Dave and Lou, I too had one of the SFB clocks that followed me through
3 radio stations before it finally gave up the ghost. Try as I might, I
was never able to find a suitable replacement motor for it. There were
plenty of clock motors, but they were either the wrong size or the wrong shape.
So the engineer at radio station job #3 helped me do the next best thing.
Not long before the SFB clock bit the dust, I had found a similar type
clock at a ham fest flea market for $5. It was somewhat larger than the
original, and not nearly as nice looking, but it did work.
I removed the front of the case, and the engineer helped me line up
dymo tape number strips around the wheels, which, of course, was what
Tom had done with his product. We never got the 5 second marks to come
out right, so I settled for 10 second markings, which worked well enough.
That flea market find lasted me another 10 years before suffering the
same motor failure sometime in the mid 90s on the job that I still have
at Radio Reading Service of Mississippi. On a quick side note, I met
Dave at the first Radio Reading Conference I attended in 1989.
Now, when I need timing with a live microphone, I use the clock in a
BrailleNote. But if I ever get my hands on another of those number
wheel clocks, it will receive "the touch treatment."
--
Mike Duke, K5XU
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