Been trying to restore one of these clocks for my car for the better part of 6 months, found that all of them i could find had one gear missing, a brown gear that acts as the main drive gear
TLDR found one in a clock and was able to measure it before it fell apart and made one
This model is made to be resin printed because it has to be at a small scale, should be scaled to roughly 6mm across
Model : https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6974519 (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6974519)
Nice. Does the rest of the mechanism appear to be kinda gummy when you find them with these failed gears? I'm just wondering that is a contributing factor to that gear failing. This being the 'digital' clock I suppose there is quite a bit of stress on the hour where every drum has to turn so a constant loading and unloading of stress.
Others can answer but I would guess the same clock was used in all the models since dash was more or less the same even in the Seville. Not sure when they went to a quartz movement or if that changed that gear setup.
@TJ Hoplandsorry just now seeing this, i have a revised model i posed recently i think
but no, usually when i find the clocks they are in good condition and rarely anything gumming them up. I put some clock oil on all of the joins and gears to make them run smoothly and they all seem to run perfectly
As far as I've found, they switched to quartz in 79, but i could be wrong on that, i know that's when they changed the overall design of the clock
On a side note, seeing this thread made me remember the clock in my 71 Deville. I looks awesome sitting over there on the passenger side of the dash, but completely non-functional. I'll start looking around for someone that can restore it.
Several clock restoration places out there, including Instrument Services, https://www.clocksandgauges.com/
Instrument Services will repair your clock (and gauges) or convert it to a quartz movement. The have "quartzed" two clocks for me to my complete satisfaction and also sold me the kit to quartz a 1968 Bonneville clock myself. Quartz movements last a long while and keep excellent time.
Instrument Services restored/repaired my 1935 Cadillac clock but were not able to put a quartz movement in it because of the small size space for the movement. I put an on/off switch on that one to improve its longevity, but they rarely run very long before again needing repair.
D&M restoration is another well known restorer.
https://dandmrestoration.com/services/clocks/
Is the part you 3D printed replace the part in these pictures? If so can I purchase one? Thank you, Joe
joecaristo@verizon.net
If he isn't able to sell one/them he did post the design and if you don't know someone with a resin printer there are tons of services both big online places as well as more local diy side hustle people that do printing if you provide the design. Resin printers for DIYers are often used by people that have hobbies involving miniature figures so if you have heard anyone mention anything like that ask em if they have a resin printer.
I can't look now and when I looked at it I didn't check what licence he put on the design but typically its that you are free to download it and print it yourself or or pay someone to print one for your own use. What isn't allowed without special permission is for someone to use his design to then sell to others.
When I saw the first picture, I thought, that is one really bad spot to have a blood blister pop up.
Then I enlarged the picture! :P
@joecaristo yes that's the gear
If you have a resin printer yourself I have the design up on thingiverse : https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6974519
if not I sell them on ebay : https://www.ebay.com/itm/306187530050
I say it in the description but you have to be very very particular when replacing the gear. Firstly you can break the flywheel if you do it wrong enough, i made that mistake before.
Its also very very sensitive to how its adjusted, i recommend adjusting it until it goes on and off perfectly fine, and then putting it in a temporary spot in your car. As I've had the issue where ill put in the clock and over a period of a few days of driving it will stall (flicking it a few times turned it right back on), and i have to pull it apart and make some minor adjustments to tighten up the gear a bit
Hope this helps
-Morgan
@TJ Hopland Yeah the model is completely free to use. I only sell them because resin printers aren't the most common thing for people to have, and they are needed to print such a small gear. As well as before I got my printer I did have someone print it out for me, but they messed up the model and printed it in a way to where it was basically useless
also doesn't hurt to make a little extra money as a teen ;D
UPDATE
so I found a pretty bad issue with my former replacement gear design. It has a problem to where over the course of a week to a few weeks it will stall out. This is due to how the gear had to be put into the clock, my previous design need to be put in loose in order to function. I figured this is just how the original gear was, as it seemed to work fine. The problem occurs if you put the clock in the car at certain angle the flywheel can slowly move to one side and hit the edges on one of the metal pins next to it. This caused the clock to stall and stop working.
I originally thought the flywheel being loose was needed due to the friction of the 2 'screws' that hold the flywheel. After a re-design however I found it was due to the gear being too big.
The updated design, which shrinks the gear to wheel it now can be tightened all the way and stays in place, is on Thingiverse, replacing the old one, same with Ebay. Figured I should let people know in case they tried the older version and are having the same problem.