waterbury escape wheel

[willofiam]

Hi guys, me again , I just started on this Waterbury clockworks and I go thru a inspection before disassemble. when I noticed this escape wheel (hopefully you can see in the pics) looks conical and possibly done on purpose, the pallet has some pretty good groves in it and is offset as you can see. I was thinking of moving the escape wheel to one side and flattening it out in hopes to find a new area on the pallet and line everything back up. the escape wheel tips are hitting the pallet on the impulse faces and there is no more adjustment to the pallet arbor to move it into the escape wheel. what do you think?????

DSCN2651_01.JPG (38.45 KiB) Viewed 6454 times

DSCN2652_01.JPG (42.27 KiB) Viewed 6454 times

Thank you, William

[Arutha]

Interesting one! My first guess would be they bent the pallet to make up for the wear but over bent it so they then "coned the wheel" to make it slightly smaller to counter the over bending on the pallets, or the pallets were so worn they replaced them with an abour from another clock but the pallet size was different so again they coned the wheel so it would work, or they had to replace the escape wheel arbour but the one they had, had a slightly larger escape wheel so they coned it to fit the pallets. If it was me I would take a good look at the teeth on the escape wheel, if they look good then I would attempt to straighten the wheel and face the pallets with old bits of mainspring or even remove it and solder on a new one. If the wheel broke I would cut another but if you dont have the tools for that you might be better looking for a donor movement?
Bob will be along soon to tell you exactly why that was done and how to fix it properly as I am just going on my limited experience

[Bob Tascione]

Haaa! I wish I knew Paul but your guess is as good as mine!

My guess would be that a past Smith decided to move the escape wheel and pinion down the arbor a little to relocate where the teeth and pallets make contact (as William suggested). Perhaps the escape wheel was supported over too large a diameter hole and then the arbor was driven down with a punch bending and coning the wheel instead of moving it, reducing it's diameter beyond the verges adjustment range.

I would probably flaten the wheel back to what it was and if the grooves on the pallets are shallow enough would attempt to grind and polish them back to normal. If they are too far gone then I would replace the strip pallet on the arbor. If you go that route and want some info on doing it let me know as I can dig up a link to a couple of great pdfs covering the process.

Good luck William!
Bob

[willofiam]

thank you Paul and Bob, been busy this past couple a days with a clock shop expansion (will add pics to my shop thread later this week) anyway Bob if it is not too much trouble I always soak in information even if its for future reference. I would save those pdf's. If it is a bit of a hassle I can wait and see where I go with this. Many issues with this clock works . Thank you. William

[Bob Tascione]

Looking forward to seeing your new shop pics William!
I found a link to one of the pdfs by David LaBounty. It's really good and straight forward like most everything he does.

Here's the link:


I'll try to find the other one but this one has the best hands on description.

Adios and Enjoy!
Bob

[willofiam]

Hey Bob, thank you, just looked up that site and found there was a whole bunch more stuff to soak in, Looking at the pdf you sent me I am thinking that the only way this would work right is if the pallets are spread the right distance for the escape wheel and not bent from other reasons. right???? William

[Bob Tascione]

Hi William,
I'm not too clear on what you're asking but it's probably me...yes the pallets must encompass the correct number of teeth before any other geometry that David mentions will work out. I mentioned that pdf in case you wanted to replace the strip pallet with a new one. Here's another great one by Mark Hedrick. It's more technical but will leave you with a very good understanding on how to shape that new strip.
http://www.abbeyclock.com/EscMechanics.pdf

Hope this helps,
Bob

[willofiam]

Bob, trust me, its not you, Its me thinking again!!! I have saved all the info you directed me to, thank you. I flattened out the escape wheel which almost brought it out of the grooves, they were not as bad as I thought. straightened and corrected escape wheel teeth, ect. I did move the escape wheel over a smidgen and checked the angles on the pallets, everything is now correct, in line and keeping perfect time. should I have worked the pallets instead of moving the escape wheel????

[Bob Tascione]

Hi William,
I think you did the right thing by straightening that wheel. If those grooves aren't too bad you may be able to take them down with an emery stick, stone or whatever, then polish, make a couple of simple adjustments and be back in biz.

Let us know how it turns out
Bob
ps...if you didn't grab David LaBountys pdf on "Striking Levers" then do so as it's a must have!