Once again after saying 'no more 50's radio's', I bought one of these. Not seen one before so I thought it was unusual enough to add to the collection. Long before I had an interest in radio, I used to love clocks and still do so this actually combines both interests. Unfortunately it has suffered in the hands of the post, 'My Hermes' this time. Fortunately the damage isn't terminal and the large chunk out of the cabinet and the crack across the bottom should be reasonably repairable. The damage to the front might be more difficult to disguise so we'll have to see. Chances of another cabinet showing up are fairly remote I think.
Briefly we have here an AC/DC chassis with a standard valve line up of UCH42, UBF80, UL41 and UY41. There is also a smiths clock fitted which makes the set operable from AC mains only. It's also fitted with a three-core mains lead, the earth connection going to the clock mechanism only. The clock is a standard Smiths electric clock fitted with a synchronous motor. The motor can start either forwards or backwards and drives a worm gear that's fitted with a 'catcher' so that if the motor runs backwards the catcher mechanism 'bounces' the worm gear in the opposite direction so the clock runs correctly. Don't know the technical term for this function.
The radio chassis seems to be similar to the U195 and is fitted with pre-set tuning, three MW and one LW. The actual tuning is pre-set by adjusting trimmers at the rear of the set. The whole MW band is covered by three pre-sets so you can choose any three stations you like. LW is covered by one pre set 1200 - 1800 metres so 1500 meters should be near the middle of the range. It has a frame aerial mounted on the back cover. There does not appear to be a separate switch for the radio and it's switched on from the clock.
Having extracted the chassis from the damaged cabinet, it all looks fairly good. There is some dodgy wiring around the dropper which will need sorting out and the three core mains lead is the original rubber insulation with cloth covering. The rubber is perished so a new three core cable will be fitted. There is also a 'polo mint' RS dropper section which I will check is the correct value. Apart from that, everything else looks original with no previous work so the usual waxies should sort out the radio and probably a smoothing cap as the original has quite a bulge and some weeping.
I've unsoldered the frame aerial to make it easier to work on and removed the old mains lead. I've also disconnected the clock from the radio which means that to run the radio, I will have to temporarily run mains directly to the the dropper seeing as the switch is still attached to the clock. Just to see what would happen, I have applied mains to the clock only. Surprisingly it does run but requires a little effort to get it going. It looks very dry so will be an interesting diversion to clean and lubricate. I'm assuming that proper clock oil is all that is needed on the pinions but maybe something different on the worm gear?
A few pictures to show the state of play so far. Photos taken under the new LED lights...no flash!
That will be a fun set once it is fixed.
Give the timer a go on the bench and see if one of the levers overrides the switching for continuous listening.
I would never trust any courier with anything fragile.
The package must be able to withstand being chucked 30 feet into a freight container or as I personally observed in the 1970s the width of a station platform (20 feet) plus the width of a mail car (10 feet).
If it can't withstand being thrown 30 feet do not ship it 
I look forward to seeing it all back together, the cracks should look OK if positioned accurately. I run a line of super glue and then slightly flex the joint so that it runs into and wicks up the crack.
Glass fibre and resin make a good reinforcement if put on the inside after degreasing and roughing up the surface.
I suppose it will act as an alarm radio so you can wake up to a merry tune.
Mike
I suppose it will act as an alarm radio so you can wake up to a merry tune.
Yes it will. Offers the option of radio or just a buzzer.
Give the timer a go on the bench and see if one of the levers overrides the switching for continuous listening.
Yes there is a three position switch that offers 'radio', 'alarm' and 'off'. Switching to radio just puts the radio on as normal.
I would hazard a guess that it is the white control at the 6 O clock position.
By way of a change, I decided to attack the clock first last night. I'll post some pictures later. Lets just say it was an interesting experience getting all the switchery back into sequence! I completely stripped the clock as the oil had turned to something akin to axle grease and there was a sticky wodge over everything. Any clock purists need not read further as I am no expert but I used meths to get all the muck off the cogs (or whatever the horologist term is) and then cleaned all the sticky goo off the backplate. This revealed that the mechanism is quite worn as one of the bushes has worn to an oval....! Having taken loads of pictures, reassembling the actual clockwork was quite easy. I then applied a drop of proper clock oil to the arbours and pinions and turning the worm by hand showed that the mechanism was nice and free. Fitting the second plate containing the switches was not quite so easy and eight fingers on one hand would have been useful....several attempts were needed to get the clock levers operating the switches correctly and just when I thought it was right, I found that the 'sleep' lever was the wrong side of the on/off switch which wouldn't then operate in the 'on' mode.... 
Eventually I got it right (I think) and got as far as refitting the motor and terminal strip. It was 10:30pm by then. Tonight I'll reconnect the motor and buzzer, plug in and see what happens.....! 
This revealed that the mechanism is quite worn as one of the bushes has worn to an oval....!
Quite a common fault with old clocks that are rarely if ever serviced. I have a clock re-bushing machine and had to do this on a few many years ago. Most people baulked at the cost of the repair ( that has a familiar ring to the TV trade) despite warnings of impending doom for their "cherished" time piece. As you've found its not an easy job and is complicated ten fold when you get into multi-train movements with multiple wear. It will need to be re-bushed it won't last for long if its already oval, its just a matter of time ( excuse the pun) trouble is the cost will not warrant it being done.
I've not touched clock repair in nearly 10 years now and just the thought of them sends shivers down my spine, I just maintain mine and thats enough. I'll be happy to never see the insides of another again, give me a rusty Thorn any day 
so much so I'm selling off all my clock kit on e-bay.
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Of the two clock radios Ekco made this one is slightly less common than the A33, but they turn up with about the same frequency so I wouldn't give up hope of finding another one in one piece.
Of the two clock radios Ekco made this one is slightly less common than the A33, but they turn up with about the same frequency so I wouldn't give up hope of finding another one in one piece.
Or 3 wonder if there's any More?
This is my A244 "self-starting electric clock which provides automatic time switching facilities both for radio and any domestic appliance, such as a kettle or fire not more than 1250W."
Sorry about the picture quality.
The clock wasn't working on this one either although it ran freely it wouldn't self start, I stripped and after lots of cleaning it now runs well.
John
Tonight I'll reconnect the motor and buzzer, plug in and see what happens.....!
errr well not a lot! 
A half-hearted kick and then nothing. Having been in contact with Mike Phelan who seems to be the esteemed guru on these, I seem to have done everything right regarding the mechanism and it is certainly free enough but he suggested also soaking the motor bearing. Not knowing how free these are supposed to spin, it seemed ok but there was obviously a problem as it wouldn't spin very well when powered on its own out of the clock. As it uses a phosphor bronze bearing he suggested simply dropping some 3 in 1 on the motor spindle and bearing and let it soak in. This I have done and will let it soak in tonight and tomorrow. It already seems much freer so we'll see what happens when powered tomorrow.
I said I'd post some pictures of the work on the clock. All the crud has been cleaned off now and it looks much better. Hopefully some pictures of the cleaned mech tomorrow.
Of the two clock radios Ekco made this one is slightly less common than the A33, but they turn up with about the same frequency so I wouldn't give up hope of finding another one in one piece.
Or 3
Good heavens - I'd completely forgotten about the A244! Thanks for putting me straight on that, it's much appreciated.
I heard somewhere that 3 in 1 oil tends to harden and go sticky. Sewing machine oil may be better.
I would use white spirit to remove the old sticky crud.
Mike
I heard somewhere that 3 in 1 oil tends to harden and go sticky. Sewing machine oil may be better.
I would use white spirit to remove the old sticky crud.
Mike
It does go a bit awry with age - natural mineral oils do and there is plenty of debate about what's best for use in turntable motors in hi-fi land. I'm sure the rest of the clock has been done with proper clock oil (I have an ancient bottle of Windle's for this job) but my experience of sintered bearings in record player motors suggests that 3-in-1 isn't ideal for that job either; so I use - get ready for this - fully synthetic engine oil. The Panzer runs on some horridly expensive 0W/30 stuff, so I have used that in motor bearings. Think about it - it's designed for high temperatures, working under load and on parts with high rotational speeds. And it works a treat!
Somewhere I have a tin of "Essence Renata" which was used for degreasing clock mechanisms.
Motor vehicle engine oil is very good for motors.
I have a home made beer cooler built 25 years ago that uses a BSR deck motor for the coolant pump.
This has always been lubricated with vehicle oil for all of those years.
I am not 100% sure about auto transmission oil. It is a hybrid hydraulic oil of some kind.
Is automatic gearbox oil in the same league? It looks like very high quality stuff.
Auto gearbox oil or 'ATF' is great but usually it absolutely stinks!
Dave.
https://sites.google.com/site/davegsm82/projects/radioputer - A BC5441 Turned into a Media Centre PC.
Yes most car gearbox oils do whiff a bit.
Interesting. I use that in my Auto Corsa. I'll have to try it.
Looking at a couple of MSDS for various oils, I think I'd stick with engine oil... 
Didn't have a lot of time last night but having let the motor bearing soak overnight and throughout yesterday, I fitted it back to the clock last night, connected mains and it started first time 
. I set the time and left it running overnight. Still running OK this morning and showing correct time so I think it's OK now. Very quiet, no noises from the motor, hopefully it will still be OK when I get home.
Its the turn of the radio next. Did some quick checks last night after getting the clock running and found that the 'polo mint' dropper section was completely the wrong value...should be 930 ohm and a 220 ohm was fitted.... . You would think that all valves would have been seriously overrun but a quick whiz through on the Taylor 45B showed that all but one where in good condition. Even the UL41 tests good. The only one below par is the UCH42 triode section which shows very low gain. It may well work OK in practice but could be a cause of poor reception on one waveband or it may not work at all. Anyway I sorted out some replacement caps so will make a start soon.
The nearest 'polo mint' section I had was 1K so I've fitted that one in place of the 220 ohm. I know its 70 ohms higher than the circuit value so we'll see what the heater volts are like when the set is running. The alternative is a capacitor dropper for the heaters only. The dropper has separate sections, one for the rectifier surge limiter and another for the HT smoothing resistor. Just the middle bit is used for the heaters so if I decide to use a capacitive dropper for the heaters, the original dropper would have to be retained for the other two sections unless I can find a neat solution to replace the other sections as well. 
