balance staff replacement

[gary17]

Hey

I cannot get the safety roller/impulse jewel to fit on the new balance staffs i ordered from balance staff.com. It goes back on the broken staff i removed from a landeron but is to loose to go on the new ones (i bought 3). 

Is there a knack to it. I have even slightly tapped it down with a small hammer hoping it might close it but no luck. I know there are new parts for landeron and the original parts and they do not mix well. But i have seen nothing about the balance staffs being changed.

Is there a solution to this problem?

cheers

gary

 

[rodabod]

Hi Gary,

This is a common issue. How loose are we talking? My preferred method is to use a domed pusher in a jewelling set to close the hole slightly. You can also do this with a staking set, but it's risky.

[Nucejoe]

Clocsing the hole and perhaps broaching it back to size works, however, would such approach be acceptable for a superlative Rolex too.

Sure the movement would tic, it may even toc, however, bulding a balance complete is increasingly appearing an art to me. 

[JohnR725]

Always best to avoid surprises is to measure the old staff and the new staff and verify that they actually are the same size.

 

[clockboy]

John raises a good point. I have ordered new staffs but have found them under size. Personally I think closing holes etc carries to many irreversible risks. I normally purchase from balancestaffs .com who give the dimensions of the staff.  

[rodabod]

Remember that sometimes the roller’s hole may have been enlargened. 

[gary17]

Thanks everyone

Going to try with a domed punch. If that fails i have invested in a tube of super glue

chewers

gary

[JohnR725]

5 hours ago, clockboy said:

I have ordered new staffs but have found them under size.

 

3 hours ago, rodabod said:

Remember that sometimes the roller’s hole may have been enlargened.

My experience with aftermarket staffs a lot of times is there deliberately made over size. The watchmakers supposed to reduce them to size to fit. But what if they don't have a lathe or grasp that there are over size?

For instance the I was helping somebody restaffed the Hamilton 992B. There's only one staff it's friction fit. So I was explaining how to put new staff in you should hear a tap tap thump when it's down and all we heard was tapping? It never went down all the way and normally my rule is always measure but why measure staff that only comes in one size? Yes it was oversize. I've had Hamilton 992 B's where the staff doesn't fit because the whole is too big. This means you have to go through all your staffs to see if one might be big enough.

Problem is the components in the escapement really don't like to be stretched or shrunk too much for that matter get away with a little bit but not a lot.

[Jakub]

Also one point is that if you talk about Landeron 48 and other chronos from landeron, they have different versions. 
Besides shock resistance, they come in 3 different variations in no shock resistance. One of them “annulaire”, has thinned part where you fit roller and next 2 varies in diameter of part where hair spring collet sits. 
Patience and accuracy of measurement of disassembled balance is critical, specially in case like Landeron.

Good luck!