Install KIF Elastor spring Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LittleWatchShop]

I busted one arm of this KIF spring. Happily, I bought an assortment of these and have a replacement.

BUT!!!  How the hell do I install it???

@nickelsilver @JohnR725

[HectorLooi]

10 minutes ago, LittleWatchShop said:

How the hell do I install it???

I use an eyebrow tweezer to do it. It grips the spring so securely that you can muscle the ends in.

[LittleWatchShop]

1 minute ago, HectorLooi said:

I use an eyebrow tweezer to do it. It grips the spring so securely that you can muscle the ends in.

From which side do you enter?  Does it matter?  Do you orient it orthogonal to the plate, or in the plane of the plate?

[HectorLooi]

I put in one end first then persuade the other end in. 

[Nucejoe]

First,  DO NOT ATTEMPT INSTALLING WITH CHATON AND END STONE IN  THE HOUSING.

All above must be taken out before you attempt.

Second all you need is to examine the image here,

https://calibercorner.com/kif/

The two short legs just slide in with ease, no need to force/ twist/ bend or anything of the like, JUST SLIDE THE SHORT LEGS IN.

 

Good you asked, most anyone breaks first asks later.

 

 

Edited November 30, 2023 by Nucejoe

[LittleWatchShop]

14 minutes ago, Nucejoe said:

First,  DO NOT ATTEMPT INSTALLING WITH CHATON AND END STONE IN  THE HOUSING.

All above must be taken out before you attempt.

Second all you need is to examine the image here,

https://calibercorner.com/kif/

The two short legs just slide in with ease, no need to force/ twist/ bend or anything of the like, JUST SLIDE THE SHORT LEGS IN.

 

Yes, certainly...cage with chaton is removed.  I will lay the spring flat and scoot it in as I show below.

[nickelsilver]

Hector's got it. There's no trick, just excellent tweezers and care.

[LittleWatchShop]

8 minutes ago, nickelsilver said:

Hector's got it. There's no trick, just excellent tweezers and care.

Excellent tweezers may be the challenge for me.  I have tons of tweezers including some crappy eyebrow tweezers.  Maybe I need to modify one of my dumont vintage tweezers (eeek!!).  I will ponder.

[Nucejoe]

So Is KIF Elastor not what calibercorner shows in the image? 

What did I miss ? 

 

 

 

 

[LittleWatchShop]

18 minutes ago, Nucejoe said:

So Is KIF Elastor not what calibercorner shows in the image? 

What did I miss ? 

 

 

 

 

Yes it is.  Same image that I show.

[mikepilk]

1 hour ago, LittleWatchShop said:

Excellent tweezers may be the challenge for me.  I have tons of tweezers including some crappy eyebrow tweezers.  Maybe I need to modify one of my dumont vintage tweezers (eeek!!).  I will ponder.

No need for tweezers. I would try by holding it down flat with some Rodico on the back of the long legs. That way it's not flying off anywhere. Then push the cross piece with some sharpened pegwood. 

[GuyMontag]

Here is how I installed one of mine. I actually found that I needed to have the jewel in the chaton or else the spring wouldn't stay level and I couldn't get it in. I use the plastic to position it and then an oiler with the force applied the long axis to snap it into place. You can see that when I first tried to apply force with the oiler perpendicular to the direction the spring needed to move, the oiler would flex. Once I came at the spring along the direction of force it snapped right in.
 

 

Edited November 30, 2023 by GuyMontag

[LittleWatchShop]

4 hours ago, Nucejoe said:

 

OK, for some reason that previous post messed up.

I have done it.  I used tweezers AND rodico so that the spring stayed with me.

Not much force was applied to get the spring in.

Now that I am done and have seen Guy's solution, I wish I had waited for his post, because that looks like a brilliant method.

Whew!!  What a pain.

Edited November 30, 2023 by LittleWatchShop

[Nucejoe]

 I give Guy's technique a try, little chance of parts flying,  can be improved if the end of long legs are held down with a razor.

[JohnR725]

10 hours ago, Nucejoe said:

All above must be taken out before you attempt.

A lot of it depends upon a variety of factors. In other words some may go in without disassembly and others you may have to disassemble. I don't think I've ever have even done a Kif before. I know with  incabloc Some of those it works better if you just push the entire setting out and it goes again effortlessly if you try to get it in with the setting in place it's a problem at so these are just the push the thing out and put it down and put it back together again.

[Kalanag]

Just for reference: https://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/25638-jewel-setting-spring-replacement-rolex-2030/#comment-210814

[Knebo]

On 11/30/2023 at 6:48 PM, GuyMontag said:

Here is how I installed one of mine. I actually found that I needed to have the jewel in the chaton or else the spring wouldn't stay level and I couldn't get it in. I use the plastic to position it and then an oiler with the force applied the long axis to snap it into place. You can see that when I first tried to apply force with the oiler perpendicular to the direction the spring needed to move, the oiler would flex. Once I came at the spring along the direction of force it snapped right in.
 

 

 

Just wanted to thank you for this post!

I used the plastic sheet approach plenty of times since I saw your video. Primarily for shock springs, but also for the rotor clip on a Rolex 2035. It makes a huge difference. Really a game-changer for these kinds of fiddly tasks. 

[GuyMontag]

18 minutes ago, Knebo said:

 

Just wanted to thank you for this post!

I used the plastic sheet approach plenty of times since I saw your video. Primarily for shock springs, but also for the rotor clip on a Rolex 2035. It makes a huge difference. Really a game-changer for these kinds of fiddly tasks. 

I'm glad it worked for you too

[GPrideaux]

If I can revive an old thread, I found this incredibly helpful. Some suggestions were more useful to me than others. I lost one spring and broke another before I successfully got the replacement in place. The biggest thing I would say to any novice at this is to remember how easily the thing accidentally slipped out. It goes in with equally little force. Be gentle and patient.

Things I found helpful:

• I used a pair of tweezers in one hand and a large oiler in the other. I mostly used the tweezers closed to steer it into place, so I might have been able to do it with two oilers.
• I surrounded the setting with a small circle of Rodico. This helped for the time the spring magically vanished from under my tweezers and oiler as instead of entering orbit never to be seen again, there it was at the edge of the Rodico boundary.
• I tried with the jewel in place but the spring sat too high and would not slide in. When I removed the cap jewel and chaton it slid in first try. That's a lie; it was more like the sixth or seventh try (did I mention being patient?), but it did slide in whereas with the jewel in place it would appear to be lined up perfectly but still refuse to go in.

I found that using the plastic sheet made it too hard for me to see when it was lined up perfectly, and also it meant that the spring would move if I took my tools away, so I ended up living dangerously and doing it uncovered. I think one time when I was using the plastic sheet I actually had it in place, then a slight movement of the plastic slid it out again. It helped that I had some spares on hand if one did fly away, but either I'm getting a bit better or I was lucky today. (I have to say, though, that I have found the plastic sheet approach incredibly helpful for other tasks involving springy parts.)

Did I mention being gentle? The time I broke a spring (see image) came from trying to 'snap' it into place as described by Guy above. For me there was no 'snap' when I was finally successful; it slid in with near-zero force, and I'd say that if your oiler is flexing then you're not lined up yet.