New Heathkit GC-1006 Clock Build! Part 1
Added 2020-01-01 07:05:32 +0000 UTCA new Heathkit? Yep! And it's been in the queue for over a year! Hard to believe, but the time has come to get into this box and build myself a brand new Heathkit clock. You know the drill with these Heathkit builds - I take my time, so this will be a multi-part series. Here's part one - so Enjoy!
Comments
Fran, I want to make sure you've either seen the YouTube comments re the silly colon lightpipes or subsequently read the relevant part of the manual: "The light of each colon is directed forward using a clear lightpipe." and "The heatshrink tubing acts as a collar that restricts and directs the LED's light toward the front of the clock display." Cleaner colons? Awkward, yes, but a DIY Heathkit-ish kind of solution.
2020-01-04 08:48:05 +0000 UTCYup, that "talented, inventive team" hasn't done much!
2020-01-04 08:41:31 +0000 UTCDear Fran! Thanks for you. :) Best regards Arnold
2020-01-03 22:02:08 +0000 UTCI second that Fran, I work with small businesses and one myself, I know exactly what you mean. The bigger and more impressive the synopsis reads on the company website, the smaller the company usually is!
Leigh
2020-01-03 17:33:12 +0000 UTCYea, it says that. But as a long time manufacturer myself it feels like a one guy and an office kind of operation.
Fran Blanche
2020-01-03 15:05:18 +0000 UTCGreat vid Fran as usual. Happy New Year :) Found this over on Andrew Cromarty's linkedin page: "Acquired a legendary $100MM century-old electronics products firm out of bankruptcy and reestablished it as the premier electronics kit manufacturer. Assembled a talented, inventive team. Acquired another company and successfully merged its management, products, assets, and operations. Designed and developed a wide range of entirely new products. Relocated company and set up R&D, factory, warehouse, and offices in Santa Cruz, California near Silicon Valley, then additional East Coast operations and warehouse center and satellite R&D locations. Built the back office infrastructure, vendor and supply chain relationships, systems, procedures, operations methods, and corporate structure for a new modern scalable manufacturing business. Heath Company (Heathkit®) now has succesfully shipped thousands of new products to thousands of customers."
Tom
2020-01-02 16:50:02 +0000 UTCLol. That closing song cracks me up every time.
Mikeybg
2020-01-02 16:38:43 +0000 UTCHappy new year Fran. Great project, will enjoy watching this get built.. On one of the news items on the Heathkit website (dated 2015 admittedly) it gives a little background to their new set up including... "We relocated Heathkit, and set up a factory, and a warehouse, and offices, in Santa Cruz, California, near Silicon Valley"
2020-01-01 22:53:48 +0000 UTCGood spot on the personalised label Fran, I didn't see it hopefully no one else did!
Dr Andy Hill
2020-01-01 17:20:04 +0000 UTCHappy New Year Fran
Dr Andy Hill
2020-01-01 17:09:25 +0000 UTCHAPPY NEW YEAR Fran! Hope it's better than the last, not too many hiccups...
2020-01-01 17:07:03 +0000 UTCI built the "new" Heathkit GC-1006 clock kit in late 2016. I enjoyed the build and I'm looking forward to watching you build yours. My manual had 2 component ID labeling mistakes on the schematic. I see these mistakes have been corrected on your schematic. Before I started my build I was aware of one of the mistakes since it was listed on my Heathkit "personal product" web page list of corrections. But after my build I found a second mistake. I did informed Heathkit about the second mistake and they actually did add it to my "personal product" web page list of corrections. No, this is definitely not the old Heathkit that we remember. But I'm still glad that they are trying to keep it alive. I hope you have fun with your build and thanks for sharing!
David Blake
2020-01-01 15:57:24 +0000 UTCDidn't release it was a new Heathkit kit. Didn't see a crystal in the parts so they will be using the internal oscillator on the microprocessor to run it all, which will be very inaccurate and drift several seconds a minute, so this explains the old-style transformer power supply so they can get a 60 Hz signal from it to keep good time. Wonder if they have a setting for 50Hz countries? However, this will mean the clock is going to drift quite a bit whenever it is on battery backup. If their firmware is clever, it will calibrate the internal oscillator against the received 60Hz to help it track real time better when on battery power. Odd they’ve gone with a new design using a microcontroller, then kept the timing using the mains Hz, so have had to use an AC transformer and gone with an old style 7805 linear (hot) regulator. Not the most efficient way to power the clock. An odd mix of old style and new. Not sure if in Europe that could be sold as there are various rules now about efficiency of appliances, meaning old style transformers struggle to make the grade. Looking forward to the next instalment.
Leigh
2020-01-01 11:06:29 +0000 UTCWhat a fantastic way to start the new year, thank you Fran.
David Peaker
2020-01-01 10:39:01 +0000 UTCGlad to see you posting more frequently again. I love the wide range of geeky topics you cover. As I noted in my YouTube comments, I'm hoping to finish building my new Heathkit clock as you build yours. One note on the solder pads. I believe the pads that are on both the top and bottom serve to connect top traces with bottom traces, and I suspect there are no top pads where there are unused pins or otherwise no bottom-to-top connections. This is a little weird because the holes should be plated through making soldering to the top pads unnecessary. Hm. I'll have to take a closer look when I dig the PCB(s) out of the box. BTW, I love the fact that you didn't follow the directions and tore open all the (classic Heathkit manila) envelopes at once.
2020-01-01 10:04:25 +0000 UTCHappy New Year Fran, looking forward to an old Heathkit build in this new year. I bet no one at Heathkit could ever had imagined that their kits would be being made in 2020 and shown on a thing called "YouTube" available to watch anywhere in the world.
Leigh
2020-01-01 09:46:34 +0000 UTCHappy New Year Fran from the UK. Woke up at 6 am GMT to your video, first video of 2020.
Robert Dicken
2020-01-01 08:11:59 +0000 UTC
