So THAT is pinging away

[JohnFrum]

So... got out my lovely Bergeon green mat, cushion, rodico, movement holder, loupe, screwdrivers, Dumont tweezers etc. Feeling like a right proper watchmaker. Can almost hear Nicholas Hacko's voice as I open the yellow screwdriver pouch...

Tackling my first movement - Chinese clone of the Chinese Seagull ST3600-2 clone of the ETA 6497-2. Puffing away with the blower. Dabbing with the rodico. Using the right screwdriver for each head.  Manipulating screws with the #2 Dumont. 

First steps - taking apart and reassembling the keyless works. Now I should have used my finger to hold down the yoke spring, but no.. that would not be proper. Fingers? On a watch movement? Perish the thought. Instead I stick a piece of rodico on it to provide mass and hold it down with the component probe (black polyamide one that Mr Hacko says I should get).

And PING it goes. Hear it hit somewhere behind me. A planned afternoon of examining the keyless and motion works ends up with me on the floor with a magnet trying to find a yoke spring that isn't that small but has seemed to simply vanish into thin air.

Just had to laugh at myself. So that is how a part just pings away. Should have used the finger. 

 

[dadistic]

I remember one online tutorial that opened with a picture of a watchmaker "smoking expensive Swiss cigarettes and crawling on the floor looking for a part"

At least you only lost one part. My last disaster was a parts tray explosion, and it took a looong time to find everything that went walkies. Eventually I found everything except a crown wheel screw, plus I found three mystery parts!

Have no idea where two of the three extra parts came from.  

Sigh.

[grsnovi]

3 hours ago, dadistic said:

Have no idea where two of the three extra parts came from.

I think they might be mine. I've lost 2 that I can't find... 

[JohnFrum]

4 hours ago, dadistic said:

I remember one online tutorial that opened with a picture of a watchmaker "smoking expensive Swiss cigarettes and crawling on the floor looking for a part

LOL. So I’m already doing real watchmaking.  

I was shocked how that spring just shot away.  I’ve had lock cylinder top pins and springs fly up and scatter and have lost check pin springs from IC lock cores but nothing like that yoke spring. I actually heard it ricochet off something.  
Will take extra care with my parts tray. I have had the experience of tipping over an entire lock pinning kit. Trying to sort literally thousands of lock pins, some differing by just 0.015” in length using tweezers and a pin gauge. Needless to say I dumped the lot in a brass recycling pail and bought new refill packs of pins.

Got the ST3600 with the expectation that I would break a few things as I practice on it but honestly didn’t think I would be crawling on the floor so soon. 
 

 

[JohnFrum]

Haven't found the yoke spring yet. Had ordered a pack of assorted shepherd springs from Cousins so maybe I can subsitute one of them when the order finally leaves UPS purgatory, returns to Cousins, then to me.

Didn't clean or oil anything. Only manipulated the various parts, learning the different screw types, and how each wheel is oriented in its jewel, how they fit together and spin.  Pretty easy to identify each part, even each screw type. 

Just put it together, sans yoke spring. Getting the setting lever back on its screw took a few attempts. Learned that two hands are necessary when putting bridges back on. Was anxious about damaging the balance but it slipped right in and sprung to life when the bridge was nudged into place.

Seeing that balance wheel spring to life was quite a thrill!

 

Edited August 18, 2022 by JohnFrum