If you have been wondering about the problem of time alerts, an alarm clock is the answer.

It’s a common story - “I was so tired yesterday that I overslept.” Then there are those appointments that we cannot keep sometimes, and wish that someone or something could alert us to the fact that it is time. In this day and age we have an answer to this never ending concern.

The answer is - Alarm Clocks. Getting one, and setting it, is an almost instant solution to being on time.

Choosing an appropriate alarm clock is an intricate process. Most clocks today come equipped with an alarm clock, but if you are sensitive like some people - you might really want to think about your options. If you are the kind of person who moves around a lot, you might want to think about a travel alarm clock. These are small in size and can be tucked away somewhere.

With the coming of the 20th century one can convert a computer in to a computer alarm clock.

Some people don’t like being stunned awake, suddenly. A Sunrise alarm clock would probably be what this person is looking for. It simulates a sunrise to help with the transition from sleep to being awake. Isn’t that nice?

If you are into meditation a zen alarm clock might be your thing.

Whoever you are, there are alarm clocks out there just for you!

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In this last article of the series, repairing your grandfather clock on your own, we’re going to go over some more things you can do at home before taking your grandfather clock in for repair.

Another common problem with grandfather clocks is for the chimes to go out of sequence with the time that’s displayed. This usually happens on the quarter hour chimes. If this happens there may not necessarily be anything wrong with the chimes mechanism. Most grandfather clocks that have been manufactured in the last 50 years have a chime correction device that should recycle the chimes back in sync with the minute hand when it reaches the hour. If your particular grandfather clock doesn’t have an automatic chime correction device, the problem can be manually corrected by turning the minute hand back 15 minutes then forward past the quarter hour. Just keep doing this until the number of chimes match the quarter hour the hand is pointing to.

To give you an example, Westminster chimes play 4 notes on the first quarter hour, 8 notes on the half hour, 12 notes on the three quarter hour and 16 notes at the top of the hour. If the problem still continues it may mean that the minute hand has been installed on its arbor in the wrong direction. To fix this, remove the nut holding down the minute hand with a pair of pliers. Then, pull the minute hand off, rotate it to the quarter hour indicated by the number of chimes being played and then reinstall the nut. This should get the chimes back in sync with the timing mechanism.

One final problem is when the weights refuse to drop. Every quarter hour the time train causes the chimes to strike. That in turn causes the left strike weight to fall at the top of the hour. So if the time train center pendulum doesn’t drop then the chime and the strike weights won’t drop either. The first step in fixing this is to get the pendulum swinging again. We covered that in the first article.

If the right and left weights refuse to drop, meaning the pendulum is swinging and the clock hands are moving but the chime is not operating, then what will happen is the chime will not operate and in turn the strike will not operate either. What you do is check to see if the chime lever on the grandfather dial is properly centered over a chime and not in the off position. After doing that, you take the side panel off your grandfather clock and check to make sure that the steel chime retard bar has NOT been lowered onto the chime hammers causing the chimes not to operate.

If only the left weight will not drop that means only the hour strike is not operating. To fix this open the side panel and make sure that the steel retard bar has not been lowered onto the strike hammers causing them not to operate. Also make sure the hammers are operating freely. Finally, check and make sure that the trip lever from the chimes is releasing the strike train.

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In this second article of our “repair your grandfather clock on your own” series we’re going to go over some other things you can do on your own before taking your prized possession to a very expensive repair shop.

In our first article we went over what to do if the pendulum doesn’t swing. Next we’re going to go over what to do if the clock runs too fast or too slow.

If the clock is running to fast or too slow what you need to do is adjust your pendulum bob. That big round disk at the end of your pendulum is your pendulum bob. You adjust your pendulum bob with the nut located at the bottom of the bob. This is what adjusts the timing. If the bob is raised up this will make the clock run faster. If the bob is lowered this will make the clock run slower. You can expect to get this accurate to within one minute fast or slow per week. Better than that, consider yourself lucky.

Start by setting your grandfather clock to a standard electric or quartz clock or watch. Then check the time against the clock 24 hours later. If the clock is running fast, turn the nut to the left. If the clock is running slow, turn the nut to the right. Then reset the time on your clock and check it again in another 24 hours. Keep performing this process until the clock appears to be running on time. Expect to do this every week at least. Keep a record of the distance you turned the nut each time so you will have an idea of how much you’ll need to turn it in the future.

Eventually the timing will be accurate enough so that you’ll only have to check the clock once each week and it should never be off by more than a minute. Just a tip. Some grandfather clocks are made so that a full turn of the nut is actually equal to one minute. So if your clock is running 2 minutes fast then all you need to do is turn the nut two full turns to the left and this will set the timing correctly. Of course the only way to know if your clock is one of these is to test this theory out.

Some grandfather clocks actually have two nuts attached to the bottom of the pendulum. If your clock is one of these then most likely it is a very accurate clock. Many clock owners believe the bottom nut is a lock nut against the top nut. This is not true. Actually you must make sure that the bottom and top nuts do not touch. Let the top nut raise or lower the pendulum bob until you’ve gotten the timekeeping as accurate as possible. Then by either turning left or right use the weight of the top nut to make your final adjustments to your clock’s timing.

In our last article we’ll go over some more tips on getting your grandfather clock running up to speed.

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