Taking a Shine

After a long period carefully stripping the multiple layers of paint and grime from various elements of the clock the finer detail is being revealed. The bright metal pieces were the first to be cleaned by soda blasting and manual cleaning and all of the animals and birds except two are finished ready for re-assembly. The last two animals from the orchestra are currently being cleaned by Team Humpherston and should be ready in the next week.

Two days of lacquer stripping and manual polishing have removed the blackened areas from the copper sunflower petals and given them back their shine. The counterweight brackets are nearly finished being copper plated and polished and should be re-united with their petals at the end of next week.

Sunflower petal cleaned and polished.

The spire from the very top of the clock has been stripped ready for painting. After waiting some time to get the special-order powder coating for the main structural frame in the original colour a sample has now been prepared and matched with the paint for the upper sections of the clock. Paint spraying of these elements will start next week.

 

Spire stripped ready for painting.

The large bolts that secure the upper part of the clock to the main frame are being cleaned. Meanwhile, the decorative elements that attach to the end of these bolts have now been stripped, primed and re-painted.

 Main bolt decorative ends.

The upper turntable supporting the radial arms at the top of the clock has been re-polished and the flowers that decorate the edges have been removed, cleaned, primed and painted. The copper bolt heads at their centres now reflect in the shiny brass-coloured petals.

Decorative flowers from top turntable.

The 'bud' at the base of the sunflower has also been stripped of the thick gold paint that had built up to obscure the detail and the coins that had become lodged in the basketwork have been removed. This has now been primed and painted in its original brass colour.

 The 'bud' from below the sunflower.

The decorative lattices that adorn the control box have been stripped, primed and painted in their original brass colour. This should stand out against the blue colour that will be restored to the control box.

One of the repainted control box lattices.

The main frame has now had its hub assembly re-fashioned after the removal of the ugly and ungainly bearing housing that had been fitted at some time over the last forty years. A new axle for the cobweb waterwheel has been made and the frame is now ready for zinc plating and powder coating.

 The frame with its replaced hub.

There is still a lot to do before the clock can be installed at Millennium Point for the summer but good progress has been made.