The Leff Amsterdam Brick Clock - With a serious noise issue.

[Mackey]

Leff Amsterdam is a company located in, of all places, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
The company Leff Amsterdam sells hipster looking things like unusual watch styles, what they call Tube Clocks, in addition to this exceptionally large Brick Clock.
The Brick comes in a few color options. I got a hold of this steel/white version a few years back for a good price because it was buggered up. It just needed the tile hold backs adjusted a bit.



Dimensions
Width: 36 cm (14.7 inches)
Height: 15,7 cm (6.2 inches)
Depth: 12,8 cm (5 inches)

Color Options
Black/Black
Brass/Black
Steel/Black
Steel/White
Copper/Black

I've had this clock for more than a few years and it's been running without a problem. However it suddenly started occasionally making a sound like a mouse chewing up something. In fact, both my wife and I at different times heard this and were sure it was an animal in the wall (the clock is kept up on the fireplace mantle. Then the noise became very frequent and I couldn't ignore it any longer.



Getting into the clock I found a motor unit that is covered by a rubber and foam muffler to dampen the sound, obviously.

A closer look at the motor while it was running revealed a gear shuddering - that's the best way I can describe it. I was sure that there were chewed up gears - but no. Everything was fine.

Turns out there's a gear with strangely shaped teeth that seems to designed to stop the motor from starting or changing over to movement in the wrong direction. I took this motor apart, but I didn't think to get a close up of the gear. After taking apart I oiled it up where the shafts of the gears touch brass bushings and got it back together and into the clock.

Strangely, it messed up a little, but after adjusting the motor case screws, everything started working perfectly. It's been running fine and quietly for more than 12 hours now.

The Video

[flipoclock]

That's an interesting motor/gear setup for sure, thanks for this write-up! I hope to be able to get my hands on one of these for 'cheap', they seem interesting enough to want to own one.

[Mackey]

I hope to be able to get my hands on one of these for 'cheap',

I hope you do. I got that one for about $150 because it was "non-working." It's been going for years. It's not really a noisy flipper. It's generally not well respected because it's Chinese made. I get that, but it's an eye catcher.

[Johan de Jong]

That is a good looking clock! I would love to own one, but not at the hipster price point.
Hope your clock keeps running silently. My experience with problems that automagically solve themselves is that sooner or later it will come back.

[Mackey]

That is a good looking clock! I would love to own one, but not at the hipster price point.
Hope your clock keeps running silently. My experience with problems that automagically solve themselves is that sooner or later it will come back.

I hear ya. But I'm thinking that maybe it wasn't so automatic. I did completely disassemble and lubricate the motor assembly. It's just that I didn't see anything immediately happen. So I'm hoping that it was the lubrication that fixed it. I'll sure let you know. Still working fine.

[Johan de Jong]

Just got one myself for only 20 euros!
Which is a bargain for a clock, but not for a brick and that is what it is for now

I hoped for an easy fix, just like yours, but alas. It looks like the motor was replaced but not connected (?!). Also a screw in the motor is replaced with the wrong type and there are some pieces of duct tape. Clearly someone has been messing with it.

I'm now trying to get the motor to work. One question I have is whether it should run on 1,5 or 3V, so are the batteries in parallel or in series? Do you maybe know that, Mackey ?

Also looked for a replacement motor but I cannot yet find one. Does someone know where to get a motor unit? The type number is HY-896L and it is made in China.

[Sampson]

Hi Mackey/Johan - I was wondering if either of you had any luck with the Leff Amsterdam Brick Clock? Looking at your pictures, I think I have the exact same internals in a London Clock, and exact same issue (sounds like a mouse has moved in to the clock and is nibbling at wires), and it doesn't keep time anymore. The movement is a HY896L.
Only the Clean out, lube and re-assemble didnt seem to work.
If I remove all the gears and power it up, It looks like the small,cylindrical, black magnet that drives the show (I dont recognise the actual component) is shuddering or jolting inconsistently. Does anyone have any idea of what component might be causing the issue?
It would be very easy to just replace the whole movment, but trying to get a hold of one seems to be impossible.
Any help would be appreciated

[Johan de Jong]

Hi Sampson,

I never got my Leff Amsterdam Brick working. I looked everywhere online for that HY-896L motor but could not find any.

What I learned on the way is:
The motor is made by Guangzhou Huan Yu Clocking Technologies Co., Ltd. They have a website and they produce a clock that looks very similar to the Leff Amsterdam Brick: https://www.mk-time.com/box-flip-clock/57324962.html (where you also get an idea what kind of profit Leff can make on this clock ).
Other similar clocks that use the same motor are the Nextime Big Flip and the Karlsson Boxed XL.

I contacted the Chinese manufacturer but got no response. Also contacted Leff and Nextime but both could not help me to a spare motor.
I took my motor apart to see if it is anything mechanical that I could fix, but it seems to be electrically dead. The coil does not produce a field.

My only hope now is to find a cheap broken clock with the same motor

[Mackey]

If I remember, there is a gear with funny angled teeth that I believe is intended to prevent the motor from going backward. In your picture it's the one at the bottom left. Not sure why it works for a while then gets jiggy.

[logjampomade]

Thank you for your post & video!

My Leff Brick suffered from

• Audible ticking
• Occasional grinding noises
• Kept poor time

I was able to disassemble the motor, align it all, and lubricate it and now the above problems are gone! It's been working well for the past few days whereas when I previously tried to fix things, at minimum, the poor time keeping would be evident within 24 hours

[Johan de Jong]

Finally found a motor for my Leff Amsterdam Brick! Not as a separate part, but from a donor clock.

I had already discovered that the Leff Amsterdam Brick, the Nextime Big Flip and the Karlsson Boxed XL were all basically the same clock and made by the MKTIME corporation: https://www.mk-time.com/box-flip-clock/57324962.html
Then I saw in this video that the TV clock from the same company also has the HY-896L motor:

This made me guess/hope that all flip clocks made by MKTIME use the same motor. So I waited for a cheap donor clock to come along and bought this "By Boo Small Ben" clock for only 10 euro because it was missing one tile. My gamble paid off: this clock does indeed have the same motor!



(No guarantee of course that ALL flip clocks made by MKTIME use this motor, but the evidence builds up)

My Leff Brick is finally unbricked