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Showing content with the highest reputation on 02/06/17 in all areas

  1. I did not have a balance tool and can't really afford to get one at the moment, so I decided to make me one. Made it out of walnut and some brass stock. What do you guys think?
    4 points
  2. That is my fear as well; I only use the balance tack when adjusting for beat error. I'm not sure how rational this fear is, but I've straightened enough hairsprings to know it's my least favorite part of the job!
    3 points
  3. Like my father-in-laws tractor? After he fixed it and it was running just fine he showed me a box of parts that he told me the tractor never needed in the first place. Dave
    3 points
  4. When I was a little girl, I took a watch apart, taped every part to a piece of cardboard and wrote the names of each of the parts next to them. I never put that watch back together... in reality, in my lifetime, I have thoroughly destroyed way more watches than I've ever repaired. Dave, I think you're a brave man for challenging yourself like that... I'm not there yet.
    2 points
  5. I presume this is the part required. full tech sheet: Felsa 690-2.pdf
    2 points
  6. Nice work . Just a little bit prettier then my stuff....
    2 points
  7. The Clickspring YouTube channel recently started a series of videos about recreating the Antikythera mechanism. It should be good:
    2 points
  8. That is a good way of going about it, just make sure you don't have anything leftover.
    2 points
  9. I have some Moebius D5 I bought from Cousins last year. It's a 20ml bottle which I'm unlikely to finish in my lifetime, let alone between now and the end of April 2017 which is the shelf life expiry date of this batch. I haven't been able to find a clear answer to just what the expiry date means for the oil in the bottle. Does it mean the oil should no longer be used from that date? Does it mean that if you use it at the end of the shelf life period the oil will do its job for another two or three years in the watch? Either way, as a tinkerer I'd be content to use it for the next couple of years. That would still leave me with more D5 than a hobbyist would ever need, so I'm planning to keep 2ml and I'm offering the rest of the bottle to other tinkerers in either 1ml or 2ml doses. I have some new small 2ml glass bottles, an unopened syringe and a blunt mixing needle to decant the oil without contamination. You can have it for free, but I'll provide my paypal address in the package if you want to make a voluntary contribution to the P&P. If all of the oil is taken I'll post an update in this thread. PM me with a postal address and tell me whether you would like 1ml or 2ml.
    1 point
  10. Maybe its me, bit I haven't seen poljot chronographs posted in this forum. Is there a reason for this? I have a near NOS and just got me for X-mas from Russia another one to restore... The Poljot 3133 is the 'copy' of the Valjoux 7734 movement, actually built with the machines Valjoux sold to Russia, a bit improved in some aspects, but rougher finishing. Any Poljot lovers out there?
    1 point
  11. A work colleague asked me to have a look at his Ebel 1911 Discovery (ETA 7750). The hour counting hand was floating around in the case. Loupe inspection showed that the post was broken off in the hand - so before starting I ordered a replacement hour counting wheel. When I opened the case I found the dial was not attached - it was sliding around under the hands. Removal showed that both dial feet were broken off. Time to break out my dial foot soldering machine. Here's a video showing the technique. Enjoy!
    1 point
  12. Beauties? If you do the end smaller you could maybe use some covers from ballpoint pens? Like on this oilers.
    1 point
  13. Well, got the oilers done...made them out of walnut again...made the knob at the ends different sizes so I would know which one to grab. Gotta figure out a way to make caps for them and then onto the oiling station.....
    1 point
  14. Well, I ripped off a regulating pin trying to carefully remove a hairspring. The hairspring is fine but, of course, the watch doesn't work very well. I'm not even going to try to put another pin on the lever. Time to buy a whole new balance cock methinks... Years and years ago, I was a student when our music school class was invited to a rehearsal of Byron Janus playing The Emperor with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. One of the students almost hung over him watching him play. During a short break she asked him, "Maestro Janus, how can you play so fast and play all the right notes?" He answered, "Hell, I don't play all the right notes!" So, there you go...
    1 point
  15. Reminds me of a t-shirt I saw... (found it on www.teezily.com/extra1).
    1 point
  16. In my time I had a tiny draw full of shellac flakes so never needed to buy any, it is surprising how little you will need. I never used a pallet warmer ether. Just make sure the stone is set as far in as it can go and hold pallets in an old pair of tweezers and run it through the spirit lamp flame, do this until the shellac flake melts then leave to cool. The tricky bit is making sure the stone is correct in the first place. With modern pallets where the stone fits it is very snug to start with and shouldn't really move.
    1 point
  17. Nice work Douglas indeed. I always check my pivots on a tack you can look around the hairspring and jewels alot easier and its safer if your careful and dont go wildly pulling at the balance and distort the hairspring.and its an excelkent way of holding the balance clock while you adjust the collet on a staff for adjusting beat error when your balance cock doesn't have a beat error adjustment feature.
    1 point
  18. To try to answer your question, the Shellac flakes you can get are probably the only substance that the watchmaker / repairer had available back when most of my older watches were put together, they are slightly more refined than the raw lumps of shellac that are available. They would still work now. There are more refined versions available of course that would do the same job now and arguably a more pure version may have different properties, but it would not be in the really old watches. It is the same stuff that is dissolved into alcohol to use to put a fine finish onto wood and that tells you something about what you have to be careful about when cleaning watch parts, the pallet is treated differently. Hope this goes some way to answering your question. Cheers, Vic
    1 point
  19. Often repairs are made with the next watchmaker in mind. Shellac is a bit of a standard- if we used glue then we would have to standardize which glue to use otherwise the next watchmaker down the road wouldn't know which solvent or acid to use to remove the glue from the previous watchmaker's botched job. Shellac is fairly easy to use once you have a bit of experience. It's not too difficult to remove if something goes wrong as well.
    1 point
  20. It's supposedly because glues can be unstable and release fumes over the years that can damage the dial (and maybe other parts of the movement?) But I've also wondered if there's no better modern option... shellac is not that easy to use with the heating required. We have modern synthetic oils and no longer use whale oils, but still use the same glue as they did a hundred years ago.
    1 point
  21. Thinking out of the box ,....I like it .
    1 point
  22. I tend to agree, see video demo below. LED lighting flicker test with difference brightness settings by Micky Aldridge, on Flickr
    1 point
  23. Nice looking balance holder! Mine is just a quick DIY one. A small piece of aluminium with a hole with a toothpick in it You can see it on my latest video. This balance tack is used to correct beat error for watches without beat error regulator. Check Mark's video how to do it! I think that the pivots are also safer and stay clean this this way. One can however ask if the hairspring get distorted while hanging on the tool? Well, the most sensible part of the HS is at the stud, where it can easily bent if the compass is not moved to the fastest setting, or the HS is out of the compass. I have a watch with a big balance and relatively thin hairspring. It has experienced noticeable distortion after having a journey on my balance tack. I think one should check if the HS is flat and is half way freely between the regulator pins at resting after mounted back in the movement.
    1 point
  24. Now that is what I call a creative use of spare flooring! Crude but effective.
    1 point
  25. OK. I would really have appreciated a summary of the "many advantages" here, also for other's benefit. Thanks anyway.
    1 point
  26. There can be issues showed with an hair spring hanging that can be missed whilst in situ. Google watchmakers balance e tack, and you will see the many advantages of such a tool. I also demagnetise a complete balance whilst on a tack, the base is alloy, non-magnetic for a reason
    1 point
  27. Ok, for clarity, do you do these inspections with the balance hanging? Sorry I just fail to understand how one can see that something is wrong with an hairsping totally out of its normal shape. BTW both hands should be free with the balance cock standing upside down on the mat. And the the hairsping retails its shape all the time.
    1 point
  28. I'm sure others will answer you too JDM, the tack allows you to work on the balance having both hands free, I only use mine for visual inspections of a COMPLETE BALANCE BRIDGE, looking at the aforementioned, and to see if there are any irregularities in the hair spring, and its fastenings.
    1 point
  29. How you can inspect the hairsping shape while its hanging down? What prevents you from inspecting roller jewel and lower pivot as it's standing in the cock upside down?
    1 point
  30. Because once its no longer moving, whilst on the tack, you can easily inspect the hair spring and roller jewel through a loupe. Also ideal time to inspect top and lower pivots too for wear.
    1 point
  31. What's the idea behind letting the hairspring dangling rather than stay in its natural shape on the balance cock upside down?
    1 point
  32. well done Doug,...looking good.
    1 point
  33. Friday I decided to start servicing my new Poljot 3133. The Landeron 48 is stripped and I'm still waiting for the new main-spring to arrive ...... it all has to do with time My intentions were to take pictures and make a Poljot 3133 walk-through, but right in the beginning I had already a set-back. I've seen it happen on a Poljot 3133 walk-through YouTube-video, so I was well aware and took extreme care, but mine miniature minute-recording-hand stripped off its pipe-bushing as well! Later in the weekend I've been asking around and these little 3133 hands seem to be notorious for this. This setback and because this Poljot 3133 being my first chronograph, if succeeded, I decided to concentrate purely on the watch. I managed to get the pipe-bushing off and proceeded with the stripping. In the process of doing so, not paying enough attention to the little pivots sticking through the calendar works, I bend one. Luckily, I could bend it back .....a narrow escape and a huge lesson learned !! All the rest went fine. The balance cap-stone springs were new to me, but didn't cause any problems. It took me quite a few attempts to get the operating lever back in its place, but after reading the instructions a few times, I finally got what was said & meant, and it fell in its place. The watch is back together. I managed to "repair" the little hand, but I must have deformed the little pipe-bushing slightly with the pipe-vice. It's back on, but barely. I ordered some 0.2mm drills to ream the bushing in order to get a proper fit. Last night the watch has been on my wrist and instead of -20 s/d before the service, it runs in the plus now. How much, I let the pictures do the talking. Please observe that I'm using a Watch-O-Scope, which has a known reputation of picking up (lots of) noise. On top of that, my desk is close to the kitchen in which a freezer and fridge are standing. As usual, both kicked in while I did the measurements CU and DU ........ Crown Down Crown up; Dial down; Dial up; This for a 25 year old movement ......... I'll adjust the daily rate and leave it as it is. The chronograph functions work as they should. I like to sort out the minute-recording-hand, but the 0.2mm drills are ordered from our Chinese friends, so that's going to be 1 to 1-1/2 month before they arrive ...... Sorry, no pictures this time, but I hope to make it up with the Landeron 48.......... My first chronograph is done !
    1 point
  34. Agree, looks great. Well done, Doug!
    1 point
  35. CRACKED IT (actually, thanks to Mark's "Servicing 2824" video).. The problem was that i was engaging the spring with setting jumper (thanks, "SirMike) but not (at the other end) with the "Return Bar".. Such a simple fix but had me stumped for days. THANK YOU MARK (and to everybody for your help).. Happy man.. now.. about fitting the balance... !
    1 point
  36. Bergeon's is £17 and a Chinese copy is £3.50. Although yours look better.
    1 point
  37. Probably not worth your while, the one I have was about £6.00 but not as pretty as yours. Metal base and brass tack. Cheers, Vic
    1 point
  38. I got the tips made and slightly curved at the tip...just guessed at the sizes from pics on the net....they wound up being 1.8 mm, 1.24 mm, 1.14 mm and .45 mm.......pretty close for guessing...lol.....I used various sizes of needles. Heated the tip and flatend it and put a slight curve. Got them flat but have not filed the points yet.
    1 point
  39. Adiorio, It isn't so much that the Sherline can't do it, the problem is that the machine was designed and built for a market with applications that have nothing to do with micro machining extremely tiny high precision watch parts. The Sherline lathe was initially designed to provide an improved alternative the the Unimat 200 which was a desk top hobby lathe. It succeeded in that goal and after a short period of time Emco stopped producing the Unimat 200. This is not necessarily a reflection on the quality of the machine but has more to do with the operator being able to get physically closer to the part that is being machined. The traditional way to operate an instrument lathe or engine lathe is for the operator to position themselves away from the cutter and part. The machining process is executed by turning hand wheels that move and position the cutter. The traditional way to operate a watchmaker lathe is to have the watchmaker's face inches away from the part removing metal with a handheld graver and watching the operation through an eye loupe. A certain part of the process has to do with feel. Since the cutter is held in the operators hand and not in a mechanical fixture, vibrations and pressure from the cutter can be felt. The watchmaker lathe lends itself to this technique by design. Trying to work around the larger lathe bed and cross slide mechanisms can become extra burdens if trying to use a T-rest and graver. This video should give you an idea of the process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6svZzTBIeM&t=5s david
    1 point
  40. Surprisingly a wad of sticky duct tape will work too.
    1 point
  41. Aint that the truth. Total I fit some edging to my working areas DSC04920 by Micky Aldridge, on Flickr DSC04921 by Micky Aldridge, on Flickr DSC04922 by Micky Aldridge, on Flickr Currently only secured with hot glue as I wanted to see how it looks, and then remove it again to stain it to match my vintage drawers.
    1 point
  42. And its almost done, the ALVIN covering needs to relax a little while longer, then I can adhere it down with double sided tissue tape, and then add mat edging, and finally unpack my tools, and resume work. Almost there, covering needs to relax a while longer, then to adhere and trim by Micky Aldridge, on Flickr
    1 point
  43. Ok ... Its not really new, have it sitting around collecting dust for 20 years.. Used it a few times but never really learned what it could do, some of the extra parts still in there original packaging. Maybe I can put it to good use now.
    1 point
  44. Hi Tmuir, This is what I did, the table with white legs is from ikea my friend made me a simple raised platform as I found it was to low and starting to make my back ache. this is what it use to be like. if you need more info give me a shout...... Regards Kaz
    1 point
  45. Thanks I didn't know that Ikea did a cheaper version of the adjustable desk, that is now on the top of my list. For the price of the Bergeon desk I would expect the watches to fix themselves once I placed them on the desk.
    1 point
  46. Hi, an adjustable frame from Ikea is not expensive. http://www.ikea.com/nl/nl/catalog/products/S49084965/?cid=a1:ps|a2:nl|a3:shopping|a4:S49084965|a6:google|a7:ikeanl|id:S49084965|cc:915&gclid=CjwKEAiAs_PCBRD5nIun9cyu01kSJAA-WD-rPsS_Rj1-Uq9KZXWs2BF8CSgHW9eyCO6gow8VFNl4ARoCU37w_wcB Here is also a link for the Bergeon workingstation, it has a drawing with the sizes. Maybe it can be of help. http://www.watchtool.co.uk/bergeon-7870-dune-watchmakers-workstation-p-7723.html Or this, built by watch enthusiast Arie Kabaalstra in the Lowlands. He uses a alu profile cut on the right size.
    1 point
  47. I hav bought a Stowa pocket watch 11 months ago with both balance pivots broken. Now i had repivoted both and of the staff.
    1 point
  48. Yes yes, thank You! It has to be trued and balanced. Movement side it always stops with the impulse pin hole up. If i get the required jewel (Ellipsenstein in german) i will balance it for sure. Meanwhile i could not resist to try it, so glued a square pallet stone with nail polish and reassembled partially. It will work!!!
    1 point
  49. This balance was drilled but the bit was broken so o had to grind down the staff. Now it is drilled with 0.3mm drill and the pinion wire grinded from hss bit is fitted. The tool is motorized and fancy screws were made. With the adjustable puley wheel distance it is now totally safe for the drills. Now my question is how to measure the two endstonesdistance?
    1 point
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