Expert: Martin Meyer - 8/12/2009

Question
"I have a wire cable clock. The works is Keininger 116 cm ack. I have removed the cable that wraps around a threaded spool with a protective plastic shield around the spool. I am not familiar with clock nomenclature, so I may not be calling things by their proper name. The only thing I have removed is the broken wire cable... thank you for your rapid response, comer"

Answer
Hi Comer,

I am reprinting your original question to help clarify my answer:  "I have a Howard miller Curio Display Grandfather clock.My brass Wire chain that drives the chimes (right weight) Broke. In order to get the broken chain off of the spindle, I had to rewind the spindle a little at a time. After removing the spring, I can no longer turn the spindle in either direction with the key. I have to rotate the spindle in order to thread the new braided chain on the spindle. What can I do to rotate the spindle (with the key?) or what procedure can I follow to install the chain?"

Replacing a weight cable is a fairly complicated process, due primarily to the fact that your movement has a "stopworks", a mechanism which prevents the weight from being wound too high, and stops its descent before it goes too low and hits the floor of the clock. If you replace the cable when the stopworks is not in its correct position, you will not be able to wind the weight all the way up, or the weight will stop descending and so stop the clock's chiming before the weight is all the way down.

First, you need to measure the length of the broken cable. You can then purchase a Kieninger replacement cable of the correct length from any good clock supply house, such as Timesavers (www.timesavers.com). It is important that you get a Kieninger style cable so that the cable ends fit properly into their respective slots.

Note first that this procedure is done with the movement removed from the clock; it will be difficult to impossible to do it with the movement still in the clock. Removing the movement differs from clock to clock, there are numerous configurations, and it is beyond the scope of this forum to describe all these procedures. It will probably be possible to reason out the procedure for removing the movement from your clock.

The cable should be replaced with the cable drum in its fully unwound position, locked in that position by the stopworks. In your case, you cannot turn the drum with the winding crank because the drum is in its fully wound position, the stopworks preventing it from turning in one direction, and the "click" preventing it from turning in the other direction. To install the cable you must release the "click" (the ratchet pawl which keeps the cable drum from unwinding); the ratchet wheel is mounted on the front of the cable drum, and is identifiable by its sawtooth shaped teeth. The click will be somewhere on the circumference of the ratchet wheel. You need to press on the "tail" of the click to release the ratchet wheel. You can then use the winding crank to rotate the drum to its fully unwound position; on this movement you will turn the crank CLOCKWISE to UNWIND it. When the stopworks prevents the crank from unwinding the drum any farther, the drum will be in its fully unwound position, and you can install the cable by winding it carefully onto the drum with the crank, making sure that it winds in neat rows with no gaps. The cable will wind onto the drum until the stopworks stops it, which should be when the cable is fully wound, and the weight should hang at the same level as the other two weights when installed. Under no circumstances should you remove or change the alignment of the stopworks gears, the two gears mounted on and next to the winding arbor (shaft), on the front plate of the movement.

This is not an easy procedure, and you may want to consider having a professional clock repairer do this job. However, if you are mechanically adept, you will probably be able to do it yourself.  http://www.clockmasteronline.com