Workshop Clock

January 18, 2021

In the old Workshopshed, I had an Industrial style clock on the wall, it was just something I picked up cheap from Ikea.

I decided to give an upgrade before adding it to the new workshop. The way these clocks work is a simple gearbox and an electromagnet that is pulsed once per second. A quartz crystal oscillator regulates the pulses in the same way a pendulum and weight adds motion to a mechanical clock. The mechanism is known as a lavet stepping motor. For more details, David Piling explains how these quartz clocks work.

What this means is that you can provide your own source of timing. And Nick Sayer from Geppetto Electronics has done just that with his crazy clock mod which keeps good time but the seconds pulses are not quite so regular. It is possible to build your own version of this from the schematics/source code but you can also buy a clock or module from Nick’s Tindie shop which is what I did in this case.

The module comes with hands and mounting parts. I found that the spindle was quite long so I had to pack it using a stack of washers. Note that this long spindle would be very useful if you were making your own clock from wood.

I also needed to trim the end of the second hand using some snips as it was a bit long to fit into my case. Otherwise, the installation was straight forward.

I managed to get the order in before the new VAT regulations which mean that small sellers on platforms like Tindie will have to register for VAT in the UK if they want to ship here. So now, if you want to buy a clock from Nick you’d need to do that from a business registered for VAT and supply a VAT number or place a large order.

I liked the result so much it’s ended up in my office rather than the workshop so I’ve ended up buying a new and slightly larger clock for there. Not sure if I’ll modify the new clock or leave it as it comes. I’ll see what it looks like when it arrives.

By Andy from Workshopshed Add Comment

  Posted in: Mechanical Gadgets