Copal model 229 stopped flipping

[badigel]

Hello,
I've had a Copal 229 for years and never had any problems with it.
Recently it stopped flipping. The light and alarm still work.
The small wheel (red/white) also stopped turning (which I think was constantly turning when the clock was working).

I thought about opening the clock and tinkering with it(with 0 knowledge), but then I remembered I could write here and get your advise...

Where should I start?
Thanks

[flipoclock]

Nice clock! You're in luck, the 229 is one of the easier clocks to open up.

Since your wheel/whirligig stopped spinning, it is more than likely that it needs a bit of lubrication.

For opening up the 229, you do not need to pull off the wheel on the side, you do need to gently pull sideways and up (at the same time) the knob for the alarm, this will have to come off. Once you have done that, unscrew the two very long screws which sit @ the bottom and you should be good to go (doing this from memory). Gently wiggle the top from the bottom. The 'glass' could stay in place or could fall out, careful with that, you don't want to scratch that.

When you are there, clean up your clock from dust on the inside as much as possible and put a bit of WD40 through the holes in the wheel/whirligig and gently turn it by hand for one or two minutes, after that, let go of the wheel and plug it in and see whether it will start turning on itself.

Ideally I would not use WD40 but some very thin, light oil (oil for sewing machines for example or actual clock oil, which is what I use), but to simply see/check whether it will start turning on itself, a bit of WD40 will do.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

[badigel]

I finally managed to get the right oil. I opened up the clock, pretty easy, but I am not sure as to were I should put the oil.
edit: I've put 2-3 drops of oil in holes of the small wheel (red/white). It turns now but the minutes count slower than real time.

Nice clock! You're in luck, the 229 is one of the easier clocks to open up.

Since your wheel/whirligig stopped spinning, it is more than likely that it needs a bit of lubrication.

For opening up the 229, you do not need to pull off the wheel on the side, you do need to gently pull sideways and up (at the same time) the knob for the alarm, this will have to come off. Once you have done that, unscrew the two very long screws which sit @ the bottom and you should be good to go (doing this from memory). Gently wiggle the top from the bottom. The 'glass' could stay in place or could fall out, careful with that, you don't want to scratch that.

When you are there, clean up your clock from dust on the inside as much as possible and put a bit of WD40 through the holes in the wheel/whirligig and gently turn it by hand for one or two minutes, after that, let go of the wheel and plug it in and see whether it will start turning on itself.

Ideally I would not use WD40 but some very thin, light oil (oil for sewing machines for example or actual clock oil, which is what I use), but to simply see/check whether it will start turning on itself, a bit of WD40 will do.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

[flipoclock]

Right so, that's definitively the place to put some oil. Perhaps let it turn for a couple of days to see if it improves? When you unplug the clock and turn the wheel manually (don't put any pressure on it), do you feel any resistance or anything else? It should turn as freely as possible.

[badigel]

When I unplug the clock and turn the wheel manually, it turns for a second and stops.

[flipoclock]

That almost sounds like you have a serious obstruction going on in there. I'm not a big fan of alcohol baths for the motor/flywheel part, but in this case it might be a good solution/idea. If you use the search function on the forum, you will find a lot of helpful information on this, from several different members.

[badigel]

I saw a video of someone doing this on youtube, but I also saw a very bad video of someone cleaning the motor with a alcohol and a pipe cleaner, but it was so bad that I couldn't understand what to clean.
Also, there's the white/red stick on the motor.

[flipoclock]

It's a step you're going to have to take I guess when you want to make sure it is fully clean in this case. The stickers you can buy from me, I have reproduction ones which stick really well

[badigel]

Good to know!
I'll try oiling a bit again if it won't help, I'll go the bath way.

In general how much oil should be put, how many drops?

[flipoclock]

Depending on the seriousness of the issue at hand, for me, it differs between 3 and maybe 5/6 drops, any more would make no sense I guess.