Good enough? Hairspring manipulation

[Boz]

After a number of false starts I've got a hairspring in to better condition that where I started, following the techniques on the excellent Watch Repair Channel. I've sharpened some inexpensive no.7 tweezers and used them with a ground down and polished medium oiler. The starting point was this:

The spring is non concentric and rubbing close to the stud. The stud is wonky and the end curve doesn't fit. Also it was kinked off flat 270 degrees back from the stud.

I've got it flat, fairly concentric and fitting the regulator. My only concern is it's a little off concentric and has some small kinks in it. I'm afraid to continue in case I make it worse. The bit I've really struggle with is the technique to flatten the spring by means of gripping and twisting with two tweezers. Each time I do so, I seem to introduce a kink which I have to correct. The end result now seems concentric with a slight increase in the gap on the final coil. It fits the regulator. The bit I'm dissatisfied with is the slight kinkiness where I flattened it, but I'm afraid to keep manipulating the same spot and I'm at the limit of my dexterity getting it to this stage. I'll refit it when I finish cleaning the movement and see how it goes.

[Nucejoe]

58 minutes ago, Boz said:

 I'm at the limit of my dexterity getting it to this stage. 

 When it comes to hairspring work you shouldn't expect the best outcome working with poor quality tweezers.   You should stop using this tweezers before you get used to it, purchase good quality dumont for hairspring work, to see the difference and discover farther limit of your dexterity and stay with one size/ type twèezers. 

Regards

 

[Boz]

@NucejoeI'll look for some Dumont, which do you recommend?

 

[Nucejoe]

No 4, tweezers. Gives you excellent control over the workpiece.

If you don't drop it and use it for hairspring only،  it will last a lifetime. 

I drop the spring on a white sheet of paper to see details in better contrast. 

 Good luck

[gbyleveldt]

Nice! Just keep at it and don't lose hope. It also helps to take a break and do something else as enlightenment is usually only a few hours away.

I've just been fighting through two movements with screwed up hairsprings. And I'm the one that screwed both up by trying to adjust Beat Error and have the tweezers slip. Lots of swearing, crying and gnashing of teeth. I think I ended up in the fetal position under my bench at one point (but only once). I consulted Mark's video's and training videos religiously.

It truly is intimidating doing work on hairsprings when you starting out like me, but I learnt a lot taking the hairsprings off the bridge and figured out how to identify rubbing of the coils against each other and/or the bridge on a Timegrapher. I can kick myself in the nuts for screwing up, but I'm glad I did it as it gave me more insight into how hairsprings actually work.

Edited February 5, 2022 by gbyleveldt