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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
Thank you so much! I have built quite a few clocks, many with mechanical movements and I am working on building a wooden gear clock when in my retirement someday. When I felt lazy or cheap I built clocks with quartz movements such as the one you demonstrated. In all my years calculating gear ratios, pendulum lengths and oscillation periods, pallet spacing, etc, I never bothered to look inside one of these neat little gizmos. They are ingenious! .All this time I gave a guess that the quartz oscillations timed a small electro-mechanical escapement that advanced a seconds gear. Leave it to an engineer to complicate such a simple device. This is one of those videos that will be relevant for a good long time, as shown by the fairly recent comments.
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!)
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.
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!!!
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.
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!!
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!
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)!
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!
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!
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.
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!
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
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.
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!
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
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!
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!
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!
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.
My problem: My clock works seemingly good, but it has a problem, the hour hand is not precise. To say, when it is 6:00 o0clock, the minutes shows 12, but the hour hands is not exactly on 6, but one line before 6. ¿Any solution? Thanks.
I know this is 2 years too late but, you can fix this by forcing the hands, by hand, so both point to 12. Then set the clock to the correct time. The hour hand should then point to each hour number when the minute hand is on the 12.
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 !
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!
I wouldn't call the coil of wire a solenoid, solenoids typically have a free moving piece of steel or iron (plunger) in them to complete an action. This is the winding of a simple stepper motor (or it could actually be a simple shaded pole synchronous motor). The electromagnet, when energized, say +/-, rotates the permanent magnet half way, then the electromagnet energizes in the opposite polarity (-/+) completes the revolution of the motor. You probably noticed on the magnet core there are two points on each end, this is what makes it a stepper motor as the magnet aligns with two of those four points The rotor is comprised of two magnets together (N-S-N-S) causing the rotor to align with the polarity of the electromagnet. The glop top takes the high frequency of the Quartz tuning fork crystal and outputs it in the 2 second (0.5 Hz) cycle of your motor. These motors are also used in electro-mechanical timer switches. That being said, solid state timers are used in place of the electro-mechanical ones now due to simplicity of making a single circuit board with nothing more than a relay (again, solid state or electro-mechanical) mounted to it to switch current on and off.
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.
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 !!! 🙋👍💯
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.
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
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'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 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.
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!
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.
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
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!
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.
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!
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
I have a clock that turned the hands in the opposite direction so that the number eleven was on the number one and the number one was on the number eleven. Everything was OK, only the numbers on the clock were counter set and the hands went counter to the normal clock. That clock broke and I found it very interesting because everything was counter, so I'm asking for your advice on how to buy a new clock cartridge and set it to go in the opposite direction like the clock I had until now, and I hope and in the future. I thank you in advance. Let me mention that the watch is quartz like yours in this video. The hands on a normal watch go from right to left, and on the one I have, the hands go from left to right.
Robert, you're aswesom! Thank you so much for not only breaking it down but explaining as you go along. I taught myself - reluctantly - only because I'm a (reluctant) clock collector. LOL! It's crazy, but fun. Now, I only collect clocks that chime, which is a bit of a challenge but satisfying when I'm able to tear one apart and fix it or use parts from one and fix another. But it's the chime mechanism that's a little complex, or a lot complex in some cases. Do you have a video on quartz chime repair? Thank you, i thoroughly enjoyed your taking apart the plastic gears, that of which i hate to do. I watched a recent video of this and the guy said to take a photo of how the gears are positioned before you disasdidamble it. It's tricky because everything is so intricate in there plus my fingers are fat!
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.
I've taken my mechanism housing apart, and the top gears do turn if I press down on the flat black piece that sits between the top and bottom gears. When I let go the ticking stops. It also looks different than your example mechanism. I wish I could add a picture of it here to show you so you could see and give your input.
Thank you Robert, Very Good explanation and it helped me bring back my quartz movement back to life. Care to include the alarm part if possible in your next videos as I had the alarm not ringing in the quartz movement click. It was the issue if carbon deposition on cleaning the contacts it reconnected and everything is fine. Thank you and God Bless once again. Regards Vaibhav
Oh! this was so brilliantly explained. Thanks Robert. I would like to convert the movement to 24 hr format so just replaced the 32,xxxMHz crystal with a 16,384MHz one. added 2x22pf caps from each crystal leg to -ve but could not get oscillation. Could you give us some clues? I notice this question has been asked several times Thanks
electric power (tiny battery) >> oscillate the quartz crystal (piezoelectric effect) >>vibration from the oscillation turns into regular electric pulses, one per second by Microchip circuit upon which quartz placed >> electric pulses passes to a magnetic coil and generate the magnetic filed and it help in physical movement and turns the gears.
Yes, I watched this pretty avidly and, although not my favourite type of movement, I understand these movements better. One thing I noticed on a couple of gears were the 3 segmental cut-outs (curved bits) and you didn't explain the significance of those. Also I noticed 2 metal prongs from the battery area, which I assume make contact with the magnet? Not sure at all about that bit either. The circuit board I reckon should have been gone into, but not too much, as I appreciate this is highly specialised and would take the layman far too strongly into the realms of electronics. So, overall, congratulations and many thanks for this fascinating insight.
First off, let me say this is a perfect video. Easy to follow and incredibly helpful. My only question is: what is that gear called that is between the hour and minute hand that moves when you are turning the dial to set the clock? I need to replace that.
Very informative. I was wondering if those solenoids have the same universal size. I was searching the web for my old Bulova wall clock but none of the shaft measurement match. Maybe I could buy any one of the movement and replace the solenoids only. Besides I can keep all the pointer hands original. Thanks again.
If the clock won't move at all and the battery is good check the metal contacts touching the battery, touching the circuit board, and the pads the power contacts touch on the circuit board. You may find corrosion and it will definitely stop the clock from working. Clean it up and it probably will work.
Thanks for being so good at explaining this. I havent taken my clock apart yet but I'm trying to figure out why I put in a new battery and the clock slows down and displays an inaccurate time. Before I disassemble it, any ideas why this would happen? Could my solenoid be broken?
Thanks for this. I was wondering if you have any knowledge or information on two allied quartz movement types? 1) The modified for torsion pendulum (cosmetic display only) 2) The radio controlled atomic clock movements Rgds
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.
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!
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
Awesome, thanks! I have a 10 year old Daiso (A Japanese dollar store) clock that loses like 10 minutes a week and this worked!
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.
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
Thank you so much! I have built quite a few clocks, many with mechanical movements and I am working on building a wooden gear clock when in my retirement someday. When I felt lazy or cheap I built clocks with quartz movements such as the one you demonstrated. In all my years calculating gear ratios, pendulum lengths and oscillation periods, pallet spacing, etc, I never bothered to look inside one of these neat little gizmos. They are ingenious! .All this time I gave a guess that the quartz oscillations timed a small electro-mechanical escapement that advanced a seconds gear. Leave it to an engineer to complicate such a simple device. This is one of those videos that will be relevant for a good long time, as shown by the fairly recent comments.
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!)
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?
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!!!
My 5 year old son has watched this video about 200 times! He loves clock mechinisms :)
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.
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!!
THANKS!! I'VE BEEN TWO HOURS TRYING TO RE ARM A QUARTZ CLOCK, THIS WAS THE UNIQUE VIDEO I FOUND
Rearm?
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!
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)!
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!
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!
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.
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!
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
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.
Fixed my mom's old clock. Thanks! Great video.
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
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
I'd broken my waking clock and thanks to this video I repaired it and learned how it works on the way.
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!
Don’t worry about any “minor delays” as I find the more you take your time, the more relaxing it is to watch :)
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 🤓🤠
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!
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.
You learn something new every day. Thank you for sharing.
My problem: My clock works seemingly good, but it has a problem, the hour hand is not precise. To say, when it is 6:00 o0clock, the minutes shows 12, but the hour hands is not exactly on 6, but one line before 6. ¿Any solution? Thanks.
I know this is 2 years too late but, you can fix this by forcing the hands, by hand, so both point to 12. Then set the clock to the correct time. The hour hand should then point to each hour number when the minute hand is on the 12.
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 !
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!
very nice video. tq for this sharing. very clear explanation. like it very much
I wouldn't call the coil of wire a solenoid, solenoids typically have a free moving piece of steel or iron (plunger) in them to complete an action. This is the winding of a simple stepper motor (or it could actually be a simple shaded pole synchronous motor). The electromagnet, when energized, say +/-, rotates the permanent magnet half way, then the electromagnet energizes in the opposite polarity (-/+) completes the revolution of the motor. You probably noticed on the magnet core there are two points on each end, this is what makes it a stepper motor as the magnet aligns with two of those four points The rotor is comprised of two magnets together (N-S-N-S) causing the rotor to align with the polarity of the electromagnet. The glop top takes the high frequency of the Quartz tuning fork crystal and outputs it in the 2 second (0.5 Hz) cycle of your motor. These motors are also used in electro-mechanical timer switches. That being said, solid state timers are used in place of the electro-mechanical ones now due to simplicity of making a single circuit board with nothing more than a relay (again, solid state or electro-mechanical) mounted to it to switch current on and off.
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
Great Video I love seeing how things work! And now I learned to check my NEW battery if all else fails!!!
Awesome! Quite informative! Covers all the basic! Now I have the courage to fix my wall clock.
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.
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 !!! 🙋👍💯
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. :)
It's amazing to me how something so seemingly mundane can be so beautifully engineered.
Managed to fix my clock by watching this video. Thanks.
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'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! 😜)
I felt like a curious kid once again!!! Thank you Robert!
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.
Thanks so much for the explanation. I even enjoyed the delays.
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.
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
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 explanation. Thanks!
Can you also explain mechanics of alarm function in such clocks?
thanks for the video, it helps me to fix my Quartz wall clock by cleaning some debris between the gears.
Brilliant!!! Fixed one of my clocks and working on another. Thank you so much❤️👏
Time when UA-cam videos where straight and simple on point
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!
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.
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!
Amazing video! It helped me with some issues inside the mechanisms. Thanks!
Many thanks Robert, a clock that means to us is back on the wall thanks to you!
Using your video I was able to fix an HR 1688 clock mechanism. Thank you!
Thank you for the nice demo. Pozrovienia from Poland.
Wow its been 11 years! Nice video
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...
Its a great video, even after 10 years, make more videos.
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
I have a clock that turned the hands in the opposite direction so that the number eleven was on the number one and the number one was on the number eleven. Everything was OK, only the numbers on the clock were counter set and the hands went counter to the normal clock. That clock broke and I found it very interesting because everything was counter, so I'm asking for your advice on how to buy a new clock cartridge and set it to go in the opposite direction like the clock I had until now, and I hope and in the future. I thank you in advance.
Let me mention that the watch is quartz like yours in this video. The hands on a normal watch go from right to left, and on the one I have, the hands go from left to right.
I just can’t.. don’t have the patience but I definitely agree, you do have a remarkable mind. 🙏🏻
Thorough and well done. I actually think I could, based on this video, fix my quartz clock.
Robert, you're aswesom! Thank you so much for not only breaking it down but explaining as you go along. I taught myself - reluctantly - only because I'm a (reluctant) clock collector. LOL! It's crazy, but fun. Now, I only collect clocks that chime, which is a bit of a challenge but satisfying when I'm able to tear one apart and fix it or use parts from one and fix another. But it's the chime mechanism that's a little complex, or a lot complex in some cases. Do you have a video on quartz chime repair? Thank you, i thoroughly enjoyed your taking apart the plastic gears, that of which i hate to do. I watched a recent video of this and the guy said to take a photo of how the gears are positioned before you disasdidamble it. It's tricky because everything is so intricate in there plus my fingers are fat!
Best explained video for large wall clocks.
thanks for posting; I should have seen your lesson 1 year before. Took to garbage one mechanism... didn't know how to assembly back.
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.
I've taken my mechanism housing apart, and the top gears do turn if I press down on the flat black piece that sits between the top and bottom gears. When I let go the ticking stops. It also looks different than your example mechanism. I wish I could add a picture of it here to show you so you could see and give your input.
good work man, clear and precise explanation. thank you
Thank you so much for this!! I have to build an elastic powered clock and this tutorial helped me greatly!
Thank you Robert,
Very Good explanation and it helped me bring back my quartz movement back to life. Care to include the alarm part if possible in your next videos as I had the alarm not ringing in the quartz movement click. It was the issue if carbon deposition on cleaning the contacts it reconnected and everything is fine. Thank you and God Bless once again. Regards Vaibhav
Oh! this was so brilliantly explained. Thanks Robert.
I would like to convert the movement to 24 hr format so just replaced the 32,xxxMHz crystal with a 16,384MHz one. added 2x22pf caps from each crystal leg to -ve but could not get oscillation. Could you give us some clues?
I notice this question has been asked several times
Thanks
electric power (tiny battery) >> oscillate the quartz crystal (piezoelectric effect) >>vibration from the oscillation turns into regular electric pulses, one per second by Microchip circuit upon which quartz placed >> electric pulses passes to a magnetic coil and generate the magnetic filed and it help in physical movement and turns the gears.
So the quartz crystal is placed the in IC itself?
@@chadcastagana9181 Placed on IC...a way to say both are connected.
Quarts occilator is in the metal can. Soldered to the board
Yes, I watched this pretty avidly and, although not my favourite type of movement, I understand these movements better.
One thing I noticed on a couple of gears were the 3 segmental cut-outs (curved bits) and you didn't explain the significance of those. Also I noticed 2 metal prongs from the battery area, which I assume make contact with the magnet? Not sure at all about that bit either.
The circuit board I reckon should have been gone into, but not too much, as I appreciate this is highly specialised and would take the layman far too strongly into the realms of electronics.
So, overall, congratulations and many thanks for this fascinating insight.
First off, let me say this is a perfect video. Easy to follow and incredibly helpful. My only question is: what is that gear called that is between the hour and minute hand that moves when you are turning the dial to set the clock? I need to replace that.
This was awesome. What would happen if the minute gear was fixed. Would the gear for the seconds hand just break if you tried to adjust the time?
It's been a wile - fascinating ! thank you
Great Tutorial!!! got a 20+ year old mechanism to run smoothly again.
¡Maravilloso! Me has ayudado un montón en el montaje de mi maquinaria, sin ser relojero, gracias my friend
Bravissimo gracias
Great, hope to get hints how to fix up my old Japanese Alarm clock.
Very informative. I was wondering if those solenoids have the same universal size. I was searching the web for my old Bulova wall clock but none of the shaft measurement match. Maybe I could buy any one of the movement and replace the solenoids only. Besides I can keep all the pointer hands original. Thanks again.
Thank you very much for this but I have a question,
I have a quartz carage clock with a HECHINGER movement, how does this work ????????????
If the clock won't move at all and the battery is good check the metal contacts touching the battery, touching the circuit board, and the pads the power contacts touch on the circuit board. You may find corrosion and it will definitely stop the clock from working. Clean it up and it probably will work.
Very clear and in-depth. Thank you so much for explaining.
great video! i like the black mark on the cog. but i was wondering how can the cog always spin in the same direction.
Very good explanation of the Quartz Mechanism - thanks.
Thank you Robert, I managed to repair my workshop clock! 🧐
Very well explained and easy to understand Thank you so much.
Robert: very good explanation - 10! Doubt: how can I lubrificate this clock oin order to have it working good - no delay? Help, Please?
Thanks for being so good at explaining this. I havent taken my clock apart yet but I'm trying to figure out why I put in a new battery and the clock slows down and displays an inaccurate time. Before I disassemble it, any ideas why this would happen? Could my solenoid be broken?
Thanks for this. I was wondering if you have any knowledge or information on two allied quartz movement types? 1) The modified for torsion pendulum (cosmetic display only)
2) The radio controlled atomic clock movements Rgds