# Looking For Help With My Electronic Clock...



## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Back in the olden days when you got made a manager in the PostOffice, you got a range of benefits mostly from some old hangover from the union days i bet, you got a shared office, a better chair, a single pot plant and... a clock... lol. If you ever went to a floor in a building that was all managers offices there were hundreds of clocks on the walls! LOL

So here is mine... old and battered and now sadly not working, I expect it needs at least a service, but the hands do set and the balance seems to run freeish but nothing happens when its mains connected... so any ideas what movt it is? or where i can get a new movt from? or can I just get a new leccy bit or anyone know whom can repair it? Im not sure if Paul wants to tackle this, maybe Mel or even Roger are the men as its more large scale electronics? LOL


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

I've done a few similar clocks to this Jon, and there really isn't much to go wrong on them....as long as that coil is ok.

The last one I did was bunged up with old, dirty grease; it just needed stripping down, cleaning, re-lubing and off she went again. Have you checked the resistance of the coil? :huh:


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

I'd agree with Paul, as long as the coil is OK, there should be no problem, just a clean and lube of the mechanical bits should be all that's needed. Measure across the coil with a meter (on Ohms of course) and see a) if there is a resistance at all and B) what that is. :yes:

If there's no resistance, 'you have a problem Houston', those were about 1970's ISTR, dunno where you'd find a donor watch clock for parts.









Bluddy crude mechanism tho' eh :lol: The simplest of reasons - check that the "chocolate block" connector isn't corroded to the point where it's not making a good connection from the mains to the clock - just a thought! 

(You took a clock all the way from here to there ? :man_in_love:  You a Yorkshire man originally, after all it was a freebie :lol)


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Thanks guys, yes the movt does look incredibly simple, and defo when I lifted the tab above the balance it looked dry and yukky, not clean and wet etc.

Ok, Im not really too hot on ohms and all that jazz, but using the '20k' range of the ohms setting on the meter I get 6.43... is that good? LOL! I usually only check coils on bikes and usually I have the settings and the expected in the manual... and... that was measured using the 'choc block' should I measure directly?

Mel, it has 1979 stamped on the back... Er, well I kept it as I started to work from home in 1997 and was entitled to kit out my home office, of course that included the pot plant, chair and naturally they anted me to know what time it was so I took that too, LOL It ended up in the garage where it never worked, so sat on a shelf. When we moved here it was in my toolchest and just came along like all sorts of other stuff, anyway I earnt that clock and lets face it you wont see one now LOL

Thanks for the help guys, if it needs to be oiled, I guess I will need to buy stuff... feel free to tell me what i need and what to do...


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

JonW said:


> but using the '20k' range of the ohms setting on the meter I get 6.43... is that good?


Yes, that is good...I was thinking it should be somewhere between 3K and 7K.

So when you plug it in, there is no life whatsoever? Have you tried to start the motor manually? The motor is the thing at the top of your photo with the "serrations"...try flicking it when plugged in (make sure the body isn't live due to bad insulation on the coil and wires). Does it rotate freely without the power on?

So many questions.


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

Sometimes these clocks have a worm gear...does this one? It's often why they stop...the worm gear needs to be clean and it needs to run freely.


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Thanks for the help Paul, glad that value is good news. 

Yep plugged in I got nowt... hmm... Funny but Im less keen to plug it in and mess with the movt, call me old fashioned... LOL... but i can have a go... I thought the bit with the serrations was the balance... ok its a motor... It seems to spin freely one way when rolled without power, but sticks a bit when used the other way.

Er, where would the worm gear be? I couldnt see one in my quick look but can look deeper...


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

JonW said:


> Er, where would the worm gear be? I couldnt see one in my quick look but can look deeper...


There probably isn't one then.









When you span the motor, did the rest of the gear train move? Any slight movement of the second hand?


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

Double post...my first I think!







fftopic2:


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Ok back from the garage... it runs! im not 100% sure why it didnt before now... polarity maybe or perhaps my joggling with the motor has freed it? anyway it was spinning like a good un and humming away, looking inside i could see the gears moving, but with no secs hand its not easy to see how fast it was going etc.

So... it obviously needs some oil.. whats my best plan Paul?


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

JonW said:


> Ok back from the garage... it runs! im not 100% sure why it didnt before now... polarity maybe or perhaps my joggling with the motor has freed it? anyway it was spinning like a good un and humming away, looking inside i could see the gears moving, but with no secs hand its not easy to see how fast it was going etc.
> 
> So... it obviously needs some oil.. whats my best plan Paul?


Great!

If you're not going to dismantle it, then some clock oil on those exposed pivots and also under that spring strip for the motor bearings. Don't be lazy...take the hands and dial off and do that side as well. :lol:

To be honest, if you don't want to buy clock oil, a thin oil like Three-In-One will probably do. Watch oil will be too thin.


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

The question is Paul... If I did dismantle it, would it go back together? Im mechanically minded and been around watches for a long time, and of course the bits in the clock are nice and big too... hmm...

I dont mind taking the hands and dial off and cleaning the whole thing up and also buying the right oil of course. Id like this clock to work for a while to come as my garage clock 

Good thought on watch oil being too thin, ta for that.


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

Roy doesn't sell clock oil...but usual suppliers do. And then there is eBay of course....Windles Clock Oil.


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

There is a good clock parts shop that also does watch parts in Sydney so I can get some next time I pass there. I dont spose there is any kind of manual for one of these Paul?

Thanks again for all your help m8


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

JonW said:


> I dont spose there is any kind of manual for one of these Paul?


Never seen one Jon...but as you can see, there is not much to adjust. Their speed is controlled by the frequency of the mains voltage. In the UK (and Australia...I checked here) it is 50Hz, and provided it was manufactured for 50Hz, it should keep very good time....take it to a 60Hz country and you'll have problems, even if the voltage is correct.


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

cool, cheers Paul. I will get oiling and report back!


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

I concur with Paul, Windle's would be fine to lube it, but as with a watch, too much is :bad: Use a drop on a home made oiler. Bend a piece of copper or other stiff wire into a very small eyelet or circle at the end and just pick up the minimum with that - again, preferably not when mains connected if you're not sure. LIKE this ---O :lookaround:

So it's 1979 eh? That dates you as well Jon -







:lol: - but with a lube it should keep going as long as you do!


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## rdwiow (Aug 15, 2008)

It was lucky your particular PO branch didn't have slave clock circuit as you would have needed a master clock to run yours, these were quite common where a telephone exchange was near or in the same building and would have been controlled by PO type 36 time transmitter.

Glad it is running again, always thought they were quite an attactive styled clock. I have a slave version running from my Synchronome master clock.

All the best

Rob


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Thanks for the idea on the hooked wire Mel. good plan.

Er, as for dating me... not really... I didnt become a manager in 1979, and I should add that I was one of the youngest to have made that grade when I was promoted LOL Well, youve gotta love the IT biz parts of old grade oriented orgs. 

Im guessing that most people didnt get to take 'their clock' with them when they left, most people would have cleared their desk and the new guy just moved in etc. Hence clocks were just left on the wall normally and had been there for years, unless you moved to a new office in which case 'yours' came with you. I only got mine as the guys who cleared down my work area for move to my 'home office' (what a term!) basically ransacked the old place as by then I had my own, unshared room. To be honest, they did such a job that I was surprised I didnt end up with the carpet squares in a small stack in their van. LOL

Rob, the clock has a 150v and 220v connections diagram on the plastic back cover but seems to run on 220v when connected to the mains so im guessing its in 220v mode as I cant see any way to change those connections as yet... tho I will say the wires going into the coil are thin so maybe its not a 220v model?

I agree these are interesting clocks with a clean simple design. I cant ever remember anyone coming round to service one which was strange in retrospect.

Got any pics of your setup Rob, sounds interesting...


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