Vintage Flip Clock Radio Restoration & Motor Repair Magnavox

[jcrubin]

We were looking for a counter top flip-clock and I saw this one on ebay.  I thought I'd take a chance.  A cube style having a smaller profile was ideal, and the price was good.  There was no obvious signs of damage and  all of the knobs appeared to be there.


As arrived, everything appeared to work, it looked as though it just needed a cleaning.  Both clock and radio functioned.  Immediately noticed was dirt on the glass that appeared to be on the inside, so disassembly started.  There's no info on this so it was done carefully.


The clock mechanism removed exposed the glass which shows the dirt on the inside as well as the neon bulb covered with dirt. a technique with q-tips managed to get in with glass cleaner to remove all dirt from the glass, solving for this issue, though it was evident that the motor had some start-up drag and needed cleaning.


The motor was removed from the clock mechanism and the lower portion dipped and drained in 99.9% alcohol for short events and allowed to drain, the motor spun by hand for several events to break up the dirt, then left to dry and reassembled.  Re-spinning the motor showed no drag.


After re-assembly, the outside was treated with furniture wax, the knows all polished and reassembled. Testing of the flip mechanism was within a minute as expected and the clock holds perfect time as it is timed to the mains 60hz.

[VK3DRB]

Looks great. Good restoration.

With the just alcohol, the bearings will be running dry in the motor. Maybe WD-40 or sewing machine oil would be a good lubricant for the motor.

I once made a terrible mistake when restoring a rare 1940's radio. I decided to remove the dial plate and gently wash off the built-up grime with mild soapy water. The tiny radio station ID characters on the dial plate all floated away.  

[GlennSprigg]

Yea, a lot of the old electro-mechanical clocks utilized a basic Synchronous motor, which locked it in to your Countries supply frequency.
Her in Australia, and many other parts of the World, this causes problems way beyond a simple voltage adaptation. 

To VK3DRB,   oops!!... That old paint can be soooooo delicate !

[jcrubin]

There is no way to disassemble these motors. The tolerances are so tight, that anything in between will cause resistance.  A simple shaft goes through to the other side and pinned to the end. There is no lubrication.