Deluxe Clock Question

[KombiMadness]

[Spitty1974]

[Fredrok]

I have one out of our '64 that would run only for 10-15 minutes, usually less. I removed the back, oiled the cogs and pivot points w 3n1 and filed the points.

Things I found were the points had worn a valley between them and I had to scrape inside that valley to really get a clean surface where they actually contact (they don't contact flush). This was the only way it would continue to run past a few minutes.

I also couldn't get it to run on 6v very long, but now goes an hour+ on a 9v batt. I also had to ground to one of the back cover posts as the clock mounting post would not complete the circuit.

My issue is after all that, I get about an hour and a half out of it then it quits. The points end up contacting and then don't break the circuit to wind as usual.

Any suggestions? Just connect to 12v and let er rip?

Thanks

[Jack Frisch]

How do you remove the back?
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1958 Beetle orig. 6 volt 36 hp engine, body & pan, Black w/red/off white inter., Orig. VW wood roof rack and orig. rear luggage rack.
1967 13 Window Walk-thru Deluxe Bus, stock 1500 engine, Titan Red/Grey, Platinum Mesh interior, orig. & stock
1966 GT350H Shelby Orig. low mileage car

[Fredrok]

Seems more voltage was my answer. Been running for hours now on 12 so I added the wire and threw it back in the dash.

Jack, use needle nose pliers to break off the anti-tamper pad covering 1 of the 3 nuts on the backside of the white cover. Then unscrew the 3 nuts and carefully work the cover off. You may need to support the power terminal with same pliers and work on the cover closer to that area as the cover fits pretty tight around it so you can break it lose from there. That'll likely be the hold up from sliding it right off.

[Jack Frisch]

My clock has the blue tamper pad ring on and the other two threaded ends have no nuts on them. The white cover wiggles and has a gap of distance between it and the back of clocks face. See my video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9iDdCAIOJg&feature=youtu.be

Any suggestions on how to proceed? I don't neat to break anything, this is how I got this clock came when I bought it on ebay, I haven't taken to apart yet.

Jack
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1958 Beetle orig. 6 volt 36 hp engine, body & pan, Black w/red/off white inter., Orig. VW wood roof rack and orig. rear luggage rack.
1967 13 Window Walk-thru Deluxe Bus, stock 1500 engine, Titan Red/Grey, Platinum Mesh interior, orig. & stock
1966 GT350H Shelby Orig. low mileage car

[Fredrok]

Jack, the nuts are missing from the exposed studs and possibly from the 3rd "tamper" stud but curious how they would do that without breaking the tamper pad (the whole reason it's there).

You should not have the play in that cover with the studs still protruding so my guess is someone got into it to try to get it working, was unable or intimidated and threw it back together, without all the hardware.

I'd go ahead and crush that blue pad off, get the nut off if there is one and carefully work the cover off. You need to do some investigating underneath anyway to see why it's so loose the way it is. I suppose it could also be loose like that if the front screws behind the hands are missing or loose as well.

[BarryL]

How dust tight is the front? I know the rear cover has a gasket.

Is there a gasket on the glass-to-housing or glass-to-bezel?

How tight should the glass be, meaning, should you be able to rattle it?

[EverettB]

I'm guessing there is a gasket in there but I've never taken one apart to find out.

On my original clocks the glass is firmly in place.
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[Buskraut]

Passing along a recent success story with my '65 bus clock:

I've owned this clock for 35+ years and its never really worked right. It's spent 95% of its life stopped, or as they say, accurate twice a day. I tried cleaning up the mechanism a bit from time to time, and it would run for a couple of days and then stop. Converting the bus from 6V or 12V supply didn't seem to matter (for better or worse). Eventually the solder fuse blew.

Recently I got serious about getting it working... here is what worked:

1. For research, there is a great thread on the Ghia forum https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=583858 about clock repair.

2. For the fuse, I used his approach of replacing the hard-to-solder low temp solder fuse with standard solder, plus adding an external 1A fuse inline with the 12V supply for protection.

3. For cleaning, I used compressed air only. I think it's risky to introduce any other cleaning agents into the mechanism. Granted the internals on my clock were in good, clean condition... if you've got corrosion to deal with I'm sure it's a whole different story.

4. For lubrication, I used Nye #140-B oil, which you can find cheap (in the clock world) on EBay (I paid $15). For these clocks, I concluded that the type of lube is critical... not too thin (watch) and not too viscous (big clock). This one is synthetic and seems to check all the boxes for this size clock. You want to add it sparingly to the rotating shaft joints, not the gears (I'm sure I'm using the wrong terminology). I probably used 0.001% of the oil I received (which came with a nice oiling pen BTW).

Obviously I'm not a clock guy, just determined to figure it out. BUT, so far my clock has been running perfectly for a couple of months, and I was able to dial in the +/- screw so it keeps good-enough time. And I love hearing the periodic THUNK about once a minute as the solenoid winds the spring.
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Erik S
'65 Type 251 / Deluxe
'03 Eurovan MVWK

[pondoras box]

Thank you updating this thread. I have a small fleet of clocks I have been accumulating for the past 30 years. None of them have been tested and I’m sure need all of this.
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Looking for anything from Hal Casey Motors out of Hamburg New York, from license plate surrounds to matchbooks.

1961 23 Window (Bobo)
1965 11 Window (Zelda). https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=563183
1965 13 Window (Lucas)
1957 Oval ragtop
1960 hardtop
1964 hardtop
1965 hardtop
Another 65 hardtop
1973 standard bug
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=804912
1988 Cabriolet VR6 conversion

[pyrOman]

Don't know how I missed this thread, but I'm sure I have address this before somewhere here. Anyway, here's my 2 pennies:

These old assed clocks, if they had any jewels, were only in the "heart" pivots. Every other gear spun on just plain drilled holes on the brass. The main gear that is pushed by the windup spring receives the most pressure, thus wearing out the hole. After so many years (decades) of this, eventually the gear does not engage properly and slows it all down until it just plain stops! Once it stops, the fuse blows.

I managed once to install a jewel on a clock's main gear before and ended up selling it. Not easy to do even if you can find a jewel that will match. Another option, which I did not do, is trying to find a Mercedes Benz clock from the '70s which runs a motor instead of the wind up type. The mechanism is identical to the old type. Hope this info helps some.
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[BigVTwin]