Timex Electronic

[LittleWatchShop]

40 minutes ago, LittleWatchShop said:

The balance has a lot of end and side shake.

Oh, the instructions say to put a little more torque into the 9 oclock screw to tighten up the end shake.

[LittleWatchShop]

Well one of my watches fails the date click over.  Now I know why.  The Date Lever is broken.  I wonder if it is feasible to solder it?  What do you think @JerseyMo?  There is no value here, but I hate to just let it die!!

While I had this watch open, I measured the coil and got around 2.5k.  That tells me that the other one I was working on has a bad--shorted--coil.

[LittleWatchShop]

19 minutes ago, LittleWatchShop said:

Well one of my watches fails the date click over.  Now I know why.  The Date Lever is broken.  I wonder if it is feasible to solder it?  What do you think @JerseyMo?  There is no value here, but I hate to just let it die!!

While I had this watch open, I measured the coil and got around 2.5k.  That tells me that the other one I was working on has a bad--shorted--coil.

I think I intended for this post to show up as part of another thread...sometimes I gets confused!

[JerseyMo]

I never tried to solder on back together but why not give it a try.

[markr]

17 hours ago, LittleWatchShop said:

Well one of my watches fails the date click over.  Now I know why.  The Date Lever is broken.  I wonder if it is feasible to solder it?  What do you think @JerseyMo?  There is no value here, but I hate to just let it die!!

While I had this watch open, I measured the coil and got around 2.5k.  That tells me that the other one I was working on has a bad--shorted--coil.

I'm sure that I have one of these that I can send you if you want.

[LittleWatchShop]

1 hour ago, markr said:

I'm sure that I have one of these that I can send you if you want.

That would be great!  I will message you.

[mbwatch]

On 7/1/2020 at 9:36 AM, HectorLooi said:

Finally, I remembered JerseyMo's advice of using contact cleaner. I was skeptical at first. I use a lot of contact cleaner for electronic and electrical repairs. But I've always thought of contact cleaner as a lazy man's hack. But....

Hi there - I'm in the same situation right now, got a 1971 Timex Electric fully stripped, cleaned, reassembled, and I had the forethought to clean the contact spring with DeOxit D5 before I put it together. But I get nothing from a new battery. I can read 1.2v at the contact spring but no motion from the balance.

Should I take the balance off again and hit the contact jewel area with DeOxit? Getting the balance in place was a greater challenge than I anticipated, due to all the magnets on the mainplate.

Realizing now I didn't check continuity through the coil and probably should.

[LittleWatchShop]

26 minutes ago, mbwatch said:

Realizing now I didn't check continuity through the coil and probably should.

Yup, that is what I would do.

[Shane]

@mbwatch

Double check.  The stem mechanically keeps the balance from oscillating.  Put it back in and see if that helps.

Shane 

Edited August 27, 2022 by Shane

[mbwatch]

2 hours ago, Shane said:

The stem mechanically keeps the balance from oscillating. 

I did have the forethought to check the stem! It was challenging enough to line up that brass hack mechanism that it stayed at the front of mind.

[HectorLooi]

An easy way to test the continuity of the coil is to hook up a multimeter to the positive and negative terminals and give the balance a swing. That tests the contact spring as well asvthe coil.

If there is no reading, then you may have ti disassemble the balance and test the coil itself.

[mbwatch]

I get continuity between the coil and the balance staff and have it disassembled again now. One thing I have noticed: each of the 2 or 3 times I've removed the balance since initially reassembling it, the contact spring is off center, inward from the position described in the manual pointing exactly at the center of the staff. This suggests to me I am knocking it out of place every time I put the balance in, thus no continuity. I gently position it back to the center each time.

I haven't found the right motion for setting the balance, because it is so easy for the conical pivot to get pulled onto the big magnet while inserting it. If I can get this motion right, I'm hoping I can make it work.

[mbwatch]

On 8/27/2022 at 10:20 PM, HectorLooi said:

An easy way to test the continuity of the coil is to hook up a multimeter to the positive and negative terminals and give the balance a swing.

I'm confused about what position the balance is in when contact occurs and what position the jewel interrupts contact. I wish it were easier to see into the assembled movement. The service manual is not especially clear about it but it appears that the balance in its neutral position  does not have current flowing.

With the balance off the movement I thought at some point I did get continuity between the balance staff/pin and the coil but now I can't replicate that. I see there's some insulating material (probably a silicone glue) between edges of the coil and the brass balance wheel, but it isn't clear to me how the coil is connected to the contact pin.

[HectorLooi]

It has been a couple of years since I last worked on a Timex Electric. The coil has to be spot welded to the pin on the underside.

For testing the continuity while the balance is swinging, an old analog meter works better than a digital meter, unless you have a meter with a very high sampling rate.

If you can't get a reading from the contact pin, then it doesn't bode well. The coils can be damaged quite easily during installation due to the large magnet pulling everything to it.

[LittleWatchShop]

7 hours ago, mbwatch said:

I'm confused about what position the balance is in when contact occurs and what position the jewel interrupts contact. I wish it were easier to see into the assembled movement. The service manual is not especially clear about it but it appears that the balance in its neutral position  does not have current flowing.

With the balance off the movement I thought at some point I did get continuity between the balance staff/pin and the coil but now I can't replicate that. I see there's some insulating material (probably a silicone glue) between edges of the coil and the brass balance wheel, but it isn't clear to me how the coil is connected to the contact pin.

I have two that are running. I will open one up later this morning and take a look.

[LittleWatchShop]

In static position, there is no current flow.  The contact jewel breaks the circuit.  When the balance turns and the coil is away from the magnet, the contact is closed and the coil is activated and pulls the balance back (opposite direction).  However, the momentum of the balance is such that the contactor is captured and pulled to the other side of the pivot.  So on each full oscillation of the balance the contactor is at first on one side, and then on the other side.

What I am describing is what I observed this morning by statically rotating the balance back and forth.

I was surprised that the contactor went to each side, as I did not recall that behavior.  Because it does, the coil gets energized twice per oscillation.  If the contactor remained on one side, the coil would be energized only once per oscillation (period).

BTW, the watch I looked at this morning is the Timex Dynabeat Electric. I think it is different than the earlier Timex electrics.

[mbwatch]

On 8/30/2022 at 11:10 PM, HectorLooi said:

For testing the continuity while the balance is swinging, an old analog meter works better than a digital meter, unless you have a meter with a very high sampling rate.

 

I do have a cheap old Radio Shack analog meter - I just have to buy or rig up some alligator clips to be able to test in motion.

On 8/31/2022 at 8:20 AM, LittleWatchShop said:

I was surprised that the contactor went to each side, as I did not recall that behavior. 

Yes, that's what the service manual attempts to illustrate, and when I move the coil manually I can see the contact spring "sway" in the way I would expect as it traverses side to side.

I did get a running Electric in mail today for only $8, so I can take a couple of last stabs at getting the first one going before I just swap its balance in.

[LittleWatchShop]

1 hour ago, mbwatch said:

do have a cheap old Radio Shack analog meter

That should work fine for continuity

[mbwatch]

Couldn't get continuity on the original balance, and oddly enough when I compared it to the working one I could not even see the weld on it. Maybe it failed and fell away long ago.

No matter though, I have the serviced movement ticking and I can't wait to finish casing it. Thanks for the advice all, and apologies to the OP for hijacking this thread.

Edited September 3, 2022 by mbwatch

[HectorLooi]

No problem @mbwatch. That was a long time ago.

[mbwatch]

If anyone wants to see how it turned out... https://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/24222-two-resurrected-timexes-ready-to-go-back-into-circulation/

 

[bonbonwwatch]

not only 1 but 2 files for model 50 and 52.

thank you very much for sharing Watchweasol. really appreciate it.

i just introduced myself as a new member, now trying to do a little homework and came across this thread.

the watches turned out really nice.