Trying to FIX: Vintage PEDOMETER (Step Counter)
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2024
- Hi, in this video I attempt to repair a mechanical pedometer. I purchased it from eBay for £6. I think it will be interesting to see the insides to see how it works.
Remember that this is just for entertainment and I am not an expert in these repairs. The processes in the video may not be the best way, the correct way or the safest way to fix these things. I do love fault finding and trying to fix broken things, so I hope that comes across in this 'Trying to FIX' series. Many thanks, Vince.
Vince: It's just gonna need a clean.
Me: Nope, 50mins left in the video
LOL!!! I check out the time left as well. He thinks he's finished. (several times) and I check the time left... nope..
Hi Vince, Firstly thanks for the shoutout at the end. I appreciate that. I enjoyed watching you repair this. Quite an interesting mechanism that looks simple enough but then still got you stumped in places. The click springs even I didnt work out at first but then it became clear. As for calibrating something like that from the factory I doubt they did. Back before 89 we had no GPS etc so you would almost blindly believe what it was saying. It can never be accurate due to your stride and torraine you are on. I also think that to be more accurate the mechanism would have to be better made than what was in that. A fun thing though and it got you out of the house mate! if we were still on proper lockdown you would have only been allowed out once a day so that would have been hilarious to see how long it took....
Thanks Mike, yes I suppose the accuracy was good enough. I like the look of it but I was let down by the paper dial. Still an interesting item and easier to fix than them Seiko's ;-)
39:59 I KNEW IT. From the moment u staind it I was like "oh no, is going to focus on that now" if watched enough videos from u to know that u are a perfectionist when it comes to those things
You're a mechanical genius. Your content is so relaxing. 👍
I wish I wasn’t dead inside and got this excited when I find out how something works! 😂. Love the videos Vince, thank you for your time and dedication.
Not related to this video, more of a general comment. Been watching you for a long time Vince. Thanks to your videos I finally plucked up the courage to take apart my Technics amplifier and fix the dry solder joints on 4 of the inputs. I'm now annoying my neighbours by listening to The Clash through one of the previously broken inputs! Vince - I thank you for making me believe I could pick up the soldering iron and fix something... Although my neighbours probably don't! :D
You really know your way around things. If i were to open something like this i would have some spares lying around after assembly. And then il blame the manufacturer 'idiots, why put these extra parts in there', just to make me feel confident. 😂
I love obscure unique vintage items such as this so I really enjoyed this video! Even if it is not 100% accurate, it makes for a great conversation piece! Excellent video!
That thing converts a bump into a distance. It is inherently inaccurate. Your steps are not exact and walking over uneven ground can cause multiple incrementing or to not register steps at all.
Hi Vince, I don't think it's the case in this instance but you'll often find early watch plexi-glasses yellow through age as they're made of spun nitrocellulose. This means cleaning up with polywatch won't do anything. You see it on lots of old pocket watches - sometimes it's bad enough people think the dial is actually yellow! Great video as usual 👍
Those pedometers were made in a time where no one really cared how many miles you walked EXACTLY. Distance in vintage times was as important as the rocks placed next to the road. So the result is: they were more a rough estimation. The calibration was dead simple: choose one of the settings, e.g. 30 inches, calculate how many steps fit into one mile this way, bump device that many times. Look at the result and adjust the spring accordingly. You need to remember: Springs change their properties in time, so after 6 decades it ist most likely unprecise as a throw with a stone.
Vince "I've done it, it's fully calibrated!"…80 miles later
Just in time for tea! Thank you for these videos vince!
My daughter works at Screw fix. She asked her boss if they sell spirit level bubbles 🤦I didn't think she would fall for it 😂
If you want German precision, get a vintage Normatest AVOmeter, not only does all the usual ohms, farad's volts etc but if you have the probes for it also does sound, vibration and temps too. My Cropico (Croydon Precision Instruments) Normatest II is the darling of all my tools as it was assembled in the factory almost next door to the hospital I was born in, made also in the month and year I was born too and as a AVO meter it is incredibly good despite being over 50 years old. The second darling of my stuff is my Everard bridge megger, ex GPO 110v model in beautiful burgundy bakelite and fully functional and I use it to find shorts in my car or scooter as ideal for 12v applications and it works superbly as you measure the reading and then measure along the line and usually within a centimetre or so is the short. The other worthy ancient thing of note which looks a lot like your meter there, is my French 1903 voltmeter which has a paper dial too and despite it being fairly ancient still works well on up to 10v, see old doesn't mean useless in my book :D
While I get this is supposed to be a fix it video, I do hope in the future you show us more of uk scenery. It looks really nice out there :-)
The first stain on the 14 was from IPA and disappeared after evaporating. But the second stain came from the oil you put on the peg at 20:50…
I've picked up a lovely watch project, a Pulsar V600 which I consider just about the most advanced watch I have heard of as you use the bezel as a rotary switch and the work is done on the small subdial and the main hands. Has a dancing hands function, stopwatch, countdown timer, alarms, dual time zones and has been suggested to me NASA used one in a space trip but can't verify that. My one is gold plated with a daytona yellow dial and looking forward to getting this rarity fixed :)
So happy to know what that translates to in Cayman Islands currency...lol ;)
What does it
What a lovely bit of kit! I didn't realise they made Pedometers that long ago, but then I also had a thought today about how did light meters work in cricket all those years ago, simple questions, bound to be simple answers! Great video Vince, and boy, have you earned that chocolate lol! 😊
i like that kind of "Riverdance" - music in the background
It's the weekend. I've got the AC on, and a cold beer in my hand. Time to tune in to another Vince adventure and chillax.
The music is lovely and beautiful watch.
Brass is soft - shouldn't need much oil if any. Enjoyable video
enjoyed this one vince there is something magical about old simple mecanical devices .
I don’t know why but this guys videoes are really entertaining
Brasso and silver brasso are great for scratched CD and DVDs as well. Just a tip. :)
For the people who say first we all know u guys dont even watch the video mate good vid the gears mechanism the way u explain ed it was beautiful
"There we have it, I am happy with that" (40:00 minute mark).
Video length 1:03:18
Waiting to see what went wrong, so I can enjoy another 20 minutes of fixing :)
I'll say one thing it kept you fit getting the miles in..👍🏼
Yesss really hope you fix this one... Keep up the good work :)
Excellent =D Enjoyed that! OK, admit it - who's shook a 3DS like that to get the points for walking?
I sure did.
I imagine you got a room full of all the stuff you fixed where you walk around with a sense of smug satisfaction looking at stuff thinking...I fixed that
Never judge Vince until you've walked a mile in his shoes or in this case 7 miles :)
Oh my. I haven't heard that in ages. The tonne question. My mum used it all the time when I was a kid (90s) child.
I would expect the pendulum should be in the middle of it's range when the things is in hanging still in vertical position. I think that's how they adjust it in the factory. It's a bit like the pendulum of a clock in the middle when it's in rest.
I think that's about as accurate as these things ever were. A simple mechanical device that just measures up/down movements is never going to be anything more than an estimate when it comes to measuring walking distance. Even simple digital pedometers aren't 100% accurate, it's more like 80-90% judging by the difference in distance and step count measured by different apps and devices on the same walk. That's why most of the activity tracking apps on phones use GPS location.
omg your fingernails hahahha! Very entertaining Vince ;)
13:22 thank God he is finally here. we have been waiting for you to catch up. LOL J/K
31:22
Vince its pretty easy to find the right Spot for this spring. Look back to your video U can exactly See that the end of the spring lines up perfectly with this metal square at the case . I Hope U / someone know what i mean :)
im from canada ... but TURTAL headlight restoration kits work well for all kinds of plastics and glass surfaces
He is so good at fixing things
as a result of this video, Vince won the award for both most exercise and weeks biggest loss at weight watchers, haha
Lovely item and video Vince.
i love the look of this such a cool little thing
I might start doing this also
Maybe a UV light will help get rid of the discolouration
44:20
You have to use a lower viscosity oil to prevent it from being a cause of friction.
I used to do it to my yo yo so it would spin longer.
A Williams fan there! They start the f1 season on Friday! Good luck!
I was thinking, use Brasso! 😂 Works every time.
Hi Vince awesome video again but could you tell what music you were playing please ?😊
Intresting as always vince 🙂
Great video as always vince
A very late comment: I don't think the lever on the back is continuously adjustable, I think it has only the four marked settings. And they will determine how many teeth are clicked past the ratchet on each step.
I wonder, if the oil spills through the hole behind the number 14 and soaks up into the paper.
YT comments: Hey Vince, can you walk me through setting---
Vince: NOO!!
Love the channel keep up the good work .
Lovely! I really like how it's all metal gears. The only plastic parts are the back and probably the lens. I'd use that rather than a fit bit. Look at how it made You do sports more already! *lol* I think by the looks of it, it's from the 70's. It was a more casual time back then and noone needed 100% accuracy for things like sports. "Being in the right ballpark" was already enough. Better times *lol* This has way more charming than a fitbit :D
For the yellow you can do a retrobright treatment i used it a lot of time and it dosn't affect the paint but i don't use it on a acrylic glass and i don't know the result on a transparent one. When i do this on a game boy classic it dosn't affect the screen i think it's same whith this screen
those two things work like the pallet fork in a mechanical watch.
You could try and Retrobrite that face not sure if it will work but maybe worth a try.
Keep up the awesome videos.
2:30 Feel good to hear that from a Englishman
find a track for running or racing, you can check the Fitbit too for accuracy! %)
What a great channel!
16:40 ofc it's just paper dial... They would not waste money on "ceramic" or any type of emailed dial when it's behind unopenable "glass" (also the details would be less perfect if it were anything but paper with these colors).
no video passes by without isopropyl alcohol. It's great for cleaning electronics and removing glue.
0:44 - Cayman Islands Dollar? What's next? The Bangladeshi Taka?! 😜
Jokes aside, it's a nice little tidbit of info there with the currency rates haha.
Nice one vince
The clip is that way so you can clip it to your belt as you're supposed to wear on hip for proper reading
According to your electronic watch, 1 step corresponds with 28 inches (you can calculated that).
Hi vince great video just wondering when you stripped it down i noticed that the gears had holes in them and they
Should they all be aligned together ?
Mike
The spring had a screw on it, so it's meant to be adjusted I reckon, but exactly how to measure I'm really unsure.
Right about the oil
If you really want to compare, I would use Google Fit with GPS to track the distance. Pedometers are really inaccurate overall; including the FitBit, which I think is only using an accelerometer to measure the steps; I don't think the FitBit has GPS (although I could be wrong).
Can you fix my wife she has a issue with her mouth. Can't stop yapping. 😂😂😂 Love the videos.
👍👍
0:45 Is that a mid to late 1950s Agifold I see there? 👀
Hey Vince the fingers as you call them. Is a simple ratchet. The wheel the ratchet is pressing against has got milling around the edge.
Glad to know the exchange rate with the Cayman Islands :D
Williams Mercedes had the same colour when there were sponsored by martini great livery
The Fitbit won’t be using steps to work out distance, it’ll be using the GPS. And that will be more accurate :)
Just want to apologize to you Vince because I found myself yelling at you about the spring on your first attempt at putting it back together
I think a lot of us have had that moment when watching someone trying to fix something. It's completely natural.
I have one of those parameters to they’re not that accurate or more of a guide for hiking so you know how far you went in. And you have a rough idea how far it is back home. As for the 14 sometimes you just Gotta let it go just like dropping your keys in Volcano just let it go.
I'm not sure if it worked with any real consistency when new or bought, however it is quite cheaply made, relatively, it doesnt seem to have the accuracy and quality of parts of even a kock-off chinese watch from the era, quite large pieces and a paper face, probably low quality steel aswell, so im not so sure, it doesnt even have well fitted parts, as there isnt really a way to guarantee that spring wont move around, it isnt guided in any channel, its just resting against the middle of the gear, and depending on the worker who assembled each, may not have lined it up properly from the factory, i think Germany does and has made quality products, this does not seem like one of them
I would say it was never that accurate to begin with and the adjustment would be done with the slide on the back and it would also take the average of all steps because sometimes it will miss a step or one step may be larger than the next.
55:45 did you reset your step distance?
What's the song that plays during the sped up parts? (ex. 20:44), I really like it.
I love my mate vince
Haven’t watched it all yet .. but anything you have got yellowing you can leave out in sun
That is true for plastic, but I'm not so sure it works on paper. Different reaction that causes the yellowing, maybe. And it takes a very long time, weeks with plenty of sun.
Jdbye yes that’s true .. I typed that as soon as I saw about the yellow .. but then I saw it was paper .. very strange .. we did have a spell of sunshine but today it’s been stolen
Shane
49:32 that really is your thumbnail
Maybe these coggs need a grafite base lube instead of an oil? because it is not a enclosure like a watch
I use graphite in my fidget spinner.
how does this video only have 2 views but 15 likes?
R/softwaregore
Tonne - trick question in fairness
Hahaha pedo means fart in Spanish. So it would be fartometer lol.
Just don't add "-phile" to "pedo-', as that'll take a turn for the worse. 😬
The English language is weirdly inconsistent. 😬
39:59 that triggers me too hahah
Cayman Island Dollars? Paying well then lol
Fitbit is known for overestimating the steps so you probably could have left it a sit was towards the end of the video
I wonder if Jim Rauch owned one
Bit like magic finger's, but not. Fun video anyway.
U have a Fitbit charge 2?