The lounge room clock was faulty and would not keep correct time. I’d tried replacing the battery however it would soon start lagging again. One thing worse than a clock that’s stopped is a clock that starts and stops – such a waste of time! I don’t wear a watch and kept glancing up at the blank wall where the clock should be, so I knew it was about time to get this fixed.
I’ve pulled many things apart before, and found that without a reference it’s often a case of trial an error to put it back together correctly. So without a second thought, I took a close up photo geared towards showing the minute details of the clock mechanism:
After removing the battery terminal, cogs and wound coil, the cause of the problem was soon obvious – green corrosion around the power supply on the circuit board.
To fix this:
- Wash away green oxide buildup using methylated spirits and a cotton stick
- Clean off the oxide using a smooth file or fine sand paper
- Wash remaining oxide using more metho
- Reassemble the clock mechanism, using the photo as a reference for the gears
- Insert a fresh battery
- Wait for a second
Everything went together again, and I’ve not lost any more time on this clock for a few months now.