Uploaded August 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
We were looking for a counter top flip-clock and I saw this one on ebay. I thought I'd take a chance. A cube style having a smaller profile was ideal, and the price was good. There was no obvious signs of damage and all of the knobs appeared to be there.
As arrived, everything appeared to work, it looked as though it just needed a cleaning. Both clock and radio functioned. Immediately noticed was dirt on the glass that appeared to be on the inside, so disassembly started. There's no info on this so it was done carefully.
The clock mechanism removed exposed the glass which shows the dirt on the inside as well as the neon bulb covered with dirt. a technique with q-tips managed to get in with glass cleaner to remove all dirt from the glass, solving for this issue, though it was evident that the motor had some start-up drag and needed cleaning.
The motor was removed from the clock mechanism and the lower portion dipped and drained in 99.9% alcohol for short events and allowed to drain, the motor spun by hand for several events to break up the dirt, then left to dry and reassembled. Re-spinning the motor showed no drag.
After re-assembly, the outside was treated with furniture wax, the knows all polished and reassembled. Testing of the flip mechanism was within a minute as expected and the clock holds perfect time as it is timed to the mains 60hz.
#retrotech #restoration #flipclock
We were looking for a counter top flip-clock and I saw this one on ebay. I thought I'd take a chance. A cube style having a smaller profile was ideal, and the price was good. There was no obvious signs of damage and all of the knobs appeared to be there.
As arrived, everything appeared to work, it looked as though it just needed a cleaning. Both clock and radio functioned. Immediately noticed was dirt on the glass that appeared to be on the inside, so disassembly started. There's no info on this so it was done carefully.
The clock mechanism removed exposed the glass which shows the dirt on the inside as well as the neon bulb covered with dirt. a technique with q-tips managed to get in with glass cleaner to remove all dirt from the glass, solving for this issue, though it was evident that the motor had some start-up drag and needed cleaning.
The motor was removed from the clock mechanism and the lower portion dipped and drained in 99.9% alcohol for short events and allowed to drain, the motor spun by hand for several events to break up the dirt, then left to dry and reassembled. Re-spinning the motor showed no drag.
After re-assembly, the outside was treated with furniture wax, the knows all polished and reassembled. Testing of the flip mechanism was within a minute as expected and the clock holds perfect time as it is timed to the mains 60hz.
#retrotech #restoration #flipclock
