Here is some info on the Chrometron: Staiger Chrometron CQ 2000 Do you have any electronics test equipment available? To do any circuit testing you'll need at least a multimeter. For the double speed clock you may have a problem with the frequency divider circuit. I'd verify that it's properly generating the 1Hz coil impulse signal.
Excellent Martin! S/steel is a challenge in all sorts of ways. So is soldering fine wires. Hence better without any heat.
Great, any input and given input much appreciated! When i get a chance i will reattach the broken coil on the tuning fork movement snd attempt to trace the broken end on the spool, hopefully i can coax a loop free snd use the conductive glue method. Will post update. On the chrometrons i will research how to test the components, the great part is that they are so neat snd substantial components snd i have access now to the very thorough circuit diagrams from harmut wymen's website on electric clocks snd watches. I have a decent multimeter that does frequency. Hopefully within its range bc the lower freq on these old quartz cans. I do not know how to test a divider nor which are the dividers but i will be conservative, i repair and restore artwork snd magicians apparatus for work, in addition to new fabrication for magicians ranging from sword boxes to small electronic "gaffs" as they call it (e.g. RF transmitter to actuate servos and solenoids)... So, thanks again, will post results (slow burn project) , glad people are reading and commenting! Jc
Its magic! I always thought it was. How can you trust anything you can't see? Electricity and magnetism - Victorians loved them both. Mirrors; convex glass mirrors; It's magic! Radio waves; crystals; electronic balances...... Yawn! What time is it? Vanish!
This is interesting, but I don't understand what's going on because I just started receiving these quartz clock posts and cannot trace them back, probably because they're in a sub-forum, if that's a real thing. If I look for previous posts I get stuff on other topics, including something I wrote about soldering flux. Does anyone know how this is supposed to be set up? I do lots and lots of quartz and electric clocks, it seems. M Kinsler
Hi Martin. Well it does say quartz at the heading. We have drifted a bit with electric pendulums, balances, and electronics. I think there is a better thread for you than this. I thanked you for the soldering post because soldering S/s is normally a no no. There's a mix-up somewhere as your post isn't here. My quip was in response to the magician work that Jchang also does. Answer to JCHANG I suppose the only real test for a chip ripple through divider is with an oscilloscope and high impedance probe. However although you may not see the input crystal frequency any other way, you can see the results of the division when it gets slow enough. It's all binary division by stages. Divide by 2 - divide by 2 - divide by 2 and ever onward until you end up with a slow pulse usually at precisely 1 sec intervals. You can see this with a high resistance Voltmeter but its not a complete test. BjG
jchang76, A basic test would be to connect your multimeter to pins 7 and 8 on the right SAJ170 chip shown in the schematic. This is probably the chip farthest from the crystal. I'm assuming that the schematic matches the PC board layout. You should see a change in your meter reading once per second. If you don't get any change, try monitoring pins 7,8 on the other the other SAJ170 chip. If you have the wrong chip, the frequency will be too high to see anything with a multimeter. If you see one second pulses, the dividers are probably working properly. Also, It's rare for a frequency divider circuit to fail and give an incorrect frequency. The common failure is that it stops providing pulses. Much more likely is a mechanical problem with the clock. Or, possibly a problem with the coil drive circuit. The coil drive circuit has a 25K potentiometer to adjust the coil drive pulse. You could try adjusting it. Mark it's position before adjusting. If adjustment doesn't solve the problem, set it back to it's original position. The crystal is the big metal can on the left edge of the circuit board. The second part with a screwdriver slot is the 25K potentiometer. The first part (nearest to the crystal) with a screwdriver slot is a trim capacitor used to fine tune the oscillator frequency. DO NOT adjust this unless you have a precision timebase available. And, as Berry Greene said, the best way to test the divider is with an Oscilloscope. Or, if available, a frequency counter. I was testing a quartz clock while I replied to this post. Below is a picture of my frequency counter monitoring the clock. It's frequency is very close to 1 Hz.
bangster,thank you.I spent hours looking for this fake torsion pendulum drive on line.My uncle passed and he wanted me to have his favorite clock.The clock he gave me is a Koma anniversary mantel clock with a rotating pendulum ,4 balls.I guess it's from the 50's.He had it converted over to quartz,running on a C cell. So I cleaned it up and it keeps perfect time.He would be happy to see it working again with a new suspension spring and all shiny.I just can't figure how to set up with the pendulum to get it to spin as it should. The little lever attached to the spring that is caught by the geared tooth I understand but do you twist the pendulum to set it up I am afraid of breaking the spring or the movement.Your photo is exactly what I am seeing so it must be Kundo movement.Your help would be greatly appreciated,for me and my uncle.Thanks my email is jdully46@optimum.net
