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Advice on servicing an Atmos clock

HectorLooi

By HectorLooi
in All Things Clocks

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HectorLooi Distinguished Member

HectorLooi

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I have been watching videos on the repair and servicing of Atmos clocks and I'm intrigued. 

I have so far serviced three 400 day clocks, which look very similar. I think I'm ready for an Atmos clock. So before I blow $1000 on a low end Atmos clock, I have some questions.

I'm just wondering how much more difficult is it to service an Atmos clock?

Are there any special tools and jigs required?

Can the ethyl chloride that we see being used to treat football injuries on the field be used to refill the bellows? 

Any advice and words of wisdom are desperately appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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watchweasol Distinguished Member

watchweasol

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Hi Hector  from what I have read about them they are a bit specialist, but that does not mean you cant repair them the working clock parts are conventional but its the atmospheric bellows and the setting up of the same that seem to pose the problem. $1,000 is a fair price to pay for a working one . 

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spectre6000 Distinguished Member

spectre6000

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There's an Atmos specialist at the base of the canyon I live in. I paid him a visit a while back while he was in the middle of one, and the issue with that one (and he said it's a frequent issue) was the drive chain had broken. Super fiddly. How much do the broken ones go for? I imagine you wouldn't need more than two to have a complete runner.

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HectorLooi Distinguished Member

HectorLooi

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11 minutes ago, spectre6000 said:

There's an Atmos specialist at the base of the canyon I live in. I paid him a visit a while back while he was in the middle of one, and the issue with that one (and he said it's a frequent issue) was the drive chain had broken. Super fiddly. How much do the broken ones go for? I imagine you wouldn't need more than two to have a complete runner.

If you take a look at eBay at the moment, a working clock is around $800. Will probably end around $1000. There are "buy it now" ones asking for $1500 too.

Non runners are around half the price. But with non runners, it could be a simple problem or a total mess.

I'll probably watch the action from the sidelines for awhile.

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JohnR725 Distinguished Member

JohnR725

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On 4/22/2022 at 8:00 AM, HectorLooi said:

I'm just wondering how much more difficult is it to service an Atmos clock?

Are there any special tools and jigs required?

I don't have a list of the tools but yes there are a lot of or some special tools you  need. Ideally need a holder for the movement itself and there's a variety of other tools.

Then in addition to the tools yes you need to know how to use the tools and why the tools even exist. So these are not the kind o'clock you can just rip apart run into the cleaning machine put them back together and you're off and running. Basically the movement itself is like a really big watch and has to be treated as such. They even do things like put epilam on the plates to keep the oil from spreading over time. Then there's things like the pallet fork it has to be poised which ideally means you have a poising tool for the pallet fork.

Then you also have to be careful with the running clocks in that if somebody winds up the mainspring manually because the tank is shot I can't quite remember but ill run a long time if that mainspring is welded up. This means you to buy a running clock perceiving that it's running and working fine in several months from now find out that it's not running fine and that can be an issue.

They look simple but this is really a very very specialized item

 

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Tmuir Distinguished Member

Tmuir

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If the bellows is leaking its a specialist job.

I know something that services these clocks every now and then and if the bellows is leaking he sends it off to a specialist in the USA for fixing.

The pivots must be perfect on these clocks for them to run.

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HectorLooi Distinguished Member

HectorLooi

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19 hours ago, Tmuir said:

If the bellows is leaking its a specialist job.

I know something that services these clocks every now and then and if the bellows is leaking he sends it off to a specialist in the USA for fixing.

The pivots must be perfect on these clocks for them to run.

Actually I'm not really worried about a leaking bellow. I'm familiar with soldering sealed systems from constructing heat tubes for my computers.

I'm also very familiar with ethyl chloride as I used a fair bit of it as a dentist.

Now I wait for my manuals to arrive and for a suitable bargain on eBay.

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HectorLooi Distinguished Member

HectorLooi

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On 4/26/2022 at 5:41 PM, oldhippy said:

Ethyl chloride that's the stuff that knocks people out. 

No. That's nitrous oxide. You often see the medics at football matches spraying it on the knees of injured players. It's a cold spray, it just temporarily numbs the pain.

We use it to test the nerves in a tooth and also to numb a wiggly milk tooth for extraction.

You could knock somebody out with ethyl chloride,  but there is a good chance that person is not going to wake up.

There have been cases in US schools where kids inhale the stuff for a buzz. And some didn't wake up. So now it's really hard the get the pure stuff. The stuff used by footballers has an additive in it that smells like "pig's fart". 

Some suppliers didn't know this and tried to sell this ethyl chloride to dentists. GOOD LORD! We use the stuff in the mouth! 🤪

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Kalanag Super WRT Addict

Kalanag

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Sorry I overlooked this thread!  15 years ago I got my father‘s Atmos which was not running anymore. With the help of a repair video from an experienced american clock maker (Anthony Montefusco, passed away 2011) it was not to difficult to replace the broken balance wire. Here ist the only (self made) special tool I needed to poise the balance shaft.

The documentary I gathered at that time is still available if it‘s needed.

 

9105E8E6-1EE0-4928-8694-5CADE407E047.jpeg

ECCCDC51-67E7-4A6C-8416-89E72F13D400.jpeg

44645E25-0DCE-4F26-A688-645776DB9F00.jpeg

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HectorLooi Distinguished Member

HectorLooi

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20241003_191709.thumb.jpg.4c95a6989dbffcbdb72b0026ed07d388.jpg

Finally got my hands on a non-working Atmos clock. Paid about $600. 

I have a few stalled projects on my bench at the moment, a Schatz Elexacta clock and a Citizen 8110A. Both projects need some repivoting work but the belt on my lathe keeps breaking.

Have any of you guys experienced problem polyurethane belts? The polyurethane just doesn't weld properly. It welded fine when it was new but now the welded part just becomes brittle. Even the spare stock I have in my cupboard seems to have deteriorated. This is my second lot with this problem. They just last about 2 years.

I've ordered an old fashioned sewing machine leather belt and nitrile rubber belts. China seems to be on some kind of national holiday week and nobody seems to be working. So my Aliexpress orders are all backed up.

I'll probably leave the Atmos until I've cleared my bench of all my half completed projects. Too much on my plate at the moment.

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