😲They Made A Mechanical Digital Clock!

It's deja vu all over again! My last video demonstrating this completely mechanical 7-segment digital clock from the early 1970's ran into disappointment with a bunch of busted plastic parts that made it FUBAR. This time I take a chance on another clock, from unboxing to a two-day adventure trying to get pure clock satisfaction. Feel like taking a little ride? Enjoy!
For more shots and deeper info on the cam mechanics of this clock, check out the original video here - • Digital Clock Or Autom...
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/ frantone
#franlab #automaton #lumitime
Music by Fran Blanche -
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[@fepatton]

Love these genius mechanisms. Glad you could get it sorted!

[@Landrew0]

Gotta love these last-ditch efforts to show that the old technology can still compete with the new technology. The best steam engines were built to compete with internal combustion engines, and the best airplanes were built to compete with jets.

[@Bluuplanet]

My microwave oven needs one of those little brass thingies. It is so frustrating to attempt a gourmet meal and find it ruined because the glass tray is rotating the wrong direction! :o)

[@Broken_robot1986]

I hate my food spinning counter clockwise. Gets all loose!

[@MatthewJamesMullin]

I love the pattern the seconds disc makes.

[@jasonbrindamour903]

Very cool! Now you need to do a detailed disassembly and have all of the plastic gears 3d scanned so parts can now be made! You can either do it privately and fix lumitrons or run them off for people in kits.

[@MattNolanCustom]

Love it! It's like old railway station clocks and my strobe tuner had a baby

[@greendryerlint]

We had one of these when I was a kid. It lived on top of our Magnavox console TV. It got a little tired as time went by and sometimes a segment or two wouldn't light until you tapped on it and you could hear the little motor humming away.

[@jmcarp0]

Nice! This is the same type of motor that's in my rolling ball clock. I replaced the motor twice. The first motor had a melted pinion gear, and by melted I'm sure you know what that's like, it was just jelly goo with about 3 teeth left. The second motor also failed. The third motor was actually the motor I only robbed the pinion gear out of. All these motors had the same kind of rotor but the 3rd motor had a different kind of plastic that the pinion was made out of. That one has lasted. The third motor came from a lawn sprinkler timer. I found tons of different models of these type motors with different speed gearboxes. None of the gear boxes are compatible but the pinion gear was the same in all of them.

[@cheeseparis1]

Oil versus grease. I bet it was working when the seller repaired it. Congrats on the repair, looking forward to the little nudge on this segment ;-)

[@rhettbaldwin8320]

My grandfather had one of these, I remember being fascinated by it when we visited his house in the 1980s.

[@carloscollomps1552]

Wow In the future

[@rhettbaldwin8320]

@@carloscollomps1552 it was a typo, genius!

[@McTroyd]

Could you get a cast of that cellulose gear, or some precision measurements? Seems like that would be helpful keeping these clocks running. Neat machine! 👍 Edit: Love the time lapse at the end.

[@MartysRandomStuff]

I was thinking the same thing, should have taken measurements and counted the number of teeth while it's still in one piece. I've 3D printed plastic replacement gears for stuff, that one might be too small for 3D printing but could be machined out of something like delrin.

[@theelmonk]

aaauurg, needed another 30 seconds to see the hours tick over ! I did like the face-off animation under the credits though.

[@Hynemonth]

We need an entire night of this marvelous clock !

[@MikinessAnalog]

From what I've found online, the movement's accuracy is 1 second within 25-30 years. That kind of impressed me.

[@nophead]

It will be as accurate as the long term mains frequency. I think the power companies keep it accurate so clocks like these keep time. I.e. the mains frequency can vary a little in the short term but they keep the total number of cycles correct in the long term.

[@protoborg]

@@nophead They care nothing for clocks. They just don't want their customers complaining about their stuff failing due to incorrect power cycles.

[@caw25sha]

Mechanical digital clocks were used for many years in British railway stations. They were operated by solenoids and clunked very loudly every second. I reckon they dated back to the 1980s and clunked away reliably for several decades so were very well made.

[@phoenixsmith6026]

remember them well, a sound of my childhood very much missed sometimes

[@gslug1]

London Victoria still has at least one one each platform, mostly still working.

[@matteolaborg]

Taking that motor assembly and gearbox apart to fix it was awesomely Fran.

[@Bluuplanet]

When little plastic gears break, you can often buy a modifyable near-replacement from Stock Drive Products. You can modify bores and hubs, glue them together to make cluster gears, etc.

[@mso161]

Now THIS is my kind of video!!!😊

[@oldradiotvsc9836]

I think I remember a relative having this exact clock, or one close to it! I remember watching the numbers change and hearing the gears grinding as the AC motor would turn the mechanism, and it would get louder when the numbers changed. I believe this was in about 1977.

[@TheBrkndoll]

I love a happy ending! That's so satisfying. Thanks for sharing, Fran!

[@DinHamburg]

long time ago i had the idea to build a large 7-segment clock-display to be visible from space. So, when a Google Earth syp satellite sees it, the exact time is captured.

[@carlosgaspar8447]

ask batman to build you one.

[@franklittle8124]

Ther is always the "Luecke Farm," In eastern Texas - they cleared a piece of wooded land and left trees standing in kilometer-high letters spelling his name that is visible from space. 30° 4' 55"N 97° 8'30.31"W

[@jmcarp0]

@@franklittle8124 thanks for that, I have viewed :)

[@rf159a]

Question: Are you going to send in the Warranty Card? 😁

[@jsl151850b]

*Fran, may I bring to your attention the Numechron Mechanical Digital Clock. Rotating Cylinders.*

[@FranLab]

Flip clocks are a different category. Done those too. But this is an actual 7-segment display!

[@jsl151850b]

@@FranLab Not flip cards. 6 sided, 10 sided and 12 sided cylinders, like mechanical auto odometers.

[@mwilhelmindetroit]

Did you notice at the first start-up after assembly, it started momentarily in the wrong direction and that brass thingy did its job perfectly?

[@meander112]

Engagement for the engagement god!

[@Bluuplanet]

The mask isn't centered on the starburst. I bet that's what makes it appear to sort of rotate.

[@TucsonAnalogWorkshop]

I wonder if this is the same Tamura Co. that made all the audio transformers that are now so highly sought after for tube amplifiers (and other applications)?

[@keithmarlow143]

A good save, that is pure retro.

[@SomeGuyInSandy]

Very cool!

[@matbillings2533]

Imagine back in the day trying to design something like this. My head hurts just thinking about it!

[@StevenS757]

I wonder if someone could scan/model the gearsets and gearbox and 3D print replacements. It'd be nice to get more of these running

[@Hogla287]

That font on the box is so cool

[@franklittle8124]

As a kid in the 1960s, I had a clock-radio with one of those flipping-leaf-type numerical displays - would they be considered "digital"?

[@technoman9000]

Yes it displayed digits so it was digital.

[@melody3741]

there is a spring powered mechanical watch like this. it has dials instead of a segmented display. that would be a bit much even for top watchmakers. you wind the thing and it tells you the time in decimals down to 5 minutes entirely mechanically. i think it also contains a minute repeater. (watch people will know why that sentence is kind of funny)

[@tmwinkler]

This is my favorite type of video from Fran Lab. Thanks for sharing!

[@38911bytefree]

Not sure if the pretended to be a LED display in their era but ... these are so cool in the way they are. And those digits are gigantic, not sure if it could achive that with led technology from thast period.

[@jmcarp0]

if you search for "intermatic mechanical timer motors" some of the hits are for a little metal oblong case, has an oval top, all of those have a gear box on top of the same kind of motor with that tiny pinion gear inside. Some of these match. you can rob the pinion gear and sometimes the whole rotor will match.

[@jmcarp0]

also search for "grainger" gives more models

[@camilosoveral7294]

uma autentica relíquia, já dei like.

[@Anthony_The_Chicken_Licker]

Legend's have already watched this live🎉😂

[@delboy198]

why don't get that cog 3d analyzed and printed and fix the broken one

[@Blitterbug]

Wire nuts! The sign of the amateur bodger. Great video, Fran.

[@jlucasound]

Stamford, CT. Wow.

[@timg6850]

Is this Clock using the 50/60hz signal from the mains electricity for the timing ?

[@mikemike7001]

Nicely done. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time hoping you'd get get it working.

[@micrashed]

Yay! Another Fran clock video - these mechanical clocks are brilliant o look at.

[@arturperreira5680]

Copy the gears while they are stil intact, maybe some silicone molding, like the one they use for jewelery.

[@ditchburnjukebox]

an amazing piece of engineering Fran, thankyou

[@DimasFajar-ns4vb]

some people have amazing skills i realize it sometimes

[@elvinhaak]

The 'old way' to repair those things and motors.... just spray a little WD40 ... ;-) works wonders for a short while, sometimes very short.

[@hotpuppy1]

Crazy complex for a clock. 'Digital' is a misnomer for these for sure.

[@FranLab]

It displays digits, and that makes it digital.

[@dentakuweb]

@@FranLab And it's display emits light so it's an LED. :) That's some classic marketing speak.

[@WayneKitching]

It doesn't need to be electronic to be digital. For example, hydraulic and pneumatic digital circuits exist.

[@AnEntropyFan]

There's a lot of confusion here. Digital circuits and digital displays are not the same thing, they are just vaguely generally related. Digital circuits use discrete logic to calculate the output that will be displayed and digital displays show the readout in a discrete fashion as specific numerals. This is unquestionably a digital clock.

[@dentakuweb]

@@AnEntropyFan yup... I think of it that way too.

[@Ni5ei]

Great job Fran! You finally have one that's running now.

[@FranLab]

Yep.

[@andygozzo72]

noooo, i'd have left the cable and wire twist 'as-is', but used an extension cable 😉

[@JamieJamez]

You should make a mold of the gear before it turns to goop again

[@OnTheRocks71]

Extremely cool clock, and probably the most unreliable implementation they could have conceived.

[@SpeedSebi]

There are so many typos on the warranty card 😮😊

[@johnharris6589]

Almost fixed the red dot didn’t quite keep up with the spiral.

[@tracyleewilliamson4727]

cool

[@NetanyahooWarCriminal]

The digital clock at home:

[@GeorgeZ213]

How can we see red digits if it's not plugged in?

[@RBLevin]

Great work

[@richardbrobeck2384]

glad you got one that you could get working !

[@Anonymous-m9f9j]

the joy in that laugh was 100% worth the lead up

[@JakesOnline]

I've seen some recent videos of Frankie Valli on tour. He's 90.

[@iancarnell5020]

Well done Fran.

[@ehosack.rocketlad]

Raaahh!!! Awesome job!

[@databang]

(ɷ◡ɷ ) Neat, and not so greazy.

[@andygozzo72]

nice 😊

[@Davidjb37721]

Good job

[@filepz629]

❤️‍🔥FRAN❤️‍🔥

[@WayneKitching]

Japan has both 50Hz and 60Hz.

[@WayneKitching]

Commented too soon.

[@carlosgaspar8447]

was trying to count the number of cogs on the replaceable gear. counted one cog with 14T but that's not a common factor of 50/60.

[@jmcarp0]

@@carlosgaspar8447 many clocks do not have integer gear ratios

[@carlosgaspar8447]

@@jmcarp0 i'm not sure how you can avoid integer gears with this clock.

[@iainriley8819]

💜💜💜💜🖖🖖

[@dcolb121]

A fascinating mechanism.

[@Thegonagle]

New-ish, Includes Box. Eh, it's eBay, you get what you get.

[@jlucasound]

I like your stop watch. ⏱🙂