the centre weight and it did start ticking but stps when I let go of it.How long do you have to pull on the weight.Thank You Tim
For as long as it takes for the weight to drop an inch or two. Probably a couple of minutes
Thanks, chris.
Experience: MBHI (Member of British Horological Institute), Masters in Physical Sciences (Cambridge University)
Its been ticking for over hour but the weight isn't coming down
I hope you haven't been pulling on the weight for an hour!
If you pull on it, it should tick something like 5 times a second. This means the weight will drop 5x as fast as normal.
But if it's ticking without the pendulum on and without you pulling on it then surely you don't have a problem. Just replace the pendulum and you're done? Apologies if I'm not understanding correctly.
It wont't tick by itsself I have tp put pressure on it.I did put the pendulum back on but it won't work.I guess I will have to get someone to have a look.Thanks
It sounds like you have a more serious problem than the weight being too high. If it will tick when you pull on the weight but won't run with the pendulum on, then there is not enough power getting to the pendulum.
The most common cause of this is wear in the pivot holes. It would mean at least lubrication, or possibly a full overhaul (or areplcaement movement maybe a cheaper option). May I ask how long since it was serviced or lubricated?
Iy was fixed 3years ago but since I over wound it about a year ago it hasn't been touched
OK thanks.
Not sure I can help you further at a distance. I think you'd better get someone out to it as you said.
Good luck
Best Regards, Chris.