Another package from Japan! Restoration of a Sony TFM-C400, Copal RP-207, and a Seiko Quartz Flip Clock

[cyb3rbyte]

Another package arrived today while I was at work, and we've got some new projects. The TFM-400 and the Copal were both advertised as non-working. I thought the copal would be the easiest so I started there. I was surprised to find this smaller mechanism inside. I've never seen one before, however it wasn't doing anything despite the rotor on the motor turning.



It came with the original box which was neat! Hopefully I can fix it and it's not a gearing issue...

The Sony is in much worse shape. When energized, the motor does nothing, and when turning the alarm wheel, the hour tiles will FLIP BACKWARDS! Never seen this issue either, I'm gonna start triaging it more tonight. It's almost as thought the hour tiles are disconnected from the minutes, changing the minutes has no effect on the hours. Luckily the radio works great. The blacklight is completely toast, but we're gonna be doing an LED modification for that





Luckily, the Seiko was working great! I put a fresh D battery in since the one that came with the clock was leaking despite not being in the clock, haha. It runs great, but it's a little dirty so a polishing and cleaning is in order.

[Guest]

That big Sony might have a cracked gear somewhere. Does the alarm wheel spin in only one direction? It should not spin both ways. Best to pull the movement out as much as you can to get a better look.

[cyb3rbyte]

After pulling apart the RP-207's gearbox, I found the culprit. This small gear is missing a tooth, and it's definitely not going to work. I need to find a replacement gear from someone or somewhere, if that's possible.



The Sony is a little more hopeful, but a LONG way from fixed. It's super dirty, but it's missing some gear from the hours drivetrain that actually lets the hours turn in sync with the minutes.

The copal motor was freed and cleaned and now runs great. In my infinite wisdom I used alcohol as an initial cleaner for the motor to get the old grease out, and it took off some of the seconds roller text.







The outer gear is in tact, I think I'm missing the inner gear for this mechanism. Does anyone have a parts clock with this similar setup or gear? I will be needing one.



Pulled the front crystal off, super dirty! Hopefully we can bring this clock back.

[Performa]

Beautiful units despite all the dirt, glad they arrived in one piece!

Do you have any better pictures of the gears straight on? It's a bit of a long shot I suppose, but I do have a whole box full of various gears and things (mostly pulled from dead VCRs and old toys over the years). I'd be happy to take a look for you.

[flipoclock]

Nice clocks there!

I will have to disappoint you with regard to the Copal, the motor inside there is simply sh*t. Whoever designed that was either intoxicated or just came from the streets with no relevant experience whatsoever. I have tried to work on this clock several times but simply gave up. I once bought a whole batch of these new old stock, they were cheap so I figured I'd have some fun with them and ended up with half of them working and the other half is laying about somewhere for parts. They are 220v though so doubt whether they'd be useful to you.

I have not been able to figure out what is actually wrong with the design, there seems to be a flaw, but since I did not want to spend too much time on it, I just put them aside.

Interesting to see by the way that the motor in the Sony is laid out for 100v, the motors from Japan are usually 117v

[cyb3rbyte]

I once bought a whole batch of these new old stock, they were cheap so I figured I'd have some fun with them and ended up with half of them working and the other half is laying about somewhere for parts. They are 220v though so doubt whether they'd be useful to you.

Well what’s funny is the motor still spins and the rest of the gearbox is fine, just that one gear is gone. If you have one from a parts clock that isn’t destroyed, I’d be happy to see it, pretty sure the gearbox should be the same down to the 50hz components.

I was suprised by the Sony, too. I’ll try to see if I can get a picture of the gears on the clock assembly for you all.

[Guest]

I am sure I have the gear you need. I have about a hundred Copal clock movements for parts so I am sure one will have that gear. flipoclock is right...those weird Copal motors are garbage. No clue why they would step away from the tried-and-true design they are known for.

JDM clock motors are always 100v. The Sony model he has was only sold in Japan. However, the clock electronics frequently have voltage ranges of 100-110v and sometimes 100-120v stamped on the body of the clock cabinets even though they were only for Japan in this case, which is odd. Another oddity was finding a North American 117v/60hz Copal motor with a 100v clock motor COVER on it. That clock had never been opened/serviced before I got it.

[flipoclock]

Sure, if I can fit it (well packed) in an envelope through a letterbox and you pay the shipping, I can send you one of those assemblies, will have to dig them up. Send me a message and I will work on that.

[cyb3rbyte]

Okay, here's a photo of the TFM-C400's mechanism. I believe it's the small inner gear that I'm missing, which I circled in red on a photo of my Toshiba 803F. I also don't have the E-clip that goes on the larger, end gear.



I've taken apart the mechanism a bit here, I'll be putting the alarm wheel back on as that's not the issue.

[cyb3rbyte]

Spent some time last night with the TFM-C400, got the alarm wheel back together correctly after finding the issue was not with that. Thanks to Mackie's 227 video, it actually applied to most flip clocks with that alarm wheel configuration.



This thing is dirty!! Dust bunnies everywhere!





Better! I started messing around with the Seiko, which is a QN-401T by the way. It will put-up a fight when coming apart, but then it's really easy to get out of the shell. The plastic parts are all pretty solid, however the alarm was having issues and the contacts on the right side near the "motor" needed to be bent slightly to make better contact.





A little bit of a closer look at the alarm mechanism. It really holds the left side of the clock together. I took this apart and freaked out that I couldn't get it back together. After watching the copal 227 video on reseting the alarm dial and hour tiles, I was able to apply the same logic and got it back together. I cleaned the tiles, and it runs great.

Time for a polish, and she'll be good to go!

[cyb3rbyte]

And the Seiko is done! Buttoned up, polished, and cleaned.

[cyb3rbyte]

Received a package from Engineer , mocked up the LED blacklight. Now to figure out how to mount it!

[Guest]

The SMD LEDs have an approximate display angle of somewhere around 120 degrees. Think of a Y-shaped emittance of light from the surface of the light.

\../

That might help you place it, but the true test would be place it and then dim or turn off the lights. That's what the blacklight clocks are really designed to do in conjunction with their lighting. During the day the OEM lamps would hardly make the numbers glow at all. The digits are already so brightly "painted" they are easy to see during the day. These LEDs are probably 2 or 3 times as bright, but obviously have WAY less visible light than a white LED at the same voltage.

I don't recall on this model, but there may be a reflector near the top of the opening for the digits, as well. Some have them and some don't. The Pana RC-7462, as well as a few others models, has one to help the blacklight light being broadcast to fill the opening.

[cyb3rbyte]

This one does have a reflector. I will have to come up with a creative mounting solution for the LEDS, maybe a small strip of sheet metal. We’ll see.

[cyb3rbyte]

Messed around a bit after work, got creative with a mounting solution since I don't have some sheet metal. Who doesn't love paint sticks! A little black sharpie made it work, and here are the results. This clock is really coming along, I'm excited to finish it.