How to Oil Your Clock

Dakota Clock Repair offers an clock oil kit which has everything you need; high quality clock oil, an appropriate applicator, and instructions, printed below for your assistance.

This instruction sheet will be brief assuming you have some Horological knowledge. This kit is not a cure- all for a clock in need of professional service. If your clock has stopped and refuses to run adding new oil will frequently get it going for a short time. Warning: Adding new oil to a stopped clock will dissolve the grit in the bearings; which will grind your clock to a certain death. This kit is not intended to jump-start a dead clock; the purpose of this kit is to properly lubricate a running clock.

On the back of this sheet is a sketch of a typical clock. The sketch is of the backside of a clock. The circles represent the oil wells that are around each pivot (the black dots). Note: Not all clocks have oil wells. The object is to place a very small amount of oil in the oil well where the pivot and clock plate meet.

Remove the clock from the case. Wipe off any obvious drips of existing oil.

Load the supplied dipper with oil by dunking the tip into the oil no more than 3/8 inches deep. When you remove the dipper from the oil a small drop of oil should appear on the end of the dipper. This is the correct amount of oil.

Apply oil to every pivot on both sides of the clock. Some of the pivots on the front of the clock will be difficult or impossible to oil. DO NOT OIL THE GEARS. The gears are meant to run dry.

On the smallest diameter pivots at the top of the clock one dipper of oil is usually adequate; it is highly unlikely you will ever need two dippers of oil. All of this depends on the size of the drop of oil you have on the end of your dipper. You are not trying to fill the oil well. In most cases the oil you apply will be sucked into the bearing, lubricating the surfaces. That is all the oil that is needed. See figure 1, 2, & 3.

All other pivots should receive 1 or 2 dippers of oil.

Near the bottom of the clock are three large pivots usually 2-3 times the diameter of the other pivots; these are the pivots for the winding arbors. Add 1 extra dipper of oil to these three pivots. Usually the winding arbors do not have oil wells.

Good luck, Ken Muggli

Ken Muggli, Horologist

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