We have a clock that has a synchronous motor that is intended to run on 50Hz
mains. It skips 5 or 10 minutes fast sometimes. I looked up this problem and
was advised that noise on the power supply could cause the clock to be wrong
(but only by a tiny amount). Before I taking the clock apart, I decided to
plug my power measuring device in to the power point, and got a reading of 158
volts and 32 Hz. It is supposed to be 237 v and 50 Hz!
Since the clock had been plugged into the power point for over 30 years I
pushed the plug in and out a few times and got the correct readings. I think
there was corrosion in the contacts.
However the clock still keeps skipping ahead. The minute hand keeps in step
with the hour hand so I don't think the hands are slipping.
The clock has earlier had an accident where it fell off the wall 3 metres onto
to a concrete floor. The adjustment spindle at the bottom broke off, so I made
a new part on the huge lathe out of a 1/4'" bolt turned down to 1/16" on the
lathe. I am amazed that it didn't break!
I now suspect that a cog in the clockwork is skipping teeth. So that is next
weekend''s job, unless anyone has brilliant suggestions. I think I need a
lathe 100 times smaller now that I seem to be fixing so many clocks.
I have uploaded pictures of all this but they seem to have vanished. I cannot
see where to put my user name and password. So this probably won't work!

--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/uk-diy...t-1392027-.htm

replying to MattyF, MattyF wrote:
These are the pictures that have already gone somewhere else.
https://www.homeownershub.com/img/kh
https://www.homeownershub.com/img/ki
https://www.homeownershub.com/img/kj

On 06/11/2019 09:44, MattyF wrote:
We have a clock that has a synchronous motor that is intended to run
on 50Hz mains. It skips 5 or 10 minutes fast sometimes. I looked up
this problem and was advised that noise on the power supply could
cause the clock to be wrong (but only by a tiny amount). Before I

Usually such clocks keep very good time long term although they can be
very slightly slow in the evening and fast in the early morning as mains
50Hz is guaranteed as a long term average but is load dependant.

taking the clock apart, I decided to plug my power measuring device
in to the power point, and got a reading of 158 volts and 32 Hz. It
is supposed to be 237 v and 50 Hz! Since the clock had been plugged

I suggest you throw away your power tester then.
Anything outside of 50+/-1Hz and 230+/-15 would be very unusual.

into the power point for over 30 years I pushed the plug in and out a
few times and got the correct readings. I think there was corrosion
in the contacts. However the clock still keeps skipping ahead. The

Skipping ahead is unusual. Can you tell if it happens when the minute
(and/or hour) hand is on its way down the face? ie gravity assisted.

minute hand keeps in step with the hour hand so I don't think the
hands are slipping. The clock has earlier had an accident where it
fell off the wall 3 metres onto to a concrete floor. The adjustment
spindle at the bottom broke off, so I made a new part on the huge
lathe out of a 1/4'" bolt turned down to 1/16" on the lathe. I am
amazed that it didn't break! I now suspect that a cog in the
clockwork is skipping teeth. So that is next weekend''s job, unless
anyone has brilliant suggestions. I think I need a lathe 100 times
smaller now that I seem to be fixing so many clocks. I have uploaded
pictures of all this but they seem to have vanished. I cannot see
where to put my user name and password. So this probably won't work!

The bump might well have taken something out of alignment or chipped a
tooth. Whenever I have had trouble with synchronous motor clocks it has
been running slow or stopping because of worn teeth on the gears.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:
The bump might well have taken something out of alignment or chipped a
tooth. Whenever I have had trouble with synchronous motor clocks it has
been running slow or stopping because of worn teeth on the gears.

Might it be easier to simply replace the guts with a battery quartz
movement? Unless rare and expensive - if such a synchronous clock exists.

--
*HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO HAVE A CIVIL WAR?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

My advice is to ditch Home owner club and use a real usenet client and use
Dropbox for your pictures and paste the public link in with the trailing 0
set to a 1.

I won't see it, but most will, and many people here won't reply to Home
owners club Usenet exported messages due to their portal software being
basically crappy.

I would say about your clock yes well clocks do wear out and missing or worn
teeth are a fact of life. Another common one is they suddenly start going
backwards, due to the motor stalling due to damaged gears and then starting
up the wrong way. The little ratchet kicker that normally stops this does
have a habit of not working if its been in a greasy kitchen for a few years.
Why not treat yourself to a nice radio controlled clock?
Brian

--
----- --
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"MattyF" m wrote in
message oupdirect.com...
We have a clock that has a synchronous motor that is intended to run on
50Hz
mains. It skips 5 or 10 minutes fast sometimes. I looked up this problem
and
was advised that noise on the power supply could cause the clock to be
wrong
(but only by a tiny amount). Before I taking the clock apart, I decided to
plug my power measuring device in to the power point, and got a reading of
158
volts and 32 Hz. It is supposed to be 237 v and 50 Hz! Since the clock
had been plugged into the power point for over 30 years I
pushed the plug in and out a few times and got the correct readings. I
think
there was corrosion in the contacts.
However the clock still keeps skipping ahead. The minute hand keeps in
step
with the hour hand so I don't think the hands are slipping.
The clock has earlier had an accident where it fell off the wall 3 metres
onto
to a concrete floor. The adjustment spindle at the bottom broke off, so I
made
a new part on the huge lathe out of a 1/4'" bolt turned down to 1/16" on
the
lathe. I am amazed that it didn't break!
I now suspect that a cog in the clockwork is skipping teeth. So that is
next
weekend''s job, unless anyone has brilliant suggestions. I think I need a
lathe 100 times smaller now that I seem to be fixing so many clocks.
I have uploaded pictures of all this but they seem to have vanished. I
cannot
see where to put my user name and password. So this probably won't work!

--
for full context, visit
https://www.homeownershub.com/uk-diy...t-1392027-.htm

One thing I would also check is the actual wire fixings in the point its
plugged into. I've had funny things going on on clock points in the past
with daft measurements, and the wires under the screws on one half or the
other had worked loose and since there was not much current, the arcing did
not weld it together or set fire to the house!
Brian

--
----- --
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:
The bump might well have taken something out of alignment or chipped a
tooth. Whenever I have had trouble with synchronous motor clocks it has
been running slow or stopping because of worn teeth on the gears.

Might it be easier to simply replace the guts with a battery quartz
movement? Unless rare and expensive - if such a synchronous clock exists.

--
*HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO HAVE A CIVIL WAR?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 06/11/2019 15:43, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:
The bump might well have taken something out of alignment or chipped a
tooth. Whenever I have had trouble with synchronous motor clocks it has
been running slow or stopping because of worn teeth on the gears.

Might it be easier to simply replace the guts with a battery quartz
movement? Unless rare and expensive - if such a synchronous clock exists.

I quite like the synchronous electric clocks, usually in Bakelite and
really not expensive for a "collectible" but useful item.
They can be a pain to get restarted though, not sure if this is down to
sticky oil or grease on the gears ?
I usually earth them when rewiring.

In article ,
Robert wrote:
On 06/11/2019 15:43, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:
The bump might well have taken something out of alignment or chipped a
tooth. Whenever I have had trouble with synchronous motor clocks it has
been running slow or stopping because of worn teeth on the gears.

Might it be easier to simply replace the guts with a battery quartz
movement? Unless rare and expensive - if such a synchronous clock exists.

I quite like the synchronous electric clocks, usually in Bakelite and
really not expensive for a "collectible" but useful item.
They can be a pain to get restarted though, not sure if this is down to
sticky oil or grease on the gears ?
I usually earth them when rewiring.

All I remember of them was they usually got noisy with age. And not a
pleasant noise.

Do have a couple of mains clocks here - but they're LED. One in the
bedroom - large digits so easy to read even at my ripe old age.

--
*I can see your point, but I still think you're full of ****.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 06/11/2019 15:43, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:
The bump might well have taken something out of alignment or chipped a
tooth. Whenever I have had trouble with synchronous motor clocks it has
been running slow or stopping because of worn teeth on the gears.

Might it be easier to simply replace the guts with a battery quartz
movement? Unless rare and expensive - if such a synchronous clock exists.

Or throw the whole thing away and replace it with a radio controlled
one? I picked up one in a CPC sale several years ago and IIRC it's only
needed a couple of battery replacements since. Saves faffing around at
clock change time.

On 06/11/2019 20:33, newshound wrote:
On 06/11/2019 15:43, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Â*Â*Â* Martin Brown wrote:
The bump might well have taken something out of alignment or chipped a
tooth. Whenever I have had trouble with synchronous motor clocks it has
been running slow or stopping because of worn teeth on the gears.

Might it be easier to simply replace the guts with a battery quartz
movement? Unless rare and expensive - if such a synchronous clock exists.

Or throw the whole thing away and replace it with a radio controlled
one?

That could rather go against the spirit of the owners, especially if -
as I thought probable - the clock is at MOTAT.

--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

On Wednesday, 6 November 2019 09:44:05 UTC, MattyF wrote:
We have a clock that has a synchronous motor that is intended to run on 50Hz
mains. It skips 5 or 10 minutes fast sometimes. I looked up this problem and
was advised that noise on the power supply could cause the clock to be wrong
(but only by a tiny amount). Before I taking the clock apart, I decided to
plug my power measuring device in to the power point, and got a reading of 158
volts and 32 Hz. It is supposed to be 237 v and 50 Hz!
Since the clock had been plugged into the power point for over 30 years I
pushed the plug in and out a few times and got the correct readings. I think
there was corrosion in the contacts.
However the clock still keeps skipping ahead. The minute hand keeps in step
with the hour hand so I don't think the hands are slipping.
The clock has earlier had an accident where it fell off the wall 3 metres onto
to a concrete floor. The adjustment spindle at the bottom broke off, so I made
a new part on the huge lathe out of a 1/4'" bolt turned down to 1/16" on the
lathe. I am amazed that it didn't break!
I now suspect that a cog in the clockwork is skipping teeth. So that is next
weekend''s job, unless anyone has brilliant suggestions. I think I need a
lathe 100 times smaller now that I seem to be fixing so many clocks.
I have uploaded pictures of all this but they seem to have vanished. I cannot
see where to put my user name and password. So this probably won't work!

A bad contact would explain the low v reading, but 32hz means your tester is basically junk, at least as far as measuring f goes.

I've had a simlar experience with a 1970s quartz clock, very puzzling. No idea what's causing your problem.

Most regulars here have the website you're using blocked. Google groups is vastly better, much as it gets criticised. And re pic uploads, please use anything other than dripbox, it's so awful I frequently just don't bother to look.


NT

On 06/11/2019 20:55, Robin wrote:
That could rather go against the spirit of the owners, especially if -
as I thought probable - the clock is at MOTAT.

Yes, you ought to have a Congreve Rolling Ball clock... that would be a
project!

Welcome back Matty - but please ditch HoH!

Andy

On Thu, 07 Nov 2019 21:43:43 +0000, Vir Campestris wrote:

On 06/11/2019 20:55, Robin wrote:
That could rather go against the spirit of the owners, especially if -
as I thought probable - the clock is at MOTAT.

Yes, you ought to have a Congreve Rolling Ball clock... that would be a
project!

I first found out about them in a Nevil Shute book - Trustee from the
Toolroom I think. Always wanted one.

Very inaccurate, though!

--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £1 a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

On 08/11/2019 00:12, Bob Eager wrote:
On Thu, 07 Nov 2019 21:43:43 +0000, Vir Campestris wrote:

On 06/11/2019 20:55, Robin wrote:
That could rather go against the spirit of the owners, especially if -
as I thought probable - the clock is at MOTAT.

Yes, you ought to have a Congreve Rolling Ball clock... that would be a
project!

I first found out about them in a Nevil Shute book - Trustee from the
Toolroom I think. Always wanted one.

I read that many years ago. I must see if I can get hold of it again.

Very inaccurate, though!

My bodged together, much simplified version at school came third in the
class for accuracy ... not that any of them were accurate

SteveW

replying to Brian Gaff (Sofa 2), MattyF wrote:
I think the clock has suffered from its fall. The second hand appears to be
loose and may sometimes be touching the other hands (but never when I am
watching it). If I can't fix it easily someone can buy a new clock. But it is
a nice clock.
I have recently fixed the clock outside by the tram stop. It needs to be wound
every 7 days. It was stopping because of rust on the two mainsprings. That was
probably why the other two clocks stopped working.
I found Tim's message on HomeOwnersHub, and this seems easier than Usenet that
died on me 5 years ago.

--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/uk-diy...t-1392027-.htm

On Friday, November 8, 2019 at 6:14:06 PM UTC+13, MattyF wrote:
replying to Brian Gaff (Sofa 2), MattyF wrote:
I think the clock has suffered from its fall. The second hand appears to be
loose and may sometimes be touching the other hands (but never when I am
watching it). If I can't fix it easily someone can buy a new clock. But it is
a nice clock.
I have recently fixed the clock outside by the tram stop. It needs to be wound
every 7 days. It was stopping because of rust on the two mainsprings. That was
probably why the other two clocks stopped working.
I found Tim's message on HomeOwnersHub, and this seems easier than Usenet that
died on me 5 years ago.

--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/uk-diy...t-1392027-.htm

Hi Matty, great to see you back here. We new more real DIY and less politics here!

Regarding HOH, it really is an abomination. It only exists to generate income for the site owner, not to provide a useful service. There are so many things wrong with it I'm not sure where to start.

If you don't want to use a dedicated usenet client, google groups is better than HOH, but a proper newsreader is the best option. I believe Thunderbird is supposed to be okay. Plenty of free news servers like Eternal September if you don't want to pay. Anyway, here's the link to this thread in google groups.

https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!...-y/0DnGZdig08c

Many thanks for the tour earlier this week! I love places like MOTAT and it's always interesting to put a face to a name on the internet. Currently in Rotorua.

Tim

On Thursday, November 7, 2019 at 12:54:07 PM UTC+13, wrote:
On Wednesday, 6 November 2019 09:44:05 UTC, MattyF wrote:
We have a clock that has a synchronous motor that is intended to run on 50Hz
mains. It skips 5 or 10 minutes fast sometimes. I looked up this problem and
was advised that noise on the power supply could cause the clock to be wrong
(but only by a tiny amount). Before I taking the clock apart, I decided to
plug my power measuring device in to the power point, and got a reading of 158
volts and 32 Hz. It is supposed to be 237 v and 50 Hz!
Since the clock had been plugged into the power point for over 30 years I
pushed the plug in and out a few times and got the correct readings. I think
there was corrosion in the contacts.
However the clock still keeps skipping ahead. The minute hand keeps in step
with the hour hand so I don't think the hands are slipping.
The clock has earlier had an accident where it fell off the wall 3 metres onto
to a concrete floor. The adjustment spindle at the bottom broke off, so I made
a new part on the huge lathe out of a 1/4'" bolt turned down to 1/16" on the
lathe. I am amazed that it didn't break!
I now suspect that a cog in the clockwork is skipping teeth. So that is next
weekend''s job, unless anyone has brilliant suggestions. I think I need a
lathe 100 times smaller now that I seem to be fixing so many clocks.
I have uploaded pictures of all this but they seem to have vanished. I cannot
see where to put my user name and password. So this probably won't work!

A bad contact would explain the low v reading, but 32hz means your tester is basically junk, at least as far as measuring f goes.

I've had a simlar experience with a 1970s quartz clock, very puzzling. No idea what's causing your problem.

Most regulars here have the website you're using blocked. Google groups is vastly better, much as it gets criticised. And re pic uploads, please use anything other than dripbox, it's so awful I frequently just don't bother to look.


NT

Any possibility that there could be enough sub-50Hz noise in the power supply to the clock to cause a spurious reading (and to upset a synchronous clock)?

Tim

On Friday, 8 November 2019 05:14:06 UTC, MattyF wrote:
replying to Brian Gaff (Sofa 2), MattyF wrote:

I think the clock has suffered from its fall. The second hand appears to be
loose and may sometimes be touching the other hands (but never when I am
watching it). If I can't fix it easily someone can buy a new clock. But it is
a nice clock.

if all else fails a new large hands mechanism could run it.

I have recently fixed the clock outside by the tram stop. It needs to be wound
every 7 days. It was stopping because of rust on the two mainsprings. That was
probably why the other two clocks stopped working.
I found Tim's message on HomeOwnersHub, and this seems easier than Usenet that
died on me 5 years ago.

bad decision. This is usenet anyway.


NT