Flip alarm clock repair.

 So Melissa's mom is having her birthday soon. She had recently told Melissa her alarm clock died. I guess she bought this clock back in the late 60's or early 70's. So obviously this has had a long life. It older than I am. Melissa started doing some searches for vintage flip number styled clock radio. Do a quick Google search and you will inundated by the results. She found just what she was looking for on Etsy.com. She ordered one from Texas. It arrived within a couple of days. When we opened it up, I plugged it in and nothing happened. Like at all. The little light on the inside worked but nothing else. The radio didn't work, the numbers didn't flip. Nothing. We thought we got a dud. Well after about ten minutes, we heard a little static coming through on the speaker. I turned the dial and what do you know, out came some old rock and roll. Hey it wasn't a dud after all. We took it inside and I placed it on the counter plugged it back in. I set the clock to what time it was and went off and did something else. I came back the radio was till playing and the numbers started flipping. I reset the time to what is was, set the alarm to see if it worked and we started to eat dinner. I kept watching and the clock kept really good time. The alarm went off and we're good. I go over o the clock, unplug it and plug it back in. No dice. There is a small white wheel with a red stripe on it. We noticed that this would spin and the numbers would change. So when I plugged the clock back in, the white wheel wasn't spinning anymore. We kept it plugged in for 30 more minutes and nothing. We knew it was done for. Very disappointed I packed the clock back in it's box and put it on the table. Now we were going to have to send it back, wait for a refund, if it was even possible and try and find another working clock radio in time for her mom's upcoming birthday.

 In the morning I decided to do some research on repair manuals or parts. Pssh, that's not any kind of happening. I found a post on Instructables.com about a repair someone did. They tried spraying the white wheel (Which it turns out is actually a motor.) with WD40. They said that did not work for them and they had to take the motor housing apart and buy a new gear. I did not think the process of dis assembly was bad at all. I said I am going to try this myself. I told Melissa I was going to work on the radio but there was no guarantee I can or will be able to fix it. Below is a pretty good step by step of what I did.

The culprit. The white and red striped wheel of  destruction.

I hate rolling screws, so I put duct tape down.

Got it open.

The motor. My target to fix.

Still not spinning.

What I didn't show, was the 4 bolts holding this assembly together.

I didn't want to wreck the motor assembly. So I tried the WD 40.

 I doused the motor 3 times with WD 40. I wiped the excess off before I put the motor back into the assembly.

Trying to see if the WD 40 worked. I was trying to count the teeth moving on the motor.

I thought the motor was seized.

Ha ha, that's right. You're working now.

 As you can see the WD 40 worked. I normally don't like using WD 40 for stuff like this. It dries out quick and you wind up using more later. I need to try and find some other lubricating oil. I'm think worst case, if this stops working again, I can try a different type of oil for it. So we waited a few days without having it plugged in. When we plugged in, it started spinning and clicking right away. All it needed was a good dousing of oil. Hopefully this helped you a little bit, if not, sorry. Now I want to find another flip clock and fix it. Also, this shows you the craftsmanship of these old products. 40 years and it still works! Till next time.