Herschel's Pivot Restoration
Herschel Koester - one of the people I been lucky enough to share some of my clock restoration techniques with, received an Elliott 9-tube mechanism that had been "worked on" by a previous repairman. Apparently the pivot for one of the strike-train fans had either been broken off, or was so badly worn that a previous restorer decided they needed to replace it. The first photo below shows the truly legendary result of their efforts. Clearly they didn't bother to remove the acidic flux they used to solder in the new pivot. I especially like the clipped end of the new pivot - truly amazing, and truly crappy work. I suspect the repair person didn’t even remove the fan from the arbor before soldering in the new pivot.
I include here Herschel's comment that he sent with these pictures:
"Stephen: Remember that rotten looking re-pivot job I showed you awhile back, I finally got back to it. There was no end shake at all, really tight between the plates. Took my graver and kept cutting arbor until it measured the same as the other fan arbor. Except for the pits from the corrosion it came out very well. It took a considerable amount of time, more so than many in the business of clock repair would have taken."
I think the pictures speak for themselves. I especially like the photo’s taken through his microscope. Herschel uses the same kind of microscopes that I use in my shop, which allows him to do really great work like that shown here.
Read MoreI include here Herschel's comment that he sent with these pictures:
"Stephen: Remember that rotten looking re-pivot job I showed you awhile back, I finally got back to it. There was no end shake at all, really tight between the plates. Took my graver and kept cutting arbor until it measured the same as the other fan arbor. Except for the pits from the corrosion it came out very well. It took a considerable amount of time, more so than many in the business of clock repair would have taken."
I think the pictures speak for themselves. I especially like the photo’s taken through his microscope. Herschel uses the same kind of microscopes that I use in my shop, which allows him to do really great work like that shown here.
