Q&A for How to Set a Cuckoo Clock

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Do cuckoo clocks need to be oiled?

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It’s best to avoid oil-based lubricants inside a cuckoo clock, since they can eventually gum up the gears. However, if the gears are sticking, a dry graphite lubricant can be helpful. You can use an oil-based cleanser to clean the wood casing of the clock and give it a nice sheen.

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What’s the best place to hang a cuckoo clock?

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Hang the clock in a prominent spot where it can be a focal point on your wall. For example, you might display it in your family room or living room. Hang it 6.5-7 feet (about 2 meters) up on the wall for best viewing and to allow you to wind the clock easily. To avoid damaging your clock, make sure not to hang it in an area where it will be exposed to high humidity or lots of direct sunlight throughout the day.

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Question

How do you hang the weights on a cuckoo clock?

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Mount the clock on the wall first and allow the chains to hang down. Then, look at the chains and locate the weight hooks. Find the opposite end of each chain and pull it down so that the weight hook hangs approximately 3 inches (7.6 cm) from the bottom of the clock. Finally, carefully attach the weights to the hooks. If your cuckoo clock has three weights, the heaviest one goes farthest to the right (the other two should be the same weight).

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Question

Can I wind a clock too frequently? If I wind it 2-3 times a day, will it cause any type of damage to the cuckoo clock?

Community Answer

As long as you are not wearing down the parts (which is very unlikely to happen) or doing it too roughly, it shouldn't have an effect on it. Just be gentle.

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Question

Which hand is closer to the clock?

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The hour hand is nearest the clock face. The spindle is a shaft with an outer sleeve. The hour hand fits onto the sleeve and the minute hand fits the shaft, secured with a small nut.

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Question

How do I silence the cuckoo without a shut-off lever?

Community Answer

If your clock does not have this feature then there is no way to silence it unless you stop winding the cuckoo (one weight is for the time and one for the cuckoo). Do NOT use the little wire on the cuckoo door to latch it shut. That is only for transporting the clock, and closing it while the clock is operating can damage the movement.

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Question

What do I do if the cuckoo isn't doing the correct number of sounds to the correct time?

Community Answer

Remove the weights and turn the hands to the hour it struck. Replace the weights and set the clock correctly. If that does not work, take it to a shop for repairs.

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Question

What if the hands won't move on my cuckoo clock?

Community Answer

It may be broken. To fix it, try removing the wire. Hang the pendulum in the wire loop in the middle of the case bottom and the weights in the chain-hooks. The clock must be placed in a correct vertical position so that the pendulum can swing freely and hands should move by now.

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Question

Our antique clock is not making its cuckoo sound, but there is a clicking sound on the hour and half hour. How can we get it to cuckoo?

Community Answer

Remove the right weight. Move the minute hand clockwise until the hands point to the hour which the cuckoo just called. Replace the right weight. Set the hands to the correct time, pull up the weights and start the clock.

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Question

What if the cuckoo is ahead one hour?

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There should be small cogs to turn the hands to the correct time in the back.

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Question

Why is the pendulum stopping when it swings?

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The clock probably isn't hanging right. Adjust it slightly to the left or right until it keeps swinging.

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Question

I can't raise the movement enough to speed up the cuckoo clock enough to keep good time. What can I do?

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Use a larger leaf or weight or take it to a clock shop for repair, as the clock may have something else wrong with it.

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Question

What song does the clock play on the hour?

Community Answer

As I've seen from a number of video demonstrations (unfortunately I don't possess a cuckoo clock), most musical cuckoo clocks include two tunes, Edelweiss (from The Sound of the Music) and Der fröhliche Wanderer (The Happy Wanderer, a German tune). However, I'm not sure if any cuckoo clocks play any other tunes. If you detach the back cover (carefully) from the whole lot of sophisticated gear chains, you might catch sight of a tiny music roll as well. Every time it plays music, it rotates by only half a circle (instead of an entire circle) and is then stopped by something engaging with a tiny hole on the roll. Such half a circle stores one tune, and the rest for the other.

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Question

If I bought a clock that has two weights and four chains, and two of the chains just hang there, what do they attach to?

Community Answer

Just leave those two chains there! It goes up automatically as the weight goes down. And in case you need to rewind the movement, just pull it, and its corresponding weight will go up again!

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Question

What do I do if my 1/2 hour and hour chimes are reversed on a cuckoo clock?

Community Answer

Unscrew the nut at the front of the minute hand. Take the minute hand off of the clock and put it back on pointing in the opposite direction (i.e. if it was at 12 when you took it off, put it back on pointing to 6). Screw the nut back on to secure the hand in place again.

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Question

What do I do if the cuckoo bird won't come out of my cuckoo clock?

Community Answer

Most cuckoo clocks come with a small metal latch or lever which holds the cuckoo door safety closed during shipping from the factory. Depending on your model of clock, simply release this latch either by pushing down or to the side and the cuckoo should now operate normally.

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Question

My cuckoo clock is running fast. Which way do I slide the pendulum to speed it up? Up or down?

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Slide the bob on the pendulum down to slow the clock down, and up to speed it up. You only need very small adjustments.

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