Smiths Clocks - Mk2 and Other Models

[shirelets]

As a rusty electronics engineer I was interested in Mark Willow’s ‘Ticker Transplant’ clock article in April’s Mk2 Forum. However in practical terms, unless he or someone else produces and installs this commercially, I’d suspect that building or even fitting a conversion kit would be beyond all but a handful of two JEC members.

My retirement little earner is antique clock repairs and I have tackled a few Smiths car clocks, but they are not for the faint hearted, comprising both mechanical clock maintenance and the electrical aspects. Then I made contact with John Ostick at JDO Instruments who has a wealth of knowledge on these clocks. Read on…..

Even when new they rarely ran for over 3 years; arcing of the electrical contact rapidly wore away the contact pin, the cause of failure of most of the clocks – and John has most of the spares as he purchased a large stock of contacts and balance wheels directly from Smiths years ago. Several people have added transistor circuits to reduce the current and hence arcing of the contact, but most (as maybe Mark discovered) do not pass enough current to ‘wet’ and break through oxidation – this form of ‘wiping’ contact needs a certain mount of current to keep it clean. If John receives a faulty clock fitted with a transistor upgrade, he dumps the electronics and reverts to the original contact arrangement!

I suggest that unless you want to implement a design such as Mark’s, you contact John Ostick at JDO on 01535 672125 or website http://www.jdo1.com for repair of these clocks. He will do a mechanical & electrical overhaul including all necessary parts for around £50. He does not sell any spare parts – they are too much like hens teeth!

Finally the absolutely critical urgent most important thing (hope I've made the point!) to prolong the contact life is to fit a switch to isolate the clock when the car is not being used – I fitted a very small slide switch to the cover panel under the steering wheel so it can’t be seen - it simply interrupts the supply voltage to the clock.

Les - Mk2 2.4 - Penrith, Cumbria