Fast analogue clock

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Ok guys here’s a challenge for someone…

I’m after a way of either (1) Speeding up a normal analogue clock to run at HO gauge speed or to (2) Alter the clockface to give me a fast clock, running at normal (human) clock speed.

Your ideas gentlemen please!

Thanks
Ian

2

I know I’ve seen a published article on constructing an “analog” fast clock by modifying the existing face of a regular clock, but I have no idea which publication it was in. Perhaps Chubb’s “Realistic Operations” book?

Mike Tennent

3

You could change the crystal or the speed up the motor.

4

Remove the hour hand, use the minute hand for hours. Thus one real hour would then be 12 scale hours. The second hand can be the minute hand. A friend does this on his large layout, all battery clocks are set this way and are controlled from one single switch in the dispatchers office. Local dollar stores have wall clocks, might be worth a look in your area. At least the price is right!

BobBoudreau

5

Walthers’ catalog has an adjustable-scale clock
or, you could check hobby lobby or michaels…they sell working clocks for dollhouses, etc. that might be close enough

6

Well, first there is no such thing in time as “HO gauge speed”. Time does not scale down. An HO train traveling at 60 smph is going to cover 1 scale mile in 60 real seconds just like the real thing. Since very few people have enough track to operate a good schedule in normal time, fast clocks are invented to make up for the selective compression. So depending on how you have compressed your layout would determine what speed you need the clock to be.

If you can deal with a 12 to 1 clock (very fast) as someone else said, just use the minute hand as an hour hand, and second hand as a minute.

If the clock determines the time by line frequency (60 cycles a second) applied to an induction motor, one could make it run at any speed by varying the frequency. This assumes the motor can in fact physically turn at those RPM.

If it is an electronic clock then one could simply change the crystal to another frequency. If digital one could change the crystal or programming.

Replace the motor with a computer controlled stepper motor, and let the software control the speed.

The easiest is to just forget trying to make one and buy it
http://thegmlenterprises.com/id20.html

7

That’s the way we went with a layout I helped convert from digital clocks to analog (which were much more appropriate for my friend’s 1950s layout, and much more to his liking). We decided that for the eight clocks we needed, any of the “roll-our-own” solutions were going to take far more time to engineer and build than we wanted to spend on the project.

The GML clocks are rock-solid and the installation was trouble-free. Plus, if you’d rather have a different set of fast clock speeds than the six (switch-selectable ones) Gene offers in the stock controller, he’s willing to modify the controller to include the speeds you want.

8

Thanks guys, I only now need to find a step down transformer to convert my 240V mains voltage to the required 120V needed by the GML controller.

Ian

9

It might be a good idea to drop Gene an e-mail and ask whether there are any issues with the difference between the 50Hz (UK) vs. 60Hz (North America) AC supply affecting the fast clock rates. If so, he may have a solution for it.