Expert: Martin Meyer - 3/12/2008

Question
I took my Daneker clock in for a broken spring.  Fixed fine except, since I didn't take the hood, the movement wasn't centered quite right when reassembled.

I found the two screws that hold the movement, loosened them, moved the movement over a quarter inch, checked position, tightened up (putting my hand up from the pendulum door).

Now, the chimes on the right side go "thunk" (in tune, however) instead of the pleasing chiming.  Everything appears OK. What did I dislodge or screw up?

There must have been a spring or something since now the hammers come to rest on the rods.

Can I get a diagram of this movement (or similar) so I can see how it should be?

Answer
Hi Scott,
    When you moved the movement to center it in the hood, the chime hammers also moved closer to the chime rods so that they are not in contact.
    You can move the movement sideways a tiny bit to restore the clearance between the rods and the hammers. This clearance should be about 1/16" to 1/8". If that makes the movement look off-center, you can instead adjust the chime hammers to restore the clearance. You do this by bending the brass hammer wires back a small amount. Hold the wires at the base and bend them from above that point; you do not want to bend them at the very base. Make sure that the hammers hit the rods square-on and do not hit against each other.
    Mauthe is no longer in business, and the only source of detailed diagrams that I know of is in Steven Conover's book, Chime Clock Repair.