VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Radios, Tools, Accessories 7 Day Clock

I removed my wind up clock from the dash last night. And after boning up on manual clock works on a couple of forums. I was able to get it working again and almost 24 hours later is still running and keeping time. With a pleasing tick-tock sound! The clock was in exceptional condition to begin face and hands are perfect, mechanism was really clean. So i cleaned it first with Mass airflow sensor spray some of the guys use brake cleaner, but the MAP sensor is not quite as aggressive and leaves no residue behind and evaporates quickly. I then sparingly oiled the pivots. You have to be careful and not use to much as that will actually slow the mechanism down. And no oil on the gears.
If you have the courage the correct way is to take the works completely apart and clean and burnish the pivots and thoroughly clean the gears, springs and little tiny dodads and then put it all back together and readjust the the mechanism.
But alas I'm not that brave

My father used to take the clock out of our '42 and slosh the works in kerosene. It would then work good for a year or two.
It is a 30 hour clock.

Hi Gene so it is only a 30 hour clock. I could swear I read in the Chevy literature that it was a 7 day or was there a option for a 7 day clock?
brian

Mine is only 30 hour.
Al

The accessory clock was an eletric clock.
They usually lasted 7 days before they gave-up.

maybe that's what it was

Still ticking

Has anyone else worked on the accessory 49-50 electric clock? I have and wonder if it sensitive to voltage variation as far as time keeping is considered.

I would say no as all it takes is a spark to rewind it.
The eletric clocks of that period gave a lot of trouble.

No.

The 49-50 electric clock is a unique design by Rochester Division of GM. It is not a mechanical clock that is wound by a motor. Instead it uses a powerful electromagnet that is pulsed twice a second by a switch operated by the balance wheel. Those pulses also operate a vane that moves a ratchet gear that is geared down to move the hands. When you remove battery power, the clock stops within a couple of seconds. When I get some time I will run some tests to see how changing voltage affects time keeping.

Your description of the clock is exact and matches my study. I have combined two to achieve one working usable model. I am running it with 4 c batteries or with one 9v cell.

Learn something every day. I thought those old electric clocks merely had a shot of electricity (dc) every now and then to activate a motor that would in turn wind the spring. Sort of like a hit and miss engine.

Charlie

After running the 49-50 electric clock on 8 and 6 volts there is a definite increase in timekeeping rate at higher voltage. I believe this is because of increasing magnet strength which results more amplitude "balance" wheel action.

i would much rather have a wind up instead of electric i pulled up my notes from years ago that gene had sent me the electric while it was a nice deal they seldom lasted more than year before breaking down mean while the windup if taken care of (over winding} was the best way to go i took mine plus a parts one to a LOCAL jewelry shop and the guy went thru it and charged me nothing because he just wanted the challenge of making it work, its been 10+ years and it still keeps perfect time my vote is the wind up

My results are similar to yours. At 5 volts the clock loses one hour twenty five minutes a day, at 6 volts it loses 1 minute a day, at 7.5 volts it gains 12 minutes a day. Definitely voltage sensitive. Another reason to use a wind up clock instead of the electric, or have the clock converted to use a quartz mechanism.

I decided to send my clock away to get repaired. The company said once they receive the clock normal turnaround is 24 hours, I' am thinking yea sure. I received my clock one week after I sent it and it went USPS from Fl. to Wi. and back. Clock works great, price was around $100.00 with shipping. I had taken clock to a clock repairer in the area, he said that he thought the bushings were worn because he couldn't keep it running if he stood it up.
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