SEC Clock Mechanism - Repair / Replacement

[MJGregory.88]

There's a clock tower where I work that hasn't worked for years and it's believed to be the SEC motor / mechanism that is the issue. I only joined recently but thought it was worth checking to see if it would be possible to repair / replace the mechanism to get the old clock tower ticking again.

I've attached pictures of the mechanism - The cogs side of the mechanism appear to be turning fine so I assume it's the motor / magnet side of the mechanism that is playing up.

I'm not sure how old the mechanism is as the building was built in the 1800's, so the mechanism could be any age.

Any help with the name of the mechanism, any potential issues to check out or any potential replacements for the motor / magnet side of the mechanism would be much appreciated. If you need any other information then please let me know.

Thanks,

Mike

[Mike Phelan]

Hi Mike,
This motor is post-1940. SEC = Smiths Electric Clock.
It's a fairly common sort of domestic clock, and certainly not a tower clock. Certainly repairable.
How au fait are you with checking the motor winding?

[MJGregory.88]

Thank you very much for your response.

Apologies I didn't know how many photos to post in the original message, but I've added some more to show how the smaller mechanism then fits into a larger mechanism, along with the clock tower that I've been told the mechanism belongs to and is the reason the clock tower remans at 11 o'clock.

Sadly as much as I've dreamed about being a watch maker I have no experience with the mechanisms or motors but would gladly give it a go if the process can be explained.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Would it be possible to explain the steps I need to should take to deduce the issue / service the motor?

Also, do you know what battery would power the motor so I can check it definitely is the issue?

Thanks again, Mike

Do you know what

[Refugee]

The motor is 240VAC so there is no way of testing it with a battery.
It looks strikingly like a washing machine timer motor from the 1970s or perhaps a little earlier.
I would check all the gearing while the motor is off by carefully rotating it by hand.
The coil will need to be checked with a meter that will be the cheapest thing you will need to buy to fix it.
It looks like an electric conversion that has been fitted to a formally pendulum clock.
I can't see if there is likely to be a four face gearbox in the tower from the photo.

[PJL]

You need a meter to check the resistance of the motor winding. Any meter that can measure resistance will do. The resistance is measured at the two red wires emerging from the motor. That looks like a very heavy duty Sectric movement and probably quite different to the domestic type.

If you connect it to the mains it will get warm after a while if the winding is intact (no need for a meter). If it does so then the cure is a good clean and lubrication using "clock oil" (not WD40). The oil isn't cheap by the gallon but you will only need a few drops, take your pick from http://www.m-p.co.uk/muk/parts/oils.htm

[MJGregory.88]

I managed to find a resistance meter downstairs in the old maintenance office. The meter is reading 6.4 ... assuming I'm doing it correctly, but I repeated it a number of times and it kept settling down at that number.

Apologies again for my lack of knowledge and I realise I might be biting off far more than I can chew, but would the oil be for the electromagnet side, the cogs side or both?

The cogs appear to turn easily when not connected to the electromagnet and can still turn when connected just with resistance.

Thanks,

Mike

[Mike Phelan]

Mike,

That seems as though the motor winding is intact, so if connected to the mains the rotor (centre bit) should turn. Leave the motor by itself in case the wheel train is gummed up for some reason, usually gummed up oil or rust. If you are testing the motor by itself only a 3-amp fuse is needed.
As merlin says, the motor should get warm.

[Robsradio]

If the motor and gearbox run ok alone, fit the motor to the other part of the movement and check this turns, if all that works, then it will be the motion work behind the dial that is seized, or the hand spindles, this is quite possible if it has been stationary for years.
Good project to resurrect, all the best.

[Brigham]

This must be the largest example of someone throwing out the original movement and sticking a 'modern' one in instead!

[paulsherwin]

Electric clocks are really quite simple machines - just a synchronous motor and a gear train. If the gear train is meshing correctly and is free to move, and the motor is running, then it should all Just Work.

[Refugee]

It looks like a one rev per hour motor.
Once it is running and starting correctly there is just the 12 to 1 gearing in the clock face to check and lubricate. If it is a 4-face clock there will also be a couple more gears to service.
There will also be a clutch lever of some kind that disengages the one rev per hour shaft from the face drive so that the time can be set. It looks like half of the clutch it present on the parts we have seen photos of.

[PaulR]

Originally Posted by Brigham

This must be the largest example of someone throwing out the original movement and sticking a 'modern' one in instead!

Yes that is such a shame. Well done to Mike, though, for wanting to get the existing set up working again. So many public clocks like this have remained stopped for many years. There were a few in Southport that stopped during the miners' strike and subsequent power cuts in the early '70s. I assumed they were not self starting and nobody knew or bothered about starting them again. They have been taken down now.

O/T, but the longest delay was with the Westminster chimes on the Arts Centre clock which were stopped in 1939 at the start of the war and not started again until the late 1990s.

I will watch the thread with interest.

[Mike Phelan]

Originally Posted by Brigham

This must be the largest example of someone throwing out the original movement and sticking a 'modern' one in instead!

Absolutely! 'Moderns' are only supposed to last for a few years - many turret clocks built in the 1800's and before still work well - witness the misnamed 'Big Ben' .

[Nickthedentist]

Here's a scan from Atkinson's 1955 "Modern Clocks".

I think this movement is probably similar to one of these, and was designed for exactly this kind of thing, i.e. "modernisation" of turret clocks.

As others have said, disassembly, cleaning and lubrication in the right places will probably get this going again.

Nick.

[PaulR]

Having been a churchwarden of a large Victorian church which needs constant maintenance I can understand that people would replace a worn and maybe seized mechanical movement with something like this. Better to have the hands moving than stopped or even removed. I would have preserved the original movement, though. I don't suppose that the one from this tower is languishing in a cellar somewhere?

[MJGregory.88]

I'll have to have further checks in the basement to see if the original is present.

Just waiting for the oil to arrive and then I'll give it a go and post an update / further cry for help!

Mike

Just up the road from me is a new (30 years?) development of flats which have a clock on the garages, it hasn't worked for years. Rather annoying, perhaps it should be required that publicly visible clock show the right time?

[Brigham]

Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell

Just up the road from me is a new (30 years?) development of flats which have a clock on the garages, it hasn't worked for years. Rather annoying, perhaps it should be required that publicly visible clock show the right time?

That would eradicate a vast number of historic timepieces...

That would eradicate a vast number of historic timepieces...

It may remove a lot of useless ornaments, a timepiece surely must show the time? I admire the OPs desire to get the clock working (please let us know when it is).