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  #1  
Old 21st October 2021, 07:15 AM
snusmumriken snusmumriken is offline
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Default Smiths darkroom timer. Do you happen to know?

I recently bought a Smiths mechanical darkroom timer for nostalgia's sake, because there was one in my school darkroom where I taught myself about D&P, and because it is about the same age as me (1950s vintage). Also, the stopwatch which my Dad had used for timing radio broadcasts, and which has been my darkroom timer for about 25 years, has finally packed up.

My 'new' clock is very clean and in working order, but I would like to give it a clean and lube internally (don't worry, I won't wreck it). The winder butterfly/thumbscrew is held onto its shaft with a small slot-headed bolt, which is frozen. Because the winder turns anti-clockwise, that bolt would logically have a left-hand thread, but I don't want to force it the wrong way.
[On later models the winder butterfly was itself threaded onto the shaft and could be removed by turning it clockwise. That's not the design I am talking about.]

While I wait for the penetrating oil to seep in, is there anyone out there who happens to know whether it is indeed LH thread?
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Old 21st October 2021, 03:56 PM
snusmumriken snusmumriken is offline
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Problem solved! Once the penetrating oil had done its bit, it turned out that the winder butterfly was threaded onto the shaft as in later models, and spun off clockwise as expected. The slotted head visible in its centre was in fact the end of the shaft itself. The shaft was also round, not square as I earlier believed from what I could see of it.

Right, I am in business. Given a quiet moment I will take the back off and do what seems necessary in respect of cleaning and lubing. There is already excellent advice about that in this thread
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Old 26th October 2021, 04:04 PM
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Glad you sorted it out! WD40 is quite magic stuff
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Old 26th October 2021, 08:27 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Same sentiments as Bob. I did wonder about why Smiths changed to a square shaft and bolt instead of the usual anticlockwise screw but I didn't know enough about Smiths clocks to be certain and certainly back in the day Smiths made several versions of its darkroom timers so you can never be sure

Mike
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Old 26th October 2021, 09:38 PM
snusmumriken snusmumriken is offline
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Thanks, chaps. And here it is, if I've figured out correctly how to add a photo.
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  #6  
Old 26th October 2021, 10:58 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by snusmumriken View Post
Thanks, chaps. And here it is, if I've figured out correctly how to add a photo.
Photo's fine. Yet another version I hadn't seen

Mike
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Old 27th October 2021, 02:34 PM
Terry S Terry S is offline
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I too have an ageing and rusty version of this clock that needs a spring clean. So after reading the instructions again and watching the YouTube thread, i might try and get mine working again as well.

A good tip about using the right (light) oil as I am also prone to squirting WD40 where it doesn't belong!

Terry S
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Old 28th October 2021, 07:39 AM
Paulographic Paulographic is offline
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I have an old one in cream enamel finish. I still use it when developing film, for printing a normal clock with a loud "tick" which matches my own mental count.. I have a Jessops digital timer but I use that as an alarm clock, it doesn't tick in the night.
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Old 28th October 2021, 04:23 PM
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Rob Archer Rob Archer is offline
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Useful information as I've got several of these, all of which are getting bit unreliable and randomly stopping! I much prefer a mechanical clock as it's easier to see under the safelight when printing.
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  #10  
Old 28th October 2021, 06:45 PM
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I have one of these in my attic, I got it 40 years ago and it was old then, I must dig it out and see if it still works.
Mine has a lever on the side that winds it to start the timer.
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