Quartz clock hands removal

[chaseincats]

Hi guys,

Trying to remove the hands on my 1978 280z Quartz clock to swap on the white face decal but can't seem to figure it out.  I heard somewhere that you just kinda yank the hands off (straight up) but I tried that and feel I'm going to break something.

Any ideas?

-chase

[chaseincats]

nobody?

[Yarb]

Try reaching out to @zclocks on the forum. He would be the expert in that.

 

[26th-Z]

This question has come up before and I recall jokingly recommending a clock hand puller.  Much to my surprised delight, they are a Google search away.

[zclocks]

What I use is a home built puller. Well, it doesn't pull , but breaks loose the corrosion between the brass shaft and the tin clock hand. 

You have to be very careful and not touch the clock face as that will cause damage.  If you look at CH-4 photo you will see that the pliers contacts the shaft just below the  flange of  the hand. Apply a small amount of pressure by squeezing the pliers. Do this again 180 deg from your first contact. What you want to do again is break the corrosion contact between the clock stem and the hand.  Once the hand starts to move stop and use your finger nails to remove the clock hand. If you try and do this all in one step you will bend the large flange of the clock hand.

Also, I use a soft paper towel that goes around the clock stem so the clock face is protected from finger oil and also protects the face from pliers contact.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2020 by zclocks

[zclocks]

I forgot to mention that if you pull on the clock hands hard enough you can pull the clock stem out of the main gear. The brass stem is knurled at end and is hard to put back in the original position.  If not exactly positioned the interference fit is more than the nylon can take, due to age, and can crack the smaller gear.  Just a heads up! 

NOTE: This only applies to the 280- analog quartz clocks. 

 

[chaseincats]

@zclocks

Gotcha - thanks Ron.  I will give this a shot and report back!

 

-chase

[chaseincats]

@zclocks

Do you recall how often the 1978 quartz clock is supposed to tick?  I'm getting a tick exactly every 6 seconds.  I remember hearing these don't tick every second but I believe every 6 seconds isn't correct.

If that is indeed too slow, any ideas as to where I should look for the culprit?

[ETI4K]

Alternatively, you can use a piece of cardboard to protect the face.  Cut a slit in the cardboard and slide it up to the stem.  It will fully cover the face.  Then use a fork to gently pry upward on the needle, as @zclock suggests rocking it back and forth.  The fork applies force to the needle that is not axial to the stem so it is possible to slightly bend the head of the needle, so be gentle.  If the angle of the fork to the needle is too large, just use a spacer under the fork to direct the force more in line with the stem.

EDIT Sorry, kept writing needle, meant hands.

 

 

Edited May 17, 2020 by ETI4K

[zclocks]

 The clock only "ticks" every 5 seconds and doesn't sound like you have a problem, now.   However, these clocks are 40 + years old and parts ware out.

If your clock is slow that's the first sign that it needs repair. 

[Zed Head]

18 minutes ago, zclocks said:

 The clock only "ticks" every 5 seconds and doesn't sound like you have a problem, now.   However, these clocks are 40 + years old and parts ware out.

If your clock is slow that's the first sign that it needs repair. 

Spend a little more time on determining if the clock keeps correct time.  Six seconds is kind of in a big hurry.  Joking.

I remember when remembering to wind your wrist watch, or keep a fresh battery in it was important.  If your wrist watch died you had to hope it was a sunny day so that you could estimate time of day by position of the sun.  Now I'm surrounded by LED's and devices that all show a time.  Microwave oven, convection oven, two phones, a computer, various channels on the TV, my other vehicle.  I don't even wear a wrist watch anymore.

[zclocks]

Ok I have to respond  again to this comment on clock hand removal. Forks, spoons, and knives are not the correct tools for the job!  You may be able to get the hands off, but at what cost.

I know this may work  for some, but  using a fork/spoon can cause a big problem . This method can cause the clock stem to come out of the nylon main drive gear as pictured. In addition, this rocking motion of the clock stem back and forth can crack the brittle nylon gear which the stem is inserted.  A gear puller pulls the clock hand up while pushing down on the clock stem and doesn't disturb the lower gear.

Nylon gets brittle after 40 years and if you crack the smaller gear it distorts  and will  not mate correctly with the adjacent gear. This is what caused the pictured gear to fail. The cracked gear locked up the mating  gear and the pressure applied by the owner to set the clock time stripped several teeth from the main drive gear .There are many types of gear pullers and I have a several , but the size of my hands make it  difficult for me to use so I made my own. It only tool me 10 minutes on a small grinder to make this tool.

 Also, cardboard is not the material you should be using against the very delicate paint on the clock face. This is uber fine very porous flat paint. What I have found  best  and doesn't scratch is VIVA cloth towels. This also prevents hand oils from staining the paint which is extremely hard to remove. Never use any solvents , water or IPA( isopropyl alcohol) on the clock face. Kanto Seiki changed the white paint formula over the years and it may smear with water or IPA.

I hope this helps.

Ron

Edited May 18, 2020 by zclocks