Teclock indicator. Dial rotates but scale inside does not track well. Remedy?

I googled "teclock bezel removal". The very first hit was "hobby-machinist".

The first answer said to drill a small hole in the side and push/pry with a small screw driver or drill bit. (Jeez-us)
The second answer said to remove the back and remove a retaining bracket.

So I followed the back removal comment. (something I did before but forgot about it).

Is there any lube that should be applied to the gears. Or just leave it alone? I still would like to fix the problem
with the scale inside not moving so much. A rotation with slight pressure on the bezel ring, or just a slight pull does
not make the scale inside rotate much. Eventually it rotates into a position I like but not like it should.

Is there any small lube points that I should oil? And is there a way to make the scale move when I rotate the dial?

Drill a hole in the indicator!? Eek. Don't think I'd follow any advice there without looking very carefully at it, heh.

Anyway, as you've discovered, there is a little sliding clip inside that holds the front on. I wouldn't oil anything, only leads to trouble in my experience. If you have the right oil that won't get sticky/gummy maybe put a bit from the end of a toothpick on the gear rack. Nothing on the shaft itself where it fits into the bushings though. I've had the issue with the bezel spinning but not turning the dial on Teclocks too. Solved mine with a few dabs of gel type CA glue where they touch.

I once mentioned this Teclock ring movement problem and someone liked the post.

Yes, the plate with divisions does not move consistent with the outside ring.
There is also a tension spring (a piece of wire bent into a half-moon. The spring tension is forced on the ring.
When I remove the half-moon spring the ring turns easily and there is less slip. Not sure if I'm going to glue it yet.

And yes, I decided not to use any oil inside. I didn't ever use oil but doesn't hurt to ask.
The outside ring might need some grease or something. Cleaning it up there was some Al. residue in the circular rings
on the outside ring because of the contact with the body of the indicator.

eKretz said:

I've had the issue with the bezel spinning but not turning the dial on Teclocks too. Solved mine with a few dabs of gel type CA glue where they touch.

Click to expand...

A measurement instrument made in Japan made usable with a few drops of glue. Beetle bomb....

Bad design. I have had several Teclocks with this problem and known plenty of others that had it happen also. Never had this problem with a Starrett, but they are a bit more expensive. I do like Teclock indicators though for the most part. They are very smooth in action.

rons said:

I googled "teclock bezel removal". The very first hit was "hobby-machinist".

The first answer said to drill a small hole in the side and push/pry with a small screw driver or drill bit. (Jeez-us)
The second answer said to remove the back and remove a retaining bracket.

So I followed the back removal comment. (something I did before but forgot about it).

Is there any lube that should be applied to the gears. Or just leave it alone?

Click to expand...

There are specific clock oils as well as "one dip" clock movement cleaners that I have used on indicators. Watchmakers supplies will have them.

technocrat said:

There are specific clock oils as well as "one dip" clock movement cleaners that I have used on indicators. Watchmakers supplies will have them.

Click to expand...

The oil question is not something I dreamed up. Mechanical watch movements with springs are supposed to be cleaned and lubricated once in a while.
According to a watchmaker's video I watched. The indicator has two larger gears and two small pinon gears. I might look into getting some oil.

The "One Dip" is trichloroethylene, at least according to the MSDS. I still keep some around for the occasional "I just can't clean this damn thing" issue. You used to be able to find "recovered/reclaimed" trichlor but I can't quickly find it. Perchloroethylene might work as a substitute, I don't know, but it's still available to buy.

The oil needed after is harder to source, you're looking for an instrument/watch oil that doesn't oxidize. Most will be synthetic and make you flinch when looking at the price per unit. I was lucky enough to find some surplus that the military put up some time ago. You might have better luck just sending it off for a cleaning at an instrument repair as they're not averse to spending $30 on 2ml of the stuff since that's good for all their work for a year and then some.

This is the look of things. And this thing I'm about to describe does not happen to me often:

As I am formatting the picture of the ring (back side) I see these dimples. I did notice that there were 2-3
little balls in the indicator when it was on the head of my mill. I wondered how these tiny little pieces of
metal could have gotten inside. The fact appears that the flat circular plate is set into the ring with a punch
or something. But the punch point weakens and the metal falls into the bottom of the indicator. This is going to
have to move to a higher level of magnification to see more. You can probably see 2 little craters on the inside
of the ring. Probably 4 craters in all. A saying in the business is "if a problem repeats then it is fixed".
I think the glue approach is the most sensible thing to do.







I just looked real close at the flat circular plate. There is a V groove in a couple of places (radially).
The groove is short but the strike is at the intersection with the ring. The chunk of metal from the ring
is supposed to contact the inside of the ring. Eventually the joint fails in what appears quite a few of
those indicators.

THIS IS A STATION BREAK:

To all you ChiComm copycat mother fuxters who get on this site and freeload all you can and give nothing
back but phony bat theories, please make your big bleeding batchs of indicators a little better...