The clock in my 61 Galaxie is not working. I pulled it out and opened it up and tried a few things. With some information from a local clockmaker I found out why my clock will never live again. I want to share my experience with you in the event you are having clock issues. Borg clocks were used by many car manufactures back in the day. The principle action is for an electric coil to wind a spring and the spring winds the clock. That is your electro and mechanical actions. This action repeats itself as long as voltage is available.

Picture of the back of the clock removed

Next picture shows the coil. It is actually called an electromagnetic coil. When voltage passes thru the coil a magnetic field is produced. It is this magnetic field that winds the main clock spring. Read on...

The next picture shows a screwdriver between a set of points. Look closely and you can see a set of electrical points soldered to a set of arms. One of the arms is stationary, the other arm is attached to a black disc and a spring. The coil is responsible for turning the black disc.

So here is how it all works:
When the points come into contact with each other, they close an electrical circuit. Voltage is allowed to pass thru the points and charge the coil. When current flows thru the coil, the resulting magnetic field causes the black disc to spin. A few things happen at this point. The disc spins back about one third of a rotation causing the arms to pull away from each other and lengthening the main spring.(Winding up the spring) As the spring wants to return to its natural length, it turns the disc in the opposite direction that it was just pulled by the magnetic field. The rotation of the disc winds the clock, turning the clock gears. This is the mechanical action of the clock. As the disc continues to rotate back to it's starting point, the arm on the disc will eventually come into contact with the stationary arm. Once again the points close and the process starts all over again. Remember once the coil rotates the disc, the points open and voltage to the coil is interrupted. There is no more magnetic field to hold the disc so the spring is allowed to rotate the disc back to its starting point winding the clock gears.

A few things to try if your clock doesn't work:

Dirty points: File the points with an emery board until they are clean. Keep them square.

Bad coil: Use a multimeter, set to Ohms. Place one probe on the 12 volt supply terminal of the clock and the other probe on the point of the stationary arm. There should be resistence. No resistance, coil is toast.

Dirty clock. Dirt causes drag on the mechanism. Clean gears, shafts with a spray type electrical connections cleaner. Gentle air dry. Lubricate with clockmakers oil. Don't know what that is exactly. Was told that machine oil or WD-40 type lubricants can cause drag and slow or stop your clock.

Worn out. That is the issue with my clock. The brass shafts that hold the gears can wear. They wear on the pivot points or at the tables were the shafts are supported. When shafts wear, they wobble causing the gears to bind. The clock mechanism is delicate so it doesn't take much to cause drag, which can slow or stop your clock.
I hope this is helpful and not too confusing. I am in no way an expert, just passing along some information that was sent my way.
 

Last edited by dan_6776 (March 14, 2014 8:36 pm)