Help pushing mainspring into barrel please

[Lc130]

Hi All

I'm a beginner and this is only my second attempt at pushing a new mainspring from it's shipping former into the barrel.  The last attempt went airborne.

This is a Bulova 11BLL manual wind.  I've partially pushed the spring into the barrel but it's not fully in and I'm reluctant to fiddle with it any more without guidance.  Note on the pics that the outermost coil is not fully in.  I've tried the blunt end of the tweezers to no avail.  

Any suggestions? I don't have a winder.

Thank you

Charlie

 

[Nucejoe]

You sound like you consider the airborne one a goner. You can rinse the spring clean, wear nylon glove , start at outer most coil, push in a small length, work you way around. Soon you can do one a minute. 

Wear protective glasses.

[MrRoundel]

I had that happen to me the other day. I usually use a mainspring winder, but decided to go direct. What I didn't do, as you probably didn't as well, is press that outer end in first. I think you can probably just tip the new mainspring every so slightly in order to "favor" that outer end a bit.

When I use my winders, I always leave the outer end out of the tool's barrel in order to get it into the barrel first.

I have never wound a spring in by hand, but I know it's possible to do.

As Nucejoe says above, wear safety glasses when you mess with it though. It only takes once to ruin an eye for life. Good luck.

Edited February 11, 2019 by MrRoundel
mention earlier post

[watchweasol]

Hi  as the spring is now snug use a peice of pegwood with a blunt end (flat) and starting at the outer end run round the circumference of the spring while pressing down gently slowly rubbing the spring into the barrel keeping a gloved finger on the side not under pressure to ensure it does not slip out. be gentle but firm..    The other springs that went AWOL need cleaning and keeping in a packet for the next time. done a few by hand  but usually go in from the former.  best of luck

[Lc130]

1 hour ago, Nucejoe said:

You sound like you consider the airborne one a goner. You can rinse the spring clean, wear nylon glove , start at outer most coil, push in a small length, work you way around. Soon you can do one a minute. 

Wear protective glasses.

Thank you.  That was an automatic and I bent the bridle trying to hand wind it.

[Lc130]

It's not budging at all with the peg wood.  Though, I'm leaving plenty of wood chips.  Is my only option to pull it out and try hand winding?

[Nucejoe]

I don,t see howelse can the barrel be cleaned, you have the grease in the barrel to deal with and you wouldnt want wood chips left in between springs coil. 

 I am thinking perhaps the bridle was not rightly positioned to slide in.  Or wrong spring with longer bridle.

First and foremost is safety, I suggest any removal attempt to be carried out inside a transparent nylon bag strong eough to contain accidental outburst, potentially violent outburst , a large bag to get your hands in, in addition to protection from your safety glass.

Next, I use a hard polymer stick instead of pegwood, any hard polymer suitable object  Less likely to leave debri. Or the flat end part of your tweezers.

As much as simple direct insertion is prefered, I say you can be sure the bridle is of the proper length if you can observe it fit in. This as opposed to blind view forced insertion attempt.

We can jointly joke about any mishap except those involving your eyes safety.

I vote for continued patience and waiting for more opinion to come in, hopefully a brillient advice for the task.

Best wishes 

 

[jdrichard]

I usually put these in by hand very carefully. Takes some time but works. Light oil on it first. I also take it out of the donut it comes in and wind it up in a real mainspring winder...and I have three different brands.Take it out and carefully wind it back in by hand my friend.


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[jdrichard]

I made a video on YouTube showing how......


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[jdrichard]

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[jdrichard]

Check out 3/4 down the timeline


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[Lc130]

Hi All

If you've read my other posts you know I'm failing miserably with mainsprings.  Most of the issue is not having a winder (I'm looking).  I'm trying to push the spring from the donut directly  into the barrel.  The first time I did this it went effortlessly.  I've since had trouble.  This is a Seiko 6119A automatic.  I've previously failed by attempting even insertion pressure across the spring.  The bridle hung up and then the spring went airborne.  I can't hand wind it.  I've learned from members that the outermost wind needs to go in first.  My question is what to use to push it in.  I've tried peg wood on another but that results in wood debris.  I've tried a screwdriver but I'm afraid to damage it.  Any suggestions?  Is this even doable or is a winder needed?

Thank you

Charlie

[nickelsilver]

Press the ring down on a flat surface so the side of the spring that goes in first is sticking out at maximum. Place it in the barrel. Hold the ring down with your ring fingers, while pressing on the end of the bridle and also at the perimiter of the spring 180 degrees away. Getting the spring in the barrel, while in the ring, is 1st key, holding the ring down while pushing is second key.

[nickelsilver]

Ah forgot- press the spring itself with two screwdrivers. It's fiddly but holding the ring while pushing is added security.

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[Lc130]

That did it.  Though, I made a slight mod to the procedure.  I placed the donut over the barrel and secured both to the bench by running strips of strong packing tape of the edges of the donut.

[TexasDon]

1 hour ago, Lc130 said:

That did it.  Though, I made a slight mod to the procedure.  I placed the donut over the barrel and secured both to the bench by running strips of strong packing tape of the edges of the donut.

Good old creativity at work. Kudos to you.

[Narcissus]

I use the back of my brass tweezers. No damaging the spring and they are roughly the same shape. The procedure mentioned above is what I do as well.

[yankeedog]

LC , you have the single most important tool anyone could ask for, a functional brain.

[MrRoundel]

19 hours ago, Lc130 said:

That did it.  Though, I made a slight mod to the procedure.  I placed the donut over the barrel and secured both to the bench by running strips of strong packing tape of the edges of the donut.

Yes, figuring out ways to enlist the ever-absent, always needed,  third hand comes in very handy. I found 11th-15th fingers needed to get set-spring in place on a 7 3/4L Peseux. I placed my screw-drive movement holder, with movement in place, into my bench vise and it worked like a charm. The holder had nice squared sides that made it facilitate itself nicely to this purpose. Congrat's on getting that spring in with a little ingenuity. Cheers.