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The clock dial was too large to fit in a standard vehicle. The dial was made to withstand outdoors weather extremes so we decided to test it out fully exposed in a simulated howling gale environment through being mounted on ski racks for a quick 8 hour drive up the East Coast, across the Canterbury Plains and over the Lewis Pass. The only thing we didn't anticipate was driving through a swarm of bees sometime in the night which required some delicate cleaning when we arrived in Nelson! |
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The original clock display which was to be replaced. |
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The original clock movement which had failed and was no longer economical to repair. In addition it was an older technology which required regular manual attention and the opportunity was taken to replace it with a fully automated system. |
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Reaching up to the Clock face by Scissors Lift to begin dismantling the old clock. |
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Owen Milson (Line Mechanic) from Nelson Electricity removes the clock hands and hardware from the clock hands bearings shaft seen protruding through the exterior wall of the building. |
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Now inside the building Owen prepares to remove the old mechanism. |
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With the shaft hole exposed and the new mounting L-bracket bolted into the concrete to support the weight of the new dial gear mechanism, Owen and Garth (from Jira) now mount the new equipment with the long hands shaft extension passing through the exposed hole to the exterior of the building. |
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Next the dial plate has to be raised into place. |
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The dial is positioned over the hands shaft extension in correct rotation while the concrete wall is drilled so that the dial plate can be secured by strong Dynabolts. |
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Finally the hands can be attached. |
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The clock dial seen to be mounted in the 12:00 hands position as the scissors lift descends. Making sure the power cable is not trapped. |
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Final check before activating the new system. Owen has fitted and connected the 230vac to the Tempus Master Clock Controller. Next, Lyndon from Jira will complete the programming of the Tempus and the external display hands will rotate from the preset 12 o' clock position to the current time. |
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This is Katie Homan who is the Systems Manager for Nelson Electricity and the person who coordinated the project including Traffic Management Plans with the local City Authority and local provision of facilities and technical resources which made the job go so smoothly. Katie deserves a vote of thanks for her absolutely positive attitude and her organisation which cut the job down from 2 days to just one day. |
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Mike Braden is the Engineering manager for Nelson Electricity who kept an eye on everything. While the clock installation was proceeding after normal work hours, there was an unexpected power outage in one distribution sector which caused some senior staff including Mike to be recalled to work. Here, Mike is relaxing after the situation had been resolved. As can be clearly seen, Mike is a Southern Man living in a DB world. |
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..as apparently are the rest of the Nelson good old boys! |
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The job is completed. Here, Lyndon, Garth and Katie wait while the clock completes its self-correction cycle from initial preset of 12:00 to the current time. By this time it was about 7:30pm. We then tidied up and drove home. |
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Credits due:
Nelson Electricity
Award Plastics of Christchurch who supplied the Dial and Laser cut Digits
Education Services of Dunedin who supplied the plastic dial markers.
Mitre 10 MegaStore of Dunedin who supplied special mounting hardware.
Magoo Mufflers of Timaru who supplied special mounting brackets.
Clock-o-Matic of Belgium as suppliers of the Tempus Master Clock Controller and Dial Gears.
Rinnon Products of Dunedin who made the Clock Hands and Dial Gear mounting L-bracket. |
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