How do you make a wall clock less noisy?

Question

I bought a nice wall clock the other day. Have not slept since. Anybody know how to reduce the noise the second hand makes?

Answer 1

You probably won't like this answer but....

I had the same problem. It drove me nuts but you actually get used to it; it will become white noise, background noise. When you move into a new house that is an entirely different part of town, the "foreign" noises tend to keep you awake but after a while, you get used to it.

Best,
~*~Smo~*~

Answer 2

It depends on the design of the clock, and *how* the noise is being made. On some clocks you can put a strip of tape or some foam on the back of it and cut down on the noise. On some, you can paint something on the second hand that will quiet it (found this out by painting a second hand with glow in the dark paint, side effect was the hand was quieter)...

Unfortunately, now that the clock is bothering you, you will listen for it. Even if you lower the noise level, it will likely drive you nuts unless you can also significantly change the pitch. You might try using whatever tricks you are given here and then taking the clock down for a week before you put it back up with your noise reductiuon tricks in effect. That way you will hopefully un-train yourself from listening for the annoying clock.

Ticking clocks drive me nuts unless there are a lot of them and they are all in the same area. My personal suggestion would be to go digital, but that really doesn't answer your situartion :o)

Answer 3

I have taken dozens of clocks apart. The noise you hear is the tiny motor inside the clockwork, spinning 180 degrees, inside a magnetic field between two laminated field posts, surrounded by a coil of fine copper wire. A computer chip attached to the wire coil, puts out a pulse from a crystal ( usually a tiny aluminum tube with two wires ) after counting so many millions of pulses. The armature causes the motor to flip 180 degrees, which moves a gear, which is connected to a series of gears. In the early days of these clocks, there were some clever methods used to make the 180 degree snap less noisy, but as the clocks began getting cheaper and mass produced, they are getting progressively noisier - this does have the advantage in that they have more snap to them and are in some ways more reliable, and will work longer with less power, since more of the 180 degree snap is directly used to immediately turn all the gears. The dampening methods all use various ways to lessen the snap - which adds friction, which uses more energy, which causes them to wear out, of fail sooner when the battery ( usually a single AAA or AA 1.5 Volt cell ) starts to get low. There is a trade off in noise vs. reliability. The quiet clocks use soft nylon, or composite materials in the first stages of the gears - the motor moves the most, the next gear moves the next most in distance, and the last gears on the chain move almost imperceptibly. Thus, somehow making the the first gears quiet is the key. I have seen the first gear made out of a semi-tranparent rubbery plastic, where the gear was really just spokes pointing outward, like an old covered wagon wheel, without the rim. You could bend the spokes easily, and they just flexed back. This first-stage shock absorber took the " click" out of the 180 degree flip of the motor. Another method was to have 4 poles on the motor, so that each click was only 1/4 of the turn, or 90 degrees, and coupled with softer plastic gears, with more teeth, this would result in a quieter operation. However, the snap of 1/4 turn was more delicate, and these clocks would wear out more easily... If you put in a viscous dampenig agent you will slow down the 180 snap so that the clock won't work...
Generally - I have been looking for older clock mechanisms that actually ARE quiet, with few successes, and replace the cheaper new mechanisms. I am still looking. I am looking for LCD LARGE clocks to replace many wall clocks, since many visitors and guests can't stand the clicking of the cheap mechanisms....
I would suggest that you look for older, garage sale type clocks, and run them with an AA to test for sound, and if you find an older quiet one, just replace the workings. Other than that, I have not found any new, quiet ones...
failing this, there is the standard sound dampening methods that are used in automobiles and houses etc. -- you use a heaby material such as lead or plates of steel to stop the high frequency vibrations, coupled with blue of pink foam to stop the low frequencies. If you really like the clock, you can fill as much of the immediate area on the back of the clock with heavy material, coated with light material, and keep the body of the rest of the clock from acting as an amplifier. I have not done this - yet, but I am really not that interested in any clock I have for the value of the clock itself. If there were a specific " valueable" clock, I would go to great lengths to dampen the fields if I could not find a quiet mechanism - you could use construction adhesive, or silicon caulking, or rubber cement to glue in heavy material, and fill any and all open areas on the back to keep the clock body from vibrating. It would be trial and error... but any dampening would help a bit. The snap from the inside of the clock work square box on the FRONT of the clock would be difficult to dampen - you would have to remove the paper or plastic number plate, glue on a sheet of metal or heavy material, and put the face back on...
This would be massive overkill on a cheap clock, but worth it if you can't replace the clock for some reason.
I have 6 cheap, identical clicks beside me here on the wall with different times around the world on them - enough to drive most people crazy, but my computers are so loud that I don't even notice them !
good luck.

Answer 4

Put the clock in a different room so it doesn't keep you awake. Buy another for your bedroom that isn't so noisy. That way you can still know the time, still sleep and still have the clock you love!
Good Luck

Answer 5

Memorize and recite at house mate! "Listen, mate, I know you work really long hours and you must be knackered at the end of your shift, but your TV staying on is killing me and I can't get any sleep when it's playing through the night. Come into my room and hear it for yourself if you like. If you need help setting up a timer to turn it off, I'll be happy to help you do that, but the lack of sleep is really beginning to cause me issues. Can we maybe come to some kind of compromise where we're both happy?"

Answer 6

if its a barrery operated clock try ducktapeing a piece of fabric behind the clock to mufel the sound and to keep the wall from amplifing it. not that there should be any problems but make sure to not cover the sides so it wont over heat. adn make sure to use name brand batteries since they can run hot without any problems

Answer 7

Apart from stopping it, you could try exchanging it at the shop where you bought it.

I love hearing a ticking clock. Oh, there's another option, thank your lucky stars that you are not deaf and learn to love it.

Answer 8

Mount it on the outside of the wall.

Or, suspend it on a rubber ring, and lay a sheet of felt between it and the wall. If theres no solid connection, the wall will get less vibration & transmit less to you.

Answer 9

I would recomend chucking it away and geting a digital clock

Answer 10

Adjust the tick tock mechanism with a large hammer.