Re: Clock conversion to quartz

Posted by HH56 On 2012/6/9 10:40:19

My 56 Borg unit was converted many years ago and gave out last year. I went the DIY this time and found they had made some changes to get the kit to fit the first time. My DIY came from Instrument Services, and while I won't swear to it, believe they are the company that did the original conversion.

Due to the age of clock, problems you may have DIY is voltage and gear shaft size and routing. Not sure how many DIY 6v units are around for starters. The DIY kit was 12-24v but no mention of 6v available. I think most converters say before a certain year they need the unit. Most likely they know that modifications and tiny parts are needed the average guy wouldn't be aware of or have.

First change I found was the time set adjustment. They had made a plate to carry gears from the old knob to the hands because that was part of original mechanism. Second was they had to drill some holes in the support plate behind the dial face to hold the new mechanism. Third was the second hand if you have one. The shaft size on new mechanism is small compared to old so they had installed a tiny bushing between the hand and the new mechanism. Hand was both press fit and glue on outside diameter of bushing and mechanism press fit on the inner. Fourth was a new terminal plate to the inside clock back to connect power -- both pos and neg since the new mechanism uses wire leads from terminals to tiny solder pads.

Since I already had those changes, except for the first unit being defective, the DIY was fairly easy otherwise. Instrument Services was very nice and prompt in replacing the unit (according to the lady in service, there was a piece of plastic flashing binding something that was supposed to move freely).

Being curious, What did you wind up doing on the coil -- spend the $400 or use modern?