tii clock repair

[Beaver's02]

Does anyone know someone who can repair the clock mechanism in a '73 tii electro-mechanical clock. I repaired the fuse wire, and got the winder to work, but the actual clock mechanism is sticky. I could go to a general clock repair shop, but wanted to know if anyone had a particular place they have dealt with. I live in the SF Bay area.

[Mike Self]

mechanism to rewind the clock every few minutes are nice and clean? Run a piece of fine sandpaper between em, then connect the clock to a 12 v source and see if the points close.

You might have to "encourage" the mechanical portion of the clock to work by gently turning one of the gear wheels.

A clock shop might be able to recommend some clock oil to lubricate the mechanism, too.

cheers

mike

[02fanatic]

You may short out the transformer...I ruined a perfectly good working clock trying to lubricate it.

Your best bet is like Mike said...make sure it is clean, and coax it a bit. Once it starts working, it may free up just fine.

If you've made the typical solder-fix, the rest should be fine.

One possible problem is if the teeth on the large drive is sheared or damaged...then the mechanism may hang up. tii clocks are very delicate, but sound so sweet when working.

When I'm in my garage and hear either of my tii's clocks go "clunk", it makes me smile! :-)

Good luck...and feel free to e-mail me if you need more help. I've fixed alot of clocks...sort of a tii clock "addict"! :-)

John

[SteveJ]

Unfortunately, I could not find a clock shop to even look at mine even after I had it open and was pointing at the mechanism. Clock shop said take it to a automotive speedo shop, speedo shop said take it to a clock shop. Out of frustration I opened it up myself and had at it.

Take your time, don't force anything.

Use a very small tipped screwdriver to pry up around the outer bezel. Do this at the bottom(6 oclock). You only have to pry up about a third of it before it will let go.

As Mike said, use a small file or sandpaper to clean up the contacts that fire(wind) the mechanism. As the spring winds down, the contacts close, firing the coil, causing the arm to retract and wind the spring.

Test it on the bench with a 12v battery. In a pinch, you may be able to use a common 9volt battery to test that the relay fires. It may or may not have enough juice to make it work, but it is easy enough to try.

Dust everything out with some air duster and a very LIGHT brush. A gentle touch is important. I used a single drop of the lightest machine oil I could find. Put a few drops into a bottle cap or such, then use a needle or straight pin tip to pick up and place a small drop of oil on the pivots of the mechanism. I placed oil on one pivot and let it run for a while before I decided if I needed to oil somewhere else. You may need to encourage the wheel with just a touch to get it going.

Use the adjustment screw on the back to fine tune the speed, and let it run for several days before you button it back up. Assemble is a reverse of removal as they say. Use a larger tipped screw driver to press the bezel back down after you have it all set in place.

Hope this helps, I am recalling this from memory. I did mine 2+ years ago and it is still running fine. (the speed drifts from time to time, but it's livable)

[clc]

check out Keith's website, www.my2002tii.com/, go to June 2004. Although his repair is for a 74 tii, it has pics and maybe it'll help you out.

[Durango_Dave]

I would send it here:

http://www.nhspeedometer.com/

North Hollywood Speedometer and Clock Company

They did my speedometer and odometer, but I haven't done my clock yet.

[BillWilliams]

but they only have the quartz rebuilds available, no more "clunk"

[02fanatic]

I was going to say that Bill...but you beat me to it...I like "clunk" personally. Sweet "vintage" sound. Heck, we all have blackberrys, cell phones, etc, anyway so who gives a rats *** if the tii clock keeps perfect time anyway???

Before a road trip simply adjust the time, and it'll stay within 5 minutes or so for the weekend! That's good enough for me, and it's "ORIGINAL"! :-)

[SteveJ]

I think my tii's clock ~intentionally~ looses time, as when we are driving, it does not want it to end.

[Beaver's02]

Thanks for the inputs. I've got the clock running and the winder winding. All it took was some carefully applied (with a pinhead) drops of lubricant (I used Triflow) to the pivots of the escapement wheel, and a little encouragement of the pendulum wheel (actually abit more than a little).

Has anyone placed a fuse in line (outside the can) with the 12V power to protect the 'fuse wire' inside the clock mechanism? If so, what value do you think is adequate to protect the wiring?

Thanks again.