Takane westminster quarts movement

[Ben06]

Hello all, I'm new here.

Looks like a great forum. Looking forward in participating although I am an amateur, especially with clocks.

I have a Takane westminster quartz movement that was given to me many years ago along with a somewhat partially finished schoolhouse clock made of walnut. Since I recently retired am getting back into woodworking. (To stay out of trouble). I really have no experience with clocks. So I thought I would give this a try. It's a shame to just let it sit there collecting dust.

The movement appears to work and the pendulum does swing, but it doesn't chime. I have made sure the 2 connections from the battery to the speaker are connected. On the back of the movement is a time set, a fast and slow device and a white reset button.
Does not appear to have an on/off button for the westminster chime. I have pushed the reset button, but am not sure what it's for?

Any suggestions as to how to get it to chime?

Thanks in advance
Ben

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Ben

I see you are a new member so let me be the first to welcome you to the site.

Those brand movements are still used today but not sure which one you are refering to. If you could either post a picture or give us a model number or something to identify it by. With some of the chime movements you have to let itself play catch-up in that in needs to syncronize itself and some times this takes a couple hours. So if you installed a new battery and hit the so called reset and set the time let it run a few hours and watch the time on it and see if it will start to chime on its own. Do not remove the battery again or else it will have to start all over. Also did you look for a silence buttton or some have a night and day button, some have a dial that has a picture of a sun and moon thing. If it does and it is set for night then it will take 12 hours before it will chime. You can speed this up but does not always work by turning the hour hand around for the 12 hour difference. Hope some of this helps and if not please check back and like I said if you can give an identifying number or something will help us. :)

[pops-shop]

Ben - welcome aboard - We are always amazed at JT's knowledge. If he can't come up with the answer, your chances are pretty slim that no one else will.

[Ben06]

Your exactly right John T. I just came up from my workshop and the movement is now playing the westminster tune. It just needed to be woke up. It chimes on the quarter hour, plays the westminster tune on the hour and also counts the hour. Pretty nice sound, not great.

Hope I remember that in the future. I actually have 2 of the Takane movements and will be building a clock case to give to my daughter with the other one. Here is a link to the page with the Takane movement. http://www.jknowles.com.au/catalogue/westminster.html It's the second one down. Looks exactly like the one I have. But I don't know if it's the 8MM or the 22MM shaft length. I'll have to measure it.

Thanks for your help.
Ben

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Ben

Good to hear that it is working for you and it is a nice sounding unit. If you ever get the chance to hear the one on the top of that page you will be amazed at the quality of sound on it. It has all the pardon the pun "bells and whistles" and the speaker is detachable so you can mount it on a sound board and bring the sound more directly out the front. Little expensive but if you are building that special clock it is worth the investment. Now I see that is an Australia company and that is why I did not recognise it. Are you from there?? Maybe you can give us a little background. Also when done with the project if you could post some photos we would be more than happy to take a peek. Everyone here likes pictures. Again if there are any questions that come up or you want to share some experiences we love to hear them and someone will always answer. We have all kinds of expert people here including a guy that builds condiminium birdhouses. You have to see these to believe it. I could go on and on but check out the galleries and make yourself at home. Glad to have you. :)

[Ben06]

John

No, I'm an American right here in Michigan. That is the only good picture of the movement I could find. I just happened to be an Australian web site. Should have mentioned that. The Takane movements are made here in America on the west coast from what I have read. Could be imported and using an American company as a distributor though.

Yes, I will show some pictures when I get the clock done. The one that was given to me is a schoolhouse clock. Honestly, it's in bad shape. Unfinished, partially assembled, but in bad shape. Whoever sanded, or I should say, attempted to sand, rounded off all the sharp corners. The edge of the coves are rounded also. It's a mess. But hey, the movement works. I'm no expert and do consider myself an amateur, but, I do know how to use sandpaper, clamps and glue. The clock case is literally coming apart at the joints.

I'm in the process of trying to scrape all the glue from the joints without taking it apart. The joints are far enough apart I can use my X-Acto blade and sandpaper to clean them out. I will attempt to re-glue and clamp the best I can and see what happens. I'm using a small needle tip to re-glue the joints. May have to resort to some small brads.

It may not be real pretty when I get done. This could take a while. I'll try to keep this forum updated as how I'm doing.

Ben

[Ben06]

Here a some pictures. Hope I did this right.

The first picture is the bottom of the clock case with some clamps. I just put some mineral spirits on it so you could see the wood better.

The second picture is the gaps I was talking about. This is on the bottom of the clock. There are many more.

I'm going to sand and make a slurry of wood dust and glue to try and fill the gaps. I cannot get the gaps to close with clamps.

The 3rd picture is the clock face without mineral spirits. I have removed the bezel that was on it.

The 4th picture is with mineral spirits applied. I know it's hard to see but all the sharp corners are rounded off. The coves were sanded so hard thay are wavy and the sharp edge is rounded over. If you get my drift.

Am I being to pickey?

Ben

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Ben

Not too easy to see all the details you talk about but the thing is if it has sentimental value to you then by all means see if you can put some life back into it. If you are doing it to try to save a piece my choice would be to make a replica of it. You have the entire clock so you have all the sizes. This has to be your call on that one. That is my opinion. Good luck and post a picture when it is completed.

[Ben06]

Well, here it about 3 weeks later. Not having much luck trying to fix the gaps, alignments etc on my school clock. I am a not good at fixing other peoples mistakes or my own either. I'm in the class of fair to good when it comes to woodworking. Nowhere near very good or excellent...yet.

Have decided not to pursue this any further.

I will however, make a detailed drawing and keep it. I'm going to try and save as much usable walnut as I can. Maybe in the future I will construct a new one. Quit honestly though, this clock does nothing for me visually, my wife does not care for it at all. But you never know....

By the way, I just finished a sailboat clock. Nothing fancy, just made it out of soft maple and 1/4 " walnut. No, didn't take a picture of it. I gave it to one of my daughters, maybe she will provide me with a picture. If she does, I'll post it here.

Thanks for the replies, really appreciate it. Till next time...

Ben