Clock Repair - How to Center a Worn Pivot Hole by Hand #clockrepair #centerawornpivothole

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Awesome! I am a retired master jeweler. 23 years ago I studied clock repair during some down time between repairs. I have recently picked up an old clock that refuses to run. Not looking to re enter the market as a horologist, just intrigued by the tools and techniques and appreciate your skills and watching you work gives me confidence.

Chris, great video. I am actually going to try this, on an old clock first. I would love to see a video on reassembling a clock and adjusting it to get it to run correctly. Maybe a Hermle 141-070? :)

Just wanted to say Thank You for all of your videos.

Great Video ! Thank you

Excellent explanation. Others say file out the opposite direction as the wear and use the reamer but I didn't trust that method since what's not stopping the reamer from flying off in either direction. Haven't done any yet, as am just gathering the goodies

Thanks for doing such an excellent video on pivot repair.

Thanks Chris, have a lot of clock books and bought this one too. I have other books by Conover, clear and concise author.

I sprayed (several times) a Mantle Clock movement made in 1887 (my grandparents') with brake cleaner and turned down the pressure on my air compressor to clean everything. The coil springs were wound tight and stuck together (in places) so I carefully released all tension without disassembling the whole movement. Springs got the cleaner too. Washed everything in HOT soapy water and quickly dried it with compressed air and then a gentle heat gun. Sprayed everything with PB Blaster to coat all of it with lubricant (removed excess best as possible) and used clock grease at every pivot. Had to play with the pendulum settings and now keeps time. Then I started on my (late) parents' Grandfather clock which had a broken (during transport, rookie movers) pendulum support spring for starters and had never been serviced since new (1984). Clocks like this seem to drift from perfect time .....some more than others but are fun to tinker with.....Both clocks have been running good for 90 days now and only stopped once when we left for 7 days to Hawaii.... got back last night....that's what triggered this comment. I'm a new construction plumbing contractor....work with large and small tools. Fun!

Thanks for this very useful video.

exitexcellent video!! from now sure is going to oi lpivot areas!!! Thanks for the great video!! some clock repair men all they want to do is replace the module! I believe all clocks can be fixed without replacing a module!!!!! George from California.

I just bought a Gilbert Mantle Clock. The seller said most of his Clocks have gone to the garbage as there is little interest in these old Clocks. I bought this one for $15. I took out the Movement and sprayed it down with Brake Kleen. Lubricated the pivots with synthetic Clock oil. It seems to be running good. I noticed one really worn pivot hole. It looks like I would need to spend a small fortune in tools to do the job. The drills to custom size the bushing hole in the plate as well as the hole in the bushing itself may be expensive? The Clock says Gilbert 1807 so the I was told it was made during or after the 1920's. Where do I buy these tiny drill bits and reamers? The most I could do it kill the Clock trying and who knows, I might be able to have success. A great instruction video. Thank you.

This is a good video to show the problem of clock design in making a bearing out of brass plate with a stainless steel pivot, even if you use lubricant. The solution flanged shielded SS ball bearings. Drill out the brass for a press fit then press in the bearing. Very small ball bearings of many types and sized are readily available. The shielded ball bearings once cleaned and lightly lubricated with low viscosity watch pivot lubricant will exhibit lower friction forces than a jewel bearing of the same size, while being better at thrust loads than a jewel, and they will last a long long time. If you really want to make a low friction clock works long lasting bearing solution, for at least the last ten years, has been the use of ball bearings. We have also seen advances in clock making (and watch making) in the use of 5 axis mill-turn CNC for either hobbing or cutting (milling) gear teeth in the case of clocks. The accuracy is rather incredible at times, depending on the machine and the machinist, down to 8 microns (8 one thousandths of a mm, which is 3 ten thousandths of an inch) precision. The mill turn CNC can put chamfers on the cuts and then Geneva stripe the gear face and provide an excellent final gear tooth finish, all on one machine with no operator intervention.

Great work 😀

thanks for sharing this! Do you have to cut a new oil sink?

I have build a printed circuit cnc machine, I think with this I can bus a clock very easy by scan the plate and mill it.

Chris, love the video on centering a worn pivot by hand. I would appreciate your opinion on something. I have an old english grandfather clock. It is chain driven (the chain links are very unusual...they are 'U' shaped with loops at the end for the adjacent 'U' shaped link to connect into. It is just a simple two weight clock with strike and time. I am having an issue with the clock sometimes running fast and sometimes running slow. I have adjusted the bob up and down using 1/4 turns at a time and at times I'll be out a minute or two in a day - turn it a 1/4 turn then suddenly its 10 min out in the other direction. I also noticed that there is significant play on the center arbor that supports the hands. Do you have any suggestions for me? is there something specific you think I could look at? The reason I watched your video is because I was contemplating it being the center pivots. Thoughts?

Thanks Chris for your awesome videos showing how to do things in baby steps for us newbies. I really enjoy clock repair as a hobby, but my problem is I'm dumb. I know enough to be dangeorus. My sister gave me an old wall pendulum clock with a basic Sessions movement...no chime...just clock. Assuming the writing inside the case is correct, it was last spoiled and cleaned in 1928...and it shows!. It is a filthy mess. It should be taken clean apart and done right, but I sonic cleaned the movement and oiled the pivots. I was hoping it would take off, but instead the pendulum verge (I think it is called that) began skipping across the escapement wheel. A suggestion on a forum said to tap the "dogbone" just a smidge. Maybe this would be a good video. How to fix a pendulum that skips across the escapement. Like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ztYL43H-JY Except mine is like that with the pendulum on. It's pretty bad. It did not do that before cleaning and oiling, so even though I didn't break anything, I think I screwed something up.

Years ago I did it that way but then I bought a Bergeon 6200 bushing machine and it cut the time way down

Where do you get stock that you use for the new bushing? And where do you get the reamer tools?