Internals of Quartz Clock Mechanisms
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- Опубликовано: 3 окт 2024
- In this video I get a regular Quartz Wall Clock and open it up in order to better understand how it works. I go through every part of the mechanism and attempt to explain how it works.
This is part of a blog post on the topic: wp.me/p1ycUS-az
This is the only detailed explanation of the inner workings of these clocks I've seen. This is done superbly well! I have discarded so many clocks because the clock mechanism wasn't working. Now that I understand how it works, I can fix.
My sister brought me an older clock that made the sound of a different bird every hour. It wasn't working and had belonged to my dad, so it was worth fixing. I took everything apart and found that the battery contact strips weren't making contact with the main board. I had to solder jumper wires to get power to the clock innards. After a lot of time and patience, I finally got it back together and it works! I would never have attempted this with the knowledge this video provides.
Thank you Robert, I have a little known tip! If you have a clock of this type that has been working for better than 15 years and is loosing about 5 min in a week, turn it over, 180 so the 6 is at the top, watch it for a week and if it keeps correct time you can rotate the mechanism in relation to the numbers and get another 15 or so years out of it. Gravity only wears the plastic on the bottom.
bruhh
write a book on how be be efficient in everyday life alreaady
Thats very interesting
Thank you for a great description of how it all works. I found a beautiful wall clock in the dumpster where we live and brought it home. After cleaning it all up, I was able to get the motor working again by watching your video. I feel so smart now.
I thoroughly ENJOYED this video 7.5 years after it was published. Thank you for taking the time to do the research and doing the video.
My 5 year old son has watched this video about 200 times! He loves clock mechinisms :)
After searching for a video to explain how clocks work for an hour, I found this video, and now I know what I wanted to know. I think I'll stop looking for more videos on how clocks work now. This had such a great explanation, thank you so much.
Thank you Robert. The video was very informative! I was able to set my beautiful clock!
This video was made 9 years ago... but oh my THANK YOU DEAR FELLOW, thank you SO MUCH, I watched so many tutorials but you happened to be the only one who saved me and teached me to repair such t68 mechsnism! And to repair it I had to watch WHOLE video, trying to assemble it wrong way all along ahaha... but finally! It's an amazing feeling! I was really in a despair but - finally! It's a miracle! Thank you and bless you!
Hi Robert, I do not care whether it is a soleniod or armature. The fact that your video saved me some cash is what I am gratefull to you for the clear instructions
A very well described video that took us into the inner secrets of a regularly used item that we may never have known about. Thank you for a great lesson.
Thank you! My entire clock fell apart when I was trying to "redecorate" the face! I had to watch your video several times but it's back together and it's working!!!
Awesome video, our clock fell off the wall and the mechanism shattered into every single component on the floor. I didn't think I had a hope of assembling it all back together but it's now back on the wall and working thanks to you!
I have one that I would like to throw on the floor. It has run fast ever since it was new. Should have taken it back but I had already thrown out the receipt by the time I realized what was going on. No adjustment of course.
@@plansexaminer I'm reading your comment 8yrs on and laughing.I wonder how your life has changed and if you ever did throw your wall clock on the floor,if it is still happily running fast or if it has expired with time (Pun intended!)
Finally, an explanation I can get behind.
As much as clockmakers and watchmakers hate quarts movents, it's hard not to acknowledge how elegant these simple mechanisms really are. I especially love that these things can run continuously for twenty years or more without any maintenance, and longer if it is, and still keep relatively accurate time for less than a few dollars.
Awesome! So cool to see the genius of normal everday mechanisms that we take for granted. Old clock works now! Mahalo nui (much appreciation) from Hawaiʻi!
Thanks for the great video. I took a thrift store clock apart to paint it and change out the faceplate and the internal gears fell apart. Your video helped me figure out how to put it all back together again. Thanks!
Good! These things are cheap, but I'd rather spend an interesting while trying to fix one than go and buy a new one. This video helped me a lot. Thanks!
Fixed my mom's old clock. Thanks! Great video.
I would like to add a little detail about how the motor works. Each pulse to the coil results in both the pole pieces at the bottom being of the same polarity while the two pole pieces at the top are of the opposite magnetic polarity. The large electromagnetic poles are 180 degrees apart and the small poles are also 180 apart and 90 degrees from the similarly polarized large poles. The pulses repel the permanent magnet on the gear such that the permanent magnet is always pushed away from the similarly polarized small pole and toward the oppositely polarized small pole at the other end of the U shaped core. After the pulse, the pole pieces are no longer electromagnetically magnetized but the permenent magnet on the gear will latch itself into place aligned with the larger poles of the electromagnet due to their larger size and greater attraction. They are then ready for the next pulse of opposite polarity. This all ensures the motor always turns in the same direction with alternating pulses. It is essentially a permanent magnet AC motor.
Does the impeller have 4 poles - 2 magnets?
THANKS!! I'VE BEEN TWO HOURS TRYING TO RE ARM A QUARTZ CLOCK, THIS WAS THE UNIQUE VIDEO I FOUND
Rearm?
I'd broken my waking clock and thanks to this video I repaired it and learned how it works on the way.
Thanks for making this video! Although my clock wasn't the same model it was close enough to yours that I figured out how to repair my bathroom clock! I figured I had one gear out of whack, but when I got the backing plate off they all bounced out. After I saw how yours looked inside and you explained the solenoid and that first gear, the reassembly went fairly smoothly (except for when I put the backing plate back on - it took a couple of tries to get that plate on without that second gear bouncing out of place). Now I'm all set! (bad pun intended)!
fantastic video.....chilled out, a really good walk through on how these work. Simple as......but omg how clever are the people who invent and MAKE these things!!
Dear Mr.Robert,Thank you very much for posting this video. I was able to fix a opened mechanism and get a clock going. After opening, I could not figure out how to fix one of the gears, this helped me a lot. Thank you once again. Ram mohan G Bangalore India
You learn something new every day. Thank you for sharing.
A heartfelt thank you, for your detailed how to, I had one of these mechanisms get acid in it and after that it stopped working, I decided to take a chance and open it and give it a clean, after I opened it the whole thing fell into pieces on my desk. I was mystified as to how to put it back together. I managed to reassemble it, with the help of your video after cleaning the contacts. Again thank you very much for your explanation and the how to. Regards.
Hahaha wonderful video! Yes most of us know how those gears work, but actually seeing that little gear with the magnet turning them is amazing. I am a 50ish aerospace engineer, and is still using my Quartz alarm clock to wake me up every morning that I bought from Gemco (remember this store?) when I was in 9th grade with my own money :) Awesome our wonderful big little world! And yes, that black case looked very familiar, the manufactures probably have made millions of them. I just can't stop laughing when you said "$3 from Kmart....but be very, very careful" LOL! Take care all!
JUSTENization Wonderful text and way of expressing yourself 🤓🤠
Many thanks Robert, a clock that means to us is back on the wall thanks to you!
Man thank you so much. My mom’s analog clock fell apart when changing the battery and I got everything else but couldn’t figure out those 2 bottom pieces. This was extremely helpful!
Thanks so much for the explanation. I even enjoyed the delays.
thank you for your great video. I bought a make your own clock kit and found the "works" were not in tact. With your help, I put it back together and it works very well. Again, thank you very much!
I felt like a curious kid once again!!! Thank you Robert!
Great Video I love seeing how things work! And now I learned to check my NEW battery if all else fails!!!
I just fixed 3 of these this week. IN EVERY CASE the problem was the pressure contacts between the battery connectors & the electronics board. All I needed to do was gently scrape the contacts (2 spring from the battery, 2 flat on the PCB) with a plastic blade to remove the oxidization (will now look evenly bright), and BINGO! The clock ticks & runs fine again. Just be careful how you disassemble & re-assemble the gear mech. About 15 minutes work & no parts cost, & you keep the original hands & sound of your clock!
James H
Managed to fix my clock by watching this video. Thanks.
Awesome! Quite informative! Covers all the basic! Now I have the courage to fix my wall clock.
Don’t worry about any “minor delays” as I find the more you take your time, the more relaxing it is to watch :)
Pro video, light, sound, content. High class! Interesting and in depth, clear and very nice. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and thank you for the time you took to produce and upload this video.
Brilliant!!! Fixed one of my clocks and working on another. Thank you so much❤️👏
Time when RUclips videos where straight and simple on point
Thank you for the nice demo. Pozrovienia from Poland.
thanks for the video, it helps me to fix my Quartz wall clock by cleaning some debris between the gears.
I very much enjoyed this video. My wall clock stopped working. Thanks to your excellant video I was able to fix it. A tiny bit of dirt or something jammed the gears !
Using your video I was able to fix an HR 1688 clock mechanism. Thank you!
Best explained video for large wall clocks.
It's been a wile - fascinating ! thank you
Thank you very much for your demonstration and explanation! The video is really helpful for it gives ideas about the function of small electronic circuit board in which quartz crystal resonator in a form of small tuning fork is connected and how the circuit board receives power from battery and causes the tuning fork to vibrate and then how the circuit converts the vibration into one second electric pulse and drives the peizo electric motor and drives the motion work of the clock (12 : 1 reduction gear train that drives the clock hands). So that people will no more get tempted to throw the old unfunctioning clocks into garbage or by the side of road but they get idea to repair and use the clock again.
Amazing video! It helped me with some issues inside the mechanisms. Thanks!
Very cool... You Sir Are An Amazing Person... The Detail In This Video Is So In Depth And Very Easy To Follow.. Thank You For Taking The Time To Explain How The Clock Mechanism Works !!! 🙋👍💯
I'm amazed at how simple the mechanism is. You've given me confidence to have a look inside my faulty travel clock.
Then next week, maybe I'll flip the back off my Rolex Oyster.
(Kidding! 😜)
Thank you so much for this!! I have to build an elastic powered clock and this tutorial helped me greatly!
I have just managed to repair a clock that I got for Christmas which got stuffed in a box when we moved house - I think the second hand pin got pushed through too far. I was looking into buying a new mechanism but then I would have to have different hands for it, but this video has saved my mechanism - thank you!
Wow its been 11 years! Nice video
awesome,informative video! i DO have a quartz clock that has a problem!i called someone who fixes clocks and he told me that he would just replace the box, so i decided to look for a video that actually SHOWED ME how to fix it myself!!!!!lolol great video. thanks so much. !!! who wouldn't want to have a wife that not only was a carpenter, but fixes computers and now can fix a quartz clock??????
I really enjoyed watching this. I'm working on a special clock design using a microcontroller and wanted to see how these mechanisms work. Well done!!! thank you!
Yes I saw that as well.......great food for thought Robert!
My guess is that if you can control the motor with the arduino there must be a way of sensing each back and forth of the motor with an arduino as well. THIS is what I want to do. This would allow me to turn on LEDs in synchronous with the pulsing of the motor for the seconds, mins, hours.
Thorough and well done. I actually think I could, based on this video, fix my quartz clock.
Its a great video, even after 10 years, make more videos.
I've purchased these value wall clocks from Asda, U.K. for £2.00. I've reprinted the face with a person's face on them or a cafés name, trade name. They like it so much they sell for ten times the price I paid. Best regards!
Very clear and in-depth. Thank you so much for explaining.
Very good explanation of the Quartz Mechanism - thanks.
Thank! I just take my class clock to fix. I don't know how first. And I see your video and know how to fix.Even know how is it move. I think you can be a teacher when your youtube is freeze!
I was questioning whether one pulse of the electromagnet caused a full rotation of the gear or a half a rotation. Your video answered that question for me very clearly. I was thinking in the very first part of the video "Put a mark on that gear to see how much it's rotating" and you did. So it takes a second reverse pulse of power to the coil to complete the revolution. Thank you!
the casing can be opened using your thumb nail to push down on the tabs to avoid possible damage using a screw driver or similar
Very helpful, 5:07 shows the 2 prongs that connected to yhe battery, from there to the quartz circuit on his left hand which have 2 tin coated squares correspond to those pins, in my case the pad was scratched off but a quick retin the pads fixed the "dead" mechanism, also the prongs on the box needs to be push down instead of upwards (from my experience, not in the video) to ensure a good connection
Thank you Robert, I managed to repair my workshop clock! 🧐
Really interesting. I've been taking these things apart to quieten them down but not been stripping them down to this extent. This was a brilliant explanation of what the various components inside do. (So I guess a dual 12/24 hour movement just has an extra layer, or an extra pair of cogs?)
I want to make a 24 hour clock that runs backwards (...because that's the way I visualise time for some reason.) I can buy a 24 hour movement or I can buy a reverse movement, but not a 24 hour reverse movement, so I'm going to buy a 24 hour clock and try to reverse the movement, but I'm planning to practice reversing some cheap 12 hour movements first.
thanks for posting; I should have seen your lesson 1 year before. Took to garbage one mechanism... didn't know how to assembly back.
Very well explained and easy to understand Thank you so much.
Great Tutorial!!! got a 20+ year old mechanism to run smoothly again.
very nice video. tq for this sharing. very clear explanation. like it very much
¡Maravilloso! Me has ayudado un montón en el montaje de mi maquinaria, sin ser relojero, gracias my friend
Bravissimo gracias
good work man, clear and precise explanation. thank you
thanks a lot for this. my 20 year old clock now is moving again..
Your clock is moving? Oh my god, I hope it isn't some kind of 21st century Frankenstein.
Thank you! Thanks to your vidéo I was able to repare my clock; there's was a little piece of plastic which blocked the magnet...
You are a great teacher. it was so siple and systematic.
I want to do some fooling around with these mechanisms - thanks for explaining how they're supposed to work so now I can go break them!
Thank you. Very informative. Another point to note, is the battery contacts. Make sure they actually make good contact with with the circuit board. Mine were not. Bent the contact and away it went.
Great video!!!! Thank a lot for uploading.... helped me fixed my clock....
It would have been nice to see how it was removed from the clock. Mine has a bracket on each side and it is pretty secure.
Great video you help me fix the clock the proper way thanks.
thanks. keep pulling apart the parts of everyday household items and share the videos
Excellent! Very interesting.
Thank you for your time and making this video.
I always wonder how things work and take things apart just out of curiosity but a lot of times don’t understand the full explanation in how it works.
Brilliant. Just brilliant my brother. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.
Hi Robert you're the best for posting chronologically teaching of Internals of Quartz Clock Mechanisms! I just fixed mine I thought it's really broken. My only problem is I lost each clock hands, now I made some diy hands from hard paper of a magazine when my sizes and stuff is finished and inserted the diy clock hands ( if you know what i mean) it's not moving when I rotate the controller flip at the back. What to do? Help me thanks
by the way if you reverse the bobina you make it working anticlockwise it's pretty simple since the bobina is not blocked by the armature but by the plastic of the case
INTERESTING! Specially the set gear part
thank you so much you help me fixed this clock of mine. A++ good vid please make more of these .
Excellent video sir. Extremely informative.
Thank you for your video. Helped me a lot.
Apr 29, 2020 😁
I rebuilt my moms clock using this this vid ! Thanks
Thank you for the video, my clock is now working😊🙏
It's not a "solenoid"; it's the armature of a synchronous motor. the round plastic rotor is a permanent magnet. the motor runs on 1 hz. AC; delivered by the integrated circuit on the circuit board; and derived from the 32,768 hz. crystal frequency by a binary divider. If you go to my channel, you'll see that these clock movements can easily be used as a readout for your own clock project; providing the 1hz. AC signal involves a little trick. But it's only necessary to sever one of the two copper circuit board traces to the motor armature; so it's not longer connected to the circuit board; and solder on two small wires to the terminals of the armature coil; which are easily identified visually. Put it shaft side down on top of an empty shot glass, or such; and then when you take the back off it won't fall apart.
All true. Although I would be interested in getting an oscilloscope reading of what comes out of the electric circuit; my guess is that it sends out 1hz pulses rather than a sine wave. It would be interesting to also know the shape of the wave rather than just its frequency.
Any way to transform hour movement from 12 to 24 ?
John Affleck I am trying to find a way to add a secondary power source that can be controlled by a small remote control ( so I can remove the battery from the movement yet turn it back on with the secondary power supply controlled remotely) , as a magician I want to do some thing. A little unusual. Any ideas
John Affleck I need a video
Thanks for precice information also. :)
Great video, I used your info to put my cheap IKEA clock back together.
How we take things for granted everyday...amazing!
Thank you for the nice demo. I tried to do the same easily after seeing this.
Thank you for your awesome explanation ♥
very very interesting, I done that when I was a child but I couldn't put it together again.Nowdays I am a technician :D
Did*
tanpeke bc I'm going to,,
Same!
great explanation. Thanks!
Can you also explain mechanics of alarm function in such clocks?
Thanks so much Robert ..very useful and nice presentation.
Great, hope to get hints how to fix up my old Japanese Alarm clock.
Thank you, very good explanation. Enjoyed watching your video also learnt a lot
Thank you, very, very helpful!!!💯👍👍