Making a cylinder???

[transporter]

Ok I’m putting this out there without really doing any research ( as I can’t find anything ) or measuring the cylinder that I have that is broke.

So, can you make a cylinder for an escapement, I have both plugs in good order. The cylinder has snapped, it’s on a small french drum movement approx 18 cm across and the escarpment is on a platform like a carriage clock.

Im thinking of getting some rod fitted up in the lathe turn it down to the required outside diameter  and marking the cut out and let’s say for arguments sake file away the material, then  mark the centre and fingers crossed there’s a drill bit of the exact diameter needed, drill through the said rod and then part the rod with May be abit of tidying up etc then fit the plugs and then onto escape wheel.

Im guessing the principle is good but no one has attempted this and most will think it’s a worthless exercise, what are your thoughts?

I cannot find clock cylinders on the bay or anywhere on the net, loads of pocket watch ones but no clock ones.

[nickelsilver]

I make about 1 per year. Drill the rod, turn the outside, part off. I harden and temper now, then polish the inside with wood and lapping paste, same for outside. Shellac onto a close fitting brass bar long enough to hold in a pinvice, grab in pinvice and now you have a nice way to hold it. File the openings (yes it's ok to file hardened and tempered steel) going right through the brass. Deburr and polish the lips that contact the escape tooth impulse plane.

I usually just make new pivots as it's easier than perfectly sizing the new cylinder to the old ones.

[Tmuir]

Archie Perkin's book Antique Watch Restoration Volume II has several pages going through the process to make a cylinder as described by Nicklesilver.

If you do have a go at making one please take photos and post your progress.

[transporter]

Huge thanks for the replies, it will be documented and it will be trial and error just to see how it goes, I did see a post which old hippy answered about changing the cylinder escapement to a lever escapement which is nice to know is possible if everything is fails. I had a play on my Axminster model engineer lathe this morning and turned a rather large balance staff ( as per BHI lesson 9 ) it’s no where near perfect ( pivots ) and isn’t polished as per instructions  but was turned using a cross slide for everything. In future I will do all pivots by hand on my Lorch 6mm!! 

Edited January 7, 2020 by transporter

[nickelsilver]

That looks like a nice job there! I do all my staffs from annealed steel, with the cross slide. I don't do the taper on the hub, or the taper for the roller table, and the pivots are just marked for length but left essentially the same diameter as the adjacent diameter. Then harden and temper, and do the upper pivot freehand, put in the rivet, polish, flip around and do the lower pivot, taper for roller table, and hub, polish up; rivet into balance, then finish pivots in Jacot. Doing the bulk of the work with the cross slide save an enormous amount of time.

[transporter]

I must admit using the cross side does save time and also cuts nice and true on length of job, but like you I will turn the pivots by hand next time as I’ll get a better job done. 
with ref to the cylinders, what metal do you use for the rod, is it just silver steel?

[nickelsilver]

9 minutes ago, transporter said:

I must admit using the cross side does save time and also cuts nice and true on length of job, but like you I will turn the pivots by hand next time as I’ll get a better job done. 
with ref to the cylinders, what metal do you use for the rod, is it just silver steel?

Yes, what I think in the UK is silver steel, US would be something like O1 steel, here in Switzerland we use Sandvik 20AP. All oil hardening, all pretty forgiving about little variations in temperature.

[transporter]

Many thanks for the info, I have some blued steel in small diameters that I bought from a watch fair, I believe the largest size I have is 2mm maybe 3 mm. I will invest in some small silver steel rod and when time allows I’ll have a go at the cylinder.

[oldhippy]

Making a cylinder is nothing like making a balance staff. A cylinder is made up of three parts, the center and the two ends which are called plugs. Not easy to make. 

[transporter]

Yes, I’m happily we’ll versed in these movements I do have quite a few in my collection, admittedly I need to renew a few plugs ( tampons ) but I believe it was you old hippy that pointed me in the right direction when I started on cylinder movements for good information.

I have the two plugs but the cylinder has snapped and I need to make a new cylinder then re fit the plugs