Hacker help: Any idea how to stop a clock from clicking?

Jules Yap·
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Materials: Rusch wall clock

Description: I’m looking for your help. We bought some Rusch wall clock, they’re cheap and quite sharp. And, more over, when you don’t like ’em, you can easily hack’em.

But.

There is a but.

They’re too noisy.
I can hear the one in the bathroom from the bed, and it’s like 5meters. Not ensuite. And I have a PC in my bedroom, on most of the nights.

But it tics and tics and tacs.

Any ideas?

~ jo

Jules Yap
Latest posts by Jules Yap (see all)

54 Responses

  1. Several years later, I searched for an answer on how to take the tock out of the clock…found this forum. My clock is not an IKEA, but an Audubon, and I thoroughly enjoy the bird calls on every hour. The clock has a light sensor so the birds are quiet in the dark, but the crazy TICK TOCK TICK TOCK drives me up the wall sometimes. It is super loud night and day. Why a battery operated nonpendulum clock should make ANY noise is beyond me. I will try some of the hacks in this column, otherwise it is “Bye Bye Birdie.”

    Reply

    1. One of the most peaceful sounds in the world is ticking clocks, and Birds. Some people may have to admit that they’re a bit too sensitive when clocks offend, while people are starving and being abused

      Reply

  3. I tried Vaseline inside black box Clock Movement middle all Movement so now i can say i’m amazing :p now i can’t hear any nose from my wall Clock so i must focus on that until i see those moving haahaa
    best hack .

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  4. Bought Scotch Removable Mounting squares….. Placed over entire back of square box…… almost entirely absorbs clicking sound…..

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  6. Use Dynamat it’s a thin adhesive backed stuff used in cars for sound proofing. Or pack the back of the clock with “high density” foam. Please keep us posted on any results it’s 2015 – people seek answers for the same problems year after year.

    Reply

  7. A year late but better late than never. Dont worry about all that other stuff…. remove the clock movement and replace it with a “sweep movement” they dont tick. You can pick them up on ebay for as little as $6.00 plus postage. have a ngreat day

    Reply

  9. best way, let the clock fly.. open the window and let it fly wherever it wants.. no more clock no more ticktackerackackack….
    seriously, nothing will really help… ;o)

    Reply

  10. There are movements that are silent, but to quiet this movement, try this: Get some adhesive foam feet and then listen to where the loud click is coming from on the back of the movement itself and stick a foam foot there. You might also stick one or two foam feet on the back of the dial to “deaden” it. Some clock suppliers have felt or foam “donuts” that fit between dial and movement as a sound deadening method, too.

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  11. bought 2 of these clocks one set to dublin time and one to san francisco (where my daughter lives) . the noise is driving me mad too so am going to try all of the above fixes else they are going in the bin

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  12. Bought new wall clock yesterday and second hand was too heavy. Could not climb to the top of the hour. Removed clock face and snipped 2/3 of second hand off. Works fine now. 🙂

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  13. did try to remove the second hand n insert it along with some paper bits clung on it .. of opinion the second hand the primary problem ….. worked fr me
    simulated super silent conditions for focusing on work ..

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  14. Two things will help:
    First, reduce the noise at it’s source, that is, lubricate the gears in the clockwork mechanism.

    Second, and that has even greater impact, reduce resonance. The cheap plastic case of this clock resonates with the ticks and thus amplifies them in loudness, as the empty body of acoustical string instrumens such as guitars does.

    Fill the complete case with putty, or cover the case’s backside very lavishly with silicone (the stuff you also use to make your bathroom’s shower less incontent with), or attach a sound reducer as used on stainless steel kitchen sinks. Don’t know what I’m referring to? Just peek at the underside of your kitchen sink, you’ll notice some black material attached to it. This is also used in cars and can be gotten from spare part dealers (in german, that would be named “anti-dröhnmatte” for instance from Teroson, but I know neither the correct english term for it nor a widely-spread brand).

    Reply

  15. I’ve got one of these and I didn’t realise I could hear it ticking until I read this article! Just get used to it – it is a bit like birdsong in the morning or a snoring partner.

    Reply

  16. I have the same type of clock. I bought it along with a Bondis clock. Because of the ticking noise I threw the Rusch clock away the day after I bought it. The Bondis clock is still quietly ticking away in my living room. I guess you pay for quality.

    Reply

  18. The gears are what cause it to click. If there is no click, there will be no movement. If you don’t want the clicking sound, you need to get a silent/sweep movement clock. It’s the one where the second hand doesn’t click, but rather continues moving in a sweeping motion.
    You could try installing this onto something or making your own clock template.
    http://www.klockit.com/products/dept-157__sku-BBBBN.html

    Reply

  19. sorry for beeing shortly absent, i left for a brief long weekend in the middle of the week ;-). i was obviously tempted of taking the battery off, even of destroying all the ikea clocks in the house, but have you ever tried living with a younger sister almost still in her teen years? everytime i tried to hide the sound in the middle of the towels, in a few hours the clock is back on its wall.
    and it still clicks.
    or ticks.

    i did thought about some foam/paper/fabric in the back, but i was sure my friends ikeahackers had some better ideas coming for me. and they did.

    i don’t feel like the seconds hand removal will be useful, ’cause, like someone said, the clock doesn’t know it’s missing.

    earplugs are out of sight (hearing?) ’cause in this way i will not hear the alarm when i need to.

    i’ll try the butter or silicon based lubricant solution. or my sister and her boyfriend will. they’re the ones dealing with electronic parts.

    we bought ikea cloks because they easily blend with almost any furniture, because they’re not expensive, because you can hack them.

    but i’ll definetely keep the customer care option in mind…. maybe the better suggestion as far 😉 do you think it can works in ikea italy too?

    Reply

  21. You shoud “Go Green”!
    So take the battery out, save the earth and your ears & brain! 🙂

    PS Take the clock back to IKEA an tell them that it’s making strange noise like “tics and tacs” so something must be wrong!

    Epic!

    Reply

  22. Get a second one! And put it in the kitchen or so. They will never be in sync, but form an interesting sound pattern which just fascinates as much as counting sheep.

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  23. I cut off the long parts from the red hand, so only a red circle remains. The ticking is still there, but it is more quiet….. for me it was ok.

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  24. Yeah, I’m not sure about removing the second hand either. We bought a clock without a second hand especially to avoid this issue, but it still ticks every freaking second. I don’t notice it when we’re eating/cooking/watching TV, or even when I’m reading a really good book, but if I’m reading a so-so book or on my computer or I want to take a nap on the couch, it’s really bothersome.

    If only they made digital clocks that look as nice as analog ones. (Well, they make digitals that look nicer than this IKEA clock, but I haven’t seen a digital clock that would fit our steampunk inspired décor.)

    Reply

  25. I recently “hacked” a Rush that was awfully noisy but unfortunately I didn’t take pictures. Maybe next time… Briefly, you carefully take apart the little black box (After taking apart the clock, removing the hands etc). Do it with the shaft pointing UP, or wheels will fly in all directions. There’s a wheel stuck to a magnet that’s seated in a recess in the electronic part. That’s the one that drives the movement each second. What I did was to take that out, put a drop of machine oil in that recess, and put it back. Then I sprayed some silicone lubricant on the other wheels and re-assembled the clock. It’s totally quiet now.

    I Tried removing the seconds hand before, but that made no significant difference for the noise.

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  26. I tried stuffing the back of one with spray foam insulation and it did not help, so don’t bother trying that.

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  27. But when you remove the second hand, the clock loses the half of its function. I understand that you can guess the minutes with the small hand, but still you have to make an mantal effort. Well, if you really don’t have any other choice to stop the ticking, it’s a solution. And it’s better than removing the batteries, right?

    Reply

    1. You’re definitely a product of the digital age.
      Dude look at the picture. The second hand is the red one. the minute hand is the longer black hand, and the short black hand is hours. Hope this helps.

      Reply

    3. Great question, I was about to try removing the minutes hand. I do not use the clock now because it’s too noice and I was ready to try anything… it seemed weird, but… hahahaha

      Reply

  28. I use foam. Lots of foam in form of adhesive tape. Covering the space between the wall and the clock improves a lot. If it’s a big one you could also use some inside the clock to cover the edge of the front glass.

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  29. I never thought of asking the ikeahacker network for solutions to this problem, but obviously there are many intelligent and creative members – thanks for the ideas – you’re awesome – have a great day!

    Reply

  31. Removing the second hand worked on one of my Ikea wall clocks. I didn’t think it would (since it doesn’t change the internal mechanics of the clock), but it made a huge difference. I guess that removing the weight of the hand itself makes the internal clock movements smoother. Either way, it was a quick and easy fix.

    Reply

  32. Easy answer? Not worth it.

    Hard answer? WD-40. I used it on a cheap WalMart clock and it seemed to help quite a bit. However, it took forever to get the clock mechanism back together. If you can get it apart, spray the WD-40 inside. Then you have to get it back together and working. Good luck!

    Reply

    1. Made me laugh but doesn’t help. If one doesn’t like the tick-tack, buy another clock.

      Reply

  34. We only have digital clocks for this reason. When I visit my parents the cute little desk clock on the dresser goes out into the hall. Strangely though, the clock that chimes the hours in the front room I don’t mind at all.

    I don’t have any help, but I understand the issue. I know analog clocks are pretty, but they’re annoying.

    Reply

  36. That’s really the major difference between expensive and cheap clocks. Sealing all the gaps would help a bit, but this particular one has a lot of gap on the front. The easiest way is to remove the red hand for the seconds so that it doesn’t tick every second.

    Reply

  37. Lube the clock mechanism. The noise is mostly caused by the extra free play in the mechanism, thick enough grease will dampen the sound. You have to carefully pry open the plastic. I was annoyed by the ticking and had no other lubricant than butter, but it worked. Almost silent. I guess it would be better to use a silicon based lubricant for plastic parts.

    Reply

  38. I once accidentally broke off the second hand. The mechanism doesn’t know that, so it’ll keep moving. So removing the hand doesn’t help: if the mechanism still works inside, it will keep ticking (btw I understand your problem, I hate ticking clocks too!)

    Reply

  42. the clock tick tock is due to the mechanism of the clock.
    If u want – then go and buy the mechanism that does not tick tock and replaced it… or buy a clock that has “seiko” movement and remove the clock mechanism and replace it

    Reply

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