Flip numeral radio alarm - Not sure if I can fix this one...but going to try!
In the early days of radio alarms (around fifty years ago) flip-over numerals were apparently cheaper than a solid-state chip and an LED display! I found this non-working one on a well-known auction site not long ago and as a bit of a challenge I thought I'd have a go at getting it working. Maybe it just needs a drop of oil...
[i](This isn't the same type as in 'Groundhog Day' - **That** was a Panasonic...)[/i]
Chance would be a fine thing! I could hear the motor running when I plugged it in. That was a good thing and a bad thing. Good because the motor ran, but bad because it wasn't transmitting movement to the mechanism that flips the numerals.
It's driven by a little syncronous motor which means that the speed is governed by the 50Hz of the alternating current mains supply (North America and a few other places use 60Hz). This allows the clock to be accurate - if it works!
It turned out that the first gear in the gear train (the one that makes the most revolutions...) had worn out. It may be possible to find a replacement, and if I manage to do that I might even manage to install it. I've never taken one of these things apart to this extent before...so for the moment I've put it all in a box for safekeeping while I make my enquiries. I like to get old things working again so I'm definitely going to have a go.
@ninalanyon That's a possibility, but it all depends on whether 3D printing will go down to that resolution.I have read some online comments about £D printing and it's diffficult because these gearwheels are tiny. I am having dealings with a clock shop at the moment over a watch that I'm having refurbished, so I'll ask them. There are places online that also supply gears to specification, so when I get this one out I'll have a look at that possibility.
This flip-numeral movement was made by a company called Copal, which as chance would have it was a major supplier (and made clocks under their own brand) in the decade or so (at most) when these movements were common. Geared clocks are still common in domestic time switches, but I suppose the economics of the flip-numeral part of the bedside devices told against them once LED technology got cheap enough. It (LED) had well and truly arrived by the end of the 1970s. We shall see! 🙂
@supersnipe [quote] (LED) had well and truly arrived by the end of the 1970s.[/quote] And unlike mechanical clocks they have no moving parts so they don't wear out so easily. I inherited an LED alarm clock from my mother, I think she must have bought it sometime in the late '70s. It sits in my bedroom [i]quietly[/i] telling the time.
