I have this 50's era TV clock. It is probably 50+ years old, looks like it was made yesterday, and it stopped working...
TV clocks are a blast from the past. This thing was made by GE, and it is a flippy number mechanical clock that is set inside a cabinet that looks like a 60's TV. Wood framed, that whole gold bezel surrounding the "screen" thing going on...
It is a cool piece of history, and it worked until recently...
I opened it up and hit the parts with a volt meter, and it is the fucking transformer. That is hard to fix. Nothing mechanically wrong with it, the fault lies in a coil of copper wire...
How does that break?!?
Posts
I'm Gonna Kill Santa Claus
3 years ago
2 comments:
Insulation between the windings breaks down/shorts out, right?
You're gonna fix it, aren't you? Pictures?
The 'insulation' used in the copper windings is simply varnish coating the wires. This is to improve the efficiency of the transformer, as the closer the wires are together physically, the better the induction. Some x-ray transformers actually use square wires to further increase the efficiency.
It's possible to fix a transformer, but only rarely cost effective. Locomotive transformers can be repaired, saving some thousands of dollars. X-ray transformers, not so much. Anyway, small transformers are very cheap, comparatively, and readily available. Should be a snap to replace.
Don't forget to salvage the old one - lots of good copper in there.
Post a Comment