Tiffany TIFFANY NEVERWIND

[jkfabulos]

I am attempting to sort out the wiring on this unit, Someone went crazy with a soldering iron and wires that were way to large a diameter in an attempt to get it going. I have removed all the junk and now am trying to sort out the problems as I see it.
This question concerns the spring and contact on the pendulum hanger.
It appears that when the pendulum is hung on the suspension wire it compresses a spring located in the top black block which pushes a contact pin in the center up to engage with the brass contact which sits on top of the block. This brass contact block is isolated from the rest of the clock and has a bent contact at its center that should make the circuit complete. There is a provision for a wire to attach to this isolated brass block.
Where would that wire attach to on the clock?
The spring contact arrangement does not push the center contact pin up high enough to engage the brass contact block. Any idea of how it is constructed inside this top block.
It seems this may be some sort of safety device so that when the pendulum is off there is no contact at this point.

 

[jkfabulos]

This thing is difficult to work on, complicated in its assembly and made of quite fragile materials.
I got the thing apart and discovered the problem is a broken off arm.
I am looking for a donor part if anyone has parts they are willing to give up or in the alternative a way to "glue" it back together
with some form of electrically conductive material.

 

[Dick Barber]

If you are able to obtain some VERY fine metal powder to mix with epoxy in order to make a reasonably thick paste you may be able to get it to conduct, once it is joined together and hardens. I don’t know this for sure, but it sounds feasible.

Also carbon fiber will conduct, if it is available in powdered form and mixed with epoxy.

Good luck!

 

[kinsler33]

So, what was that arm made out of originally? Do you think it was some sort of conductive plastic? (it exists)

I would guess that if it is conductive plastic you might be able to reproduce that extension of the arm with a piece of stiff brass wire that's heated with your soldering iron and poked into the existing arm to fuse it in. That should give you electrical continuity. But see below.

Otherwise, I'd suggest that you make a new arm (or a substantial portion of it) out of, say, brass. It'll be sturdy and conductivity is never a problem.

A further edit: with electromagnets that are wrapped with impregnated fabric, there's no conductive plastic in that clock. Or is there? If that broken arm is made of fiber or something horrid like that you can just repair it (use a splint) with a strong epoxy and run a thin wire from that spring down to wherever the lever attaches.

Nice clock. That looks kind of like a gravity escapement.

M Kinsler

 

[jkfabulos]

It is made of some form of cast zinc metal.

 

[Ralph]

Jim,

This company sells a solder for repairing zinc/pot metal and other white metals. It might take some skills to do mini/micro work.

Pot Metal and Zinc Die Cast Repairs Made Easy - Muggy Weld

Ralph