Vintage electromechanical device. (With concealed LED illumination.)

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  • Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
  • This is a really old electromechanical device that I bought from a junk market (The Barra's) many years ago. Tonight I spontaneously got the urge to add some internal illumination using simple generic ebay LED strip.
    It turned into quite a task with the bulk of the time spent removing hacked wiring internally and cleaning parts of the mechanism, then adding some new wiring and an external 12V jack. Then it got reassembled and the new LED tape measured, cut, linked and then carefully installed in a manner that makes it completely invisible from the outside of the case. I also added a diode in series with the 12V tape to dim it down a bit (From 850mA to 650mA total.) The result makes me wish I'd done it sooner. It truly looks like a working museum exhibit now.
    (It's a Gents Pulsynetic master clock used to run all the clocks in a building in sync.)

Комментарии • 35

  • @Millay2006
    @Millay2006 9 лет назад +9

    Nice master clock there Sir...

  • @rogersmith9808
    @rogersmith9808 8 лет назад

    My uncle who was an old-time clock-maker (back when "clock-makers" actually had to build a clock from scratch before graduating clock-making school) had one of these in the back of his shop for as long as I can remember. I couldn't understand why it didn't look more like a clock with the exception of having a pendulum. Thanks for the memories!! 8^)

  • @zaprodk
    @zaprodk 9 лет назад +2

    What a beautiful master clock - and cool mod!

  • @stridermt2k
    @stridermt2k 7 лет назад

    Beautiful work to a beautiful piece!
    (I never would have guessed its function aside from timing of some type...)

  • @MegaWayneD
    @MegaWayneD 9 лет назад +1

    NO WAY! Not only have you got an awesome ginger beard, an obsession with Poundland stuff and cheap Chinese stuff but now you've got a Gent master clock! I'm convinced you're a clone of me now! I've got an earlier Gent Pulsynetic master clock in my living room (It's in the background of my "How to talk in a British Dalek" video) I've considered adding a nixie tube clock behind the lower glass to keep the time as my son keeps battering the hell out of it and stopping the mechanism.

    • @BigClive
      @BigClive  9 лет назад +1

      Yeah, I wonder how many of these are still in existence around the UK. I just couldn't resist buying it when I saw it, and then carried it to the nearest Glasgow Underground station (which was quite a distance away) so I could get it back to my van. I innocently stood it upright in the underground train and leaned on the top. Unfortunately the train hit resonant frequency with the mass of iron at the top and I ended up lunging backwards and forwards with the thing trying to stop it going right over.

    • @MegaWayneD
      @MegaWayneD 9 лет назад

      bigclivedotcom There's one on Ebay right now, they seem to be increasing in value. I've seen a working one in a pub in Newcastle upon Tyne and a disused one in Northumberland college, also a few disused Gent slave clocks darted about the college. The one I have used to be at Vickers Armstrong Elswick works in Newcastle. My Grandfather put the mechanism from a clocking-in machine into it (the clocking-in machine mechanism dates to 1912 and still works!) unfortunately the original electro-mechanical guts are long gone.

  • @donaldasayers
    @donaldasayers Год назад

    How did I miss this video? It is of course a Gents' Pulsynetic C7 master clock. They can be made to keep very good time if you screw them to the wall in all five positions with big screws and take care over the regulation. They are a bit loud for domestic use. We don't hear them now. I have two going at the moment with another similar clock by Synchronome.
    Yours is missing the 'pilot' dial that tells you the time.

  • @RODALCO2007
    @RODALCO2007 9 лет назад

    Brilliant !! may have to do that to my Gents master clock as well.

    • @BigClive
      @BigClive  9 лет назад

      I used the warm white LED tape with the exposed Individual LEDs (not the 5050 type) because it us easier to shape, stick and connect to. Most of it went on the raised parts around the door, and the 12v supply runs both the LEDs and the clock itself.

    • @RODALCO2007
      @RODALCO2007 9 лет назад

      bigclivedotcom
      Great stuff, I like blue so I will have a look on ebay. You got a great channel.

    • @BigClive
      @BigClive  9 лет назад

      RODALCO2007 If you're going for a colour then it might be better getting some of the RGB 5050 stuff (with matching remote control controller) so you can choose the colour or get a rough approximation of white. Again I'd recommend choosing the non waterproof stuff as it is easier to terminate and much more flexible making it stick to surfaces better.
      Your channel is good too. I like the power distribution stuff (and the electrical carnage).

  • @DigitalIP
    @DigitalIP 4 года назад

    wow, nice lighting

  • @jinjocat
    @jinjocat 3 года назад +1

    Patreon Livestream brought me here

  • @Elfnetdesigns
    @Elfnetdesigns 9 лет назад +2

    Thats a Master Clock. MY grandmother had one and 2 Slave Clocks in her home here in Louisiana. We put them in storage when I upgraded to Atomic Clocks.

    • @compactc9
      @compactc9 8 лет назад +1

      +ElfNet Gaming So this would be for a system where you would have several clocks all synchronized by this mechanism? I knew it had to be some sort of a clock, I just didn't see a clock face, so I wasn't too sure exactly what it was.

  • @RonnieTucker1
    @RonnieTucker1 9 лет назад

    Ah The Barras. Them we're the days.
    Erra electronic devices, two fur a poun'. 😁

    • @BigClive
      @BigClive  9 лет назад +1

      Yeah, back when the Barra's actually sold interesting stuff and not just generic merchandise. there are only a few interesting stalls now.
      I got this thing quite cheap. Probably because it had a square pin plug on it and had most likely made its displeasure known. (Lots of exposed metal designed to operate at low voltage DC.)

    • @RonnieTucker1
      @RonnieTucker1 9 лет назад

      Back when they were raided on a weekly basis. 😁
      I used to head up there for either bootleg games, or hooky satellite cards. And some cool junk.

    • @BigClive
      @BigClive  9 лет назад

      Ronnie Tucker At the end of the software piracy era the police were constantly there, and the sellers set up on boxes with loose cloths on them so that when they heard the warning call they grabbed the corners and ran with the stock. That was after the other era where you placed your order for software with the individuals wandering about with lists, and it got delivered from some random location.

    • @RonnieTucker1
      @RonnieTucker1 9 лет назад

      Indeed. I remember one bunch of guys used to just hang about in a street with folders of what was on offer. And, yes, they had runners who would dash off to get the goods.
      I remember one time me and a friend were waiting on the kid to come back with our CDs and could hear the stall owner saying that it was quarter to and they were expecting a raid at half past. We grabbed the CDs from the kid and legged it. 😁

  • @Techtronics
    @Techtronics 9 лет назад +6

    Is it a Gents Pulsynetic (C7) Master Clock?

    • @BigClive
      @BigClive  9 лет назад +4

      I believe it is. Although mine seems slightly non standard with its top to bottom glass and the fact it originally had a clock movement with a second hand incremented by an auxiliary contact. (I removed the clock face because it wasn't as attractive as the mechanism.)

    • @beachsandinspector
      @beachsandinspector 9 лет назад +1

      bigclivedotcom
      I remember seeing these in old telephone exchanges and I am glad to see that some people have saved them from the scrap heap.
      Would love to have one here might have to ask around.

    • @Zizzily
      @Zizzily 8 лет назад

      I've seen ones with the second hand operated from mains used in substations to make sure the cycles stayed in sync, generally because at the time, it was fairly common for larger customers to use the mains as a time base. I've heard they usually resynchronized about once a day or so.

    • @Mark1024MAK
      @Mark1024MAK 7 лет назад +1

      Pairs of these were often used at large UK railway stations to run the impulse clocks. With a change over system in case the in use "master clock" failed (although I forgot if this was automated or manual). The station clocks that had a second hand, operated it from the mains.

  • @twocvbloke
    @twocvbloke 9 лет назад

    Too late to really make a guess considering all the other guesses made but looks to be a master clock for running electric clocks in say a school, a place of business or government building... :)

  • @deltalambda3864
    @deltalambda3864 9 лет назад

    i have one of those unfortunately the wooden case has rotted slightly :(.

  • @phonotical
    @phonotical 7 лет назад

    Is that a Mercury ballast?

    • @BigClive
      @BigClive  7 лет назад +1

      No. It has capacitors and linear rheostats.

    • @phonotical
      @phonotical 7 лет назад +1

      bigclivedotcom 😂 I was referring to the weight

  • @user-mn2xr3fs9v
    @user-mn2xr3fs9v 7 месяцев назад

    И точнее!

  • @user-mn2xr3fs9v
    @user-mn2xr3fs9v 7 месяцев назад

    Ерунда наши лучше!