Jump to content

Balance issues


Recommended Posts

I have been servicing a FHF - 96 movement and come up against something I have not experienced before.

I all but got the movement back together ams seeming to run pretty well. The last thing on the list to do was to clean and oil the jewel within the incabloc setting on the balance cock.

I duly took it out, cleaned it, oiled it and put it back in its setting. As soon as the spring was located the balance stopped rotating - remove the spring and up it starts again.

It was running fine before cleaning and oiling .... now it seems to trap the pivot? If I back off the cock spring a little it starts up but o tightening down it stops again.

The cap jewel was pretty stuck in the pivot jewel, and took a fair bit of soaking to separate. As far as I am aware nothing has chained apart from cleaning?

Any suggestions/thoughts much appreciated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First thing I would try is to reclean and oil the Incabloc. Have a really good look at the pivot sticking up in the setting while it's out too, preferably with a microscope but at least a strong loupe. I readily admit to having had a similar issue more than once in the past and came to find that a piece of dust had placed itself on the pivot, which stuck it in the Incabloc jewel, and bing no more running.

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I once had a piece of dust stuck in the hole jewel. Had to floss the hole jewel with a strand of hair, and benzine.

5 minutes ago, LeCorbusier said:

Is there a right and wrong side up for the cap jewel?

The flat end of the cap jewel should be the oiled side, with the domed surface of the cap jewel facing outwards. If you flip the cap jewel the wrong way round, the domed face of the cap jewel can press down on the pivot and reduce the endshake.

Edited by ifibrin
  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/6/2022 at 4:02 PM, ifibrin said:

I once had a piece of dust stuck in the hole jewel. Had to floss the hole jewel with a strand of hair, and benzine.

The flat end of the cap jewel should be the oiled side, with the domed surface of the cap jewel facing outwards. If you flip the cap jewel the wrong way round, the domed face of the cap jewel can press down on the pivot and reduce the endshake.

I concur . My first work posed me with same dilemma.  Four months down the line it has become second nature. It takes a little time but as experience and confidence  grows it all falls into place, hopefully like the parts of a watch. To impart a little advice from a medial old wise head, I find being both logical and brave works for me. I don't shy away from a difficult task, you have to learn a particular aspect at some point if you're going to continue. Practise practise and practise on something of low value. When you have that skill pat. down go for it on the real item. I put value out of my head on both of the work pieces, that way nerves don't creep in on you while you're working on a decent movement. And by the same token the practise  piece gets the same respect as decent one. You've done the task perfectly a dozen times already so you can confidently achieve that task perfectly one more time. Its only logical. If it starts to go at all pear shaped then step away go have a cuppa and a sarny. Compose yourself and start over.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites



  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Topics

  • Posts

    • The numbers in the white bar are the average values over the last x seconds. You can set x in the menus. The row of +4s are the s/d of the last four measurement periods. This short history is useful if the traces are wavy. Yours are just too good (dead straight)! The angle of the traces (very slightly up to the right, i.e. rising with time) is a graphical representation of the +4s/d. The vertical separation of the two traces is a graphical representation of the beat error. In your case it's 0.0ms, so the two traces appear to be one.
    • One of the problems with a lot of the videos are they really don't know what they're doing. Typically at the end of the service the put the watch on the timing machine often waiting into the watches fully cased up. As opposed to checking the movement when it's running before it's all cased up. In other words if you're going to have a problem it's nice to bill the work on the dial side without them being there for instance. Then when it is placed on timing machine the only place it in one position they comment how wonderful the numbers look and that really isn't adequate. But typically on those YouTube channels no one notices all the other strange and bizarre things they are doing either.
    • I agree with what the others are saying - I got a set of these when I was starting out and have never managed to use them, and I do a lot of Seikos. The other catch is that a lot of them have a brass arbor, which means that the hook for the spring is too soft and will wear out after a few uses, making them doubly useless. My advice would be to save your money and put it towards a Bergeon generic set - pains me to say it, but it's the only real option, unless you get a used set of generic winders on something like eBay, but this can be a minefield, especially if you aren't 100% sure what you are looking at. I would recommend a half set, if you can afford it, or if you are building up a few at a time, then size 5, 6, 7 will cover a lot of the mens watches. As a side note, if you are doing Swiss and Japanese watches you will need right and left handed versions as the Swiss springs tend to have a right hand wind, and the Japanese tend to have a left handed wind (there are exceptions of course in each case). If in doubt, post a picture on here before you order and people will guide you.
    • Both ends of the Poljot 2612.1 hairspring were "secured" with some kind if crappy glue. They came loose when I was straightening the spring. I placed all parts on the balance cock and used liquid shellac (dissolved in a bit of alcohol) to attach them again. I found using liquid shellac works easier then heating the solid stuff. The job is already fiddly enough without the need for a heatsource as well, but you need to be patient as it takes a few days for the liquid shellac to fully harden.
    • Cuare’s reply covers the Chinese winder set and their capabilities very well.  An alternative to getting calibre specific sets like these is to slowly build a set of quality Swiss winders.  They are sold individually, so you could buy a Bergeon handle and the 2 correct diameter and wind direction winders you need now initially, and buy the other sizes as you need them over time.    If you come across a movement you lack a winder for and feel you won’t likely use that size winder often, then just buy a replacement mainspring, because they come already wound and ready to be pressed into the barrel   You can usually sidestep the need for having both left and right winders in each size by reversing the wind of the spring as follows - wind the spring into a slightly undersized winder, push it out into the correct size winder to suit your mainspring barrel (thereby reversing its direction), and finally press it out into the mainspring barrel.  Best Regards, Mark
×
×
  • Create New...