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Today was one of those days,
Honey do's were done, wife gone all day baby sitting Grandchildren, what's Solly going to do ? Well the clock in the Olds doesn't work big surprise ! so lets investigate has power to clock, remove clock, remove back visual inspection reveals the coil winding for the auto winder is burnt to a crisp, so I started thinking, replace ? nope none available, send out for repair ok maybe, noticed that the repair shop can repair or convert to Quartz Hmm If they can do it why cant I ?? so I started thinking ( very Dangerous ) Years ago when I worked at Monkey Wards they always had give always when You opened a account, crap like emergency radio, flash lights, sewing kits, desk clocks etc.. our shelves were full of them and our managers used to give them to us, I still have a closet shelf filled with that stuff .
So I went in the closet pulled off a never opened battery operated desk clock (AAA 1.5 volt) I said I wonder if I can adapt this to my clock
may require some mods but I think it will work, disassembled orig. clock did a little grinding to the backing plate that held the clock works and ever so slightly filed out the center hole in face plate and presto changego done deal !!
Now I know what your thinking its battery operated !! yes it is but I have several of this type of clock movements around my home and
I usually get about 1 and 1/2 to two years out of the batteries, on the 56 there are only two screws that hold the clock in the dash and it takes approx 60 seconds to remove the clock. I think I can handle that about every 1 and 1/2 years, The original hands were a off white and faded, the sweep hand was also white. I painted the hands white but opted to keep the sweep hand orange I can always change it. bad news was I ruined the integrity of the orig clock but I can live with it I wont loose any sleep, here's the finished product. swapping original works for quartz movement quartz movement installed back in Olds
Last edited by solly; February 17th, 2021 at 04:04 PM.
The first pic must be an exploded view, or you dropped it and had to figure out how it goes together.
The first 2 pics were the original movement and the desk clock I took apart to rob the movement, I was a fair mechanic but no clock maker I probably would never be able to disassemble that movement and reassemble it. I have to tell you I was crapping my pants because once I ground off the tabs and modified the backing plate I knew I had reached the point of no return and if things did not fit back on the housing I was screwed , but I got lucky and it all worked out.
Solly, that's outstanding! Hmmmm. I have a couple of '56 clock carcasses that I've been using for parts. I'm going to give this a try. The only thing is that from my experiences with give away desk clocks, the batteries last longer than the clocks, but we'll worry about that later.
At least I know you have a closet shelf full of spare clocks if I need one!!
Well that is cool. I remember back in the 90's guys were taking quartz clocks out of middle 80's full size Buicks. I bought one that was already converted and installed into the clock from a 70-72 Cutlass. Has worked great since. I think that would work in your 56 also. Your solution is great too.
February 17th, 2021, 03:59 PM
