Expert: Harold Williamson - 11/15/2009

Question
I have a smaller cuckoo clock that doesn't cuckoo like it should. Here's what it does. If I manually move the minute hand, it will cuckoo on the hour and on the half hour. If I continue to manually move the hands it will cuckoo the correct amount of times for the hour. It will only cuckoo while the clock is running normally for the next hour it comes to. Say I manually set the hands to 6:00, it will cuckoo 6 times, then once at 6:30 and the 7 times at 7:00. Then it won't cuckoo again. It's like it recognizes the clock moving manually but not when it is running by itself. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you Dave Coffey

Answer
Hello Dave,
if you set it at six manually you have forced the sequence so in essence the clock will run the half hour cuckoo and the next full hour but not any other half or full hour sequence.  Try to add about a half pound of weight to the striking weight and see if the extra weight will force a cuckoo.  I am assuming the clock does not stop because of the failure to cuckoo.  If the cuckoo happens with the extra weight there is wear in the bushings or lack of good lubricant.  If your clock is 8 or more years old it needs a clocksmith who works on cuckoos.  A lot don't.  There a lot of lift/push wires inside that wear out or get displaced and cause failure.  If there is wear or lube problems it could get pricey.  I just don't know of anything at consumer level to tell you to do.  I apologize if I have misunderstood but I haven't had this exact problem in 25 years of cuckoo repairs.
If you feel we can go further by phone feel free to call me.
Harold
919-304-7651
fulltimeclockrepair@gmail.com
Mebane,NC