Expert: Kenneth Saunders - 12/13/2007

Question
QUESTION: i have a harris and mallow wall clock with west minster chime. the clock keeps good time and chimes every 15 mins as it should . the problem is on the hour. it only chimes once not matter what the hour. if i manualy tripp the lever i can some times get it to chime more than once but in normal run it does not. i have not been able to see the tripp levers because the way the clock was made i can not remove it from the face of the clock with out doing damage to the face. the directions say it will self adjust the hour chime after two hours but that does not work. any ideas.
   thanks
     vince

ANSWER: Technically the rack is sticking and not dropping. If you can not figure how to take the movement out-take it to a pro to get the movement cleaned.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: ken
  thanks. the clock works are fastened to the face of the clock with what i think are screws that come thru the wood from the face side and screw into a standoff which screws the studs on the clock works. i dont think the standoff can be removed with out tearing off the face of the clock to get at the screws. am i correct? i can reach the rack but i dont know what would be good to clean it with, any ideas.
       Vince

Answer
dial is probably held on with double sided tape - long kitchen knife should be able to break it free and then just a phillips screwdriver on the 4 screws that go thru the wood dial backing and into the chrome hex posts that go into the movement- the posts and the movement come out as a unit. After you remove the mechanism the rack is held on by a "E" clip- pry it off the groove in the end of the post (hold with your finger as you pry it off to avoid having it fly off into outer space)
Then just wipe the post with paper towel and run a pipe cleaner or thin twisted paper towel thru the hole and replace it and run the hands around to check for proper operation.
rack looks like this: http://www.clock-keys.com/CART/images/24540.jpg

E clips like this :http://www.clock-keys.com/CART/images/10569.JPG