Sony 8FC100W- 4th Time's the Charm?

[VintageEcollector]

I can't believe I successfully got this model working...

The Sony 8FC-100W is one of my favorites among Sony's models and flip-clocks in general. Well, tied with the Panasonic RC-7589 (Planada). Does anyone have a lead on a reasonably priced one?

I have owned at least 4 of these at different times. I remember purchasing my first one for around $25. I was still a novice in flip clock restoration, and I remember the motor being really noisy and not always instantly spinning on the plug-in. I then had two others that had issues with a loose tuner string. One example I ordered, according to the seller, had a working tuner that was scrolling through stations, but somehow, the string loosened during shipping. I was so disappointed about that but luckily, the seller gave me a refund for the cost of the unit.

Well, I wanted to try my luck with another that I purchased not working. The examples I've seen on eBay have been going for crazy amounts, and the conditions of them certainly didn't warrant the high price. I found an example for a price that, while a bit high, seemed to be in a condition that I would expect.



I received the clock, and it was packaged well. The case was pretty yellow as is common with many light colored plastics of this age. The motor didn't spin, and I was hoping it was just a matter of lubrication. To my displeasure, the tuner bulb was burnt out and I was not enthusiastic about replacing it, especially knowing I'd have to remove the bulb from inside the tuner without messing with the string.



I took the clock apart, which I am now pretty familiar with doing. It has a few difficult to reach screws such as the one that holds in the transformer with a locktite nut facing up. I also noticed it was missing two screws and likelt the clock had been opened by someone trying to fix it. Luckily, it looked like they didn't do much messing around inside the clock.



I was able to get the motor spinning with some lubrication and was relieved to see it flip the tiles, woohoo! The neon bulb was a bit weak, but luckily I had an exact replacement from another 8FC100W that looked to have very few hours on it.

The difficult part came with disassembling the tuner barrel. The barrel is held in place by a C clip and the bulb is within the barrel on a metal plate. The bulb faces the front of the barrel and lights it within. The barrel is made out of a green tinted plastic that and the stations aren't printed on the barrel, but instead a decal is taped arounf it with one piece of electrical tape. I removed the C-clip and undid a few screws to get the bulb out. Once out of the tuner, the bulb is clipped and glue into place in two spots. The bulb is glued onto a clip that holds it in place on the metal plate and the wires are also glued as they pass through the barrel opening and to the circuit board. The units are really well secured!

After taking off the glue I clip the bulb and looked through my parts bins to see if I had any of that size. I had some smaller bulbs I used for a car stereo but they were too small to clip into the plastic holder and weren't very bright. Luckily, a local electronics store had a perfect match! I taped the post going through the barrel hoping it wouldn't move and release the tension of the tuning dial. God forbid...



I was able to whiten the case in the meantime and it came out pretty good. I noticed that some of these unit develop small divets and cracks where the screw thread casings are attached to the cabinet. Perhaps caused by ovetightening? Just a thought...

Anywho, this repair took about a week as I had to find time to visit the electronics store whose hours coincide with my own job's hours. But once I got the bulb, it wasn't too difficult to rereassemblend it came out great! In the future, I might replace the front plastic face as I have another in better shape with fewer scratches. But for now, I love seeing it glow and quietly(ish) flip away the minutes of my day...




P.S. I'll post some better photos of the clock and upload them to the 'Flip Clocks on Display' tab at a later date. Part of the fun in owning these is finding ways to photograph their interesting design.

[Johan de Jong]

Great work! The result looks amazing
One question: did you remove the front window when you whitened the case? I have a yellowed one waiting to be restored and was wondering whether the whitening would damage the window.

[Jumblejeff]

Looks really nice! That model is my favorite model too. I have restored a dozen of them. I have sold and gifted all but one of them. The one I have has been converted to black light. I used the yellow number flaps from a stock Sony black light clock.

When I use the volume 40 whitener I remove the lense. It’s glued in place at 6 points inside the housing. It’s a difficult process but gets easier with practice. Don’t get the whitener on the black paint behind the lense, it will remove it. I’m not sure how the whitener would affect the lense. It weird some of them don’t yellow much at all, some whiten nicely and others still have an off white look after whitening them.

[VintageEcollector]

Johan de Jong, I didn't remove the lens to whiten the clock on this example. I have done it previously, and as Jumblejeff said, it will take off the black paint behind the plastic lens. I don't think the Volume 40 hurts the plastic lens, but I tried not to get it on that part.

Jeff, you're right as well; some of these units whiten up well, some don't yellow much, and some look as if they were yellow from the factory, haha. It must be due to exposure and perhaps minor differences in the chemical makeup of the plastic. I have two other white Sony flip clocks, and one of them yellowed mostly on one side and will not whiten up, no matter how long I leave it out in the sun. Oh well... Have you also noticed that there are two different styles of numbers on the flip tiles? One has the numbers that are a bit shorter and stubbier, while the other has taller numbers, which is the one you attached a photo of.

[Jumblejeff]

Yes the numbers size does vary on the Sony’s. I prefer the larger size numbers. The clock movement is a different (improved) design. It’s not always the case but I have only seen one smaller number clock with the improved design. There is an old post detailing the two different designs.

[Jumblejeff]

Here is my black light conversion of the 8FC-100W. It’s had to capture the black light effect with a photo.

[VintageEcollector]

I’ll look for that post as I’m curious about the differences in mechanisms. Did you creat that post?

Also, nice conversion! Curious, can you still buy the original style black light bulbs or is the only option a LED conversion?

[Jumblejeff]

Yes it was my post from 2020. I can’t remember how to share a link or post it to this reply. Search my old posts. It’s titled two different Sony clock mechanisms or something

As for the black lighting on the custom Sony. It’s a LED conversion harness built by a former member of the forum. They have adjustable pots on them so just the right amount of black light can be dialed in.

[VintageEcollector]

Found the post! My clock has the "quieter" movement, but I think I have the smaller font tiles. All the 8FC 100Ws I have owned have had the quieter and simpler movement. And I think they have all had the smaller font tiles.

An 8FC-69W is on my list of clocks to have as I have all the paperwork for that model but I'm worried about finding one in repairable condiiton considering their high failure rate...

[Jumblejeff]

I have a couple of mint condition full wood case 8FC-69W Sony’s. That model also uses both types of clock movements. Most of the wood case models are pretty beat up. Stains, pealing laminate and dents at the edges. That’s cool you have the original paperwork.

[VintageEcollector]

Oh, good to know they have both mechanisms! I'll scan the paperwork I have one of these days and post it on here.