Worn out barrel cap

[HectorLooi]

I'm currently working on this Russian alarm clock.

The barrel arbor wasn't well polished and it caused a lot of wear. The barrel cap hole is so worn that the barrel is able to tilt enough to rub the bottom plate.

Is it possible to rebush a barrel cap or is it necessary to fabricate a new cap? The brass is only 0.8mm thick. Is that thick enough to retain a bush? Can I solder the bush into the cap?

[oldhippy]

If the cap is thick enough to take a bush, bush it.

[HectorLooi]

2 hours ago, oldhippy said:

If the cap is thick enough to take a bush, bush it.

Thanks, OH.

I will rebush it first. If that fails then I'll solder the bush in. And if that fails, then I'll fabricate a new cap.

[HectorLooi]

I just rebushed the barrel cap. I'll put the movement back together tomorrow and let it run for a week to see if it will hold.

[oldhippy]

Is that looking at the inside? If so a little counter sink on the out side would be good for a little oil. That is just a suggestion.

It looks a nice job.

Edited January 24 by oldhippy

[HectorLooi]

Here's a photo with the arbor in place. There is a little chamfer on this side. I also left the bush a little proud of the cap surface, in case I need to solder it.

[Neverenoughwatches]

3 hours ago, HectorLooi said:

I just rebushed the barrel cap. I'll put the movement back together tomorrow and let it run for a week to see if it will hold.

Nice work H. 

[nevenbekriev]

On 10/29/2023 at 1:41 AM, HectorLooi said:

Hi @nevenbekriev, in your article on setting pallet depth in The watch Forum, you mentioned Slava alarm clock as a good example to study the escapement due to its size. May I know what model is recommended? Would the model in the picture below be suitable? 

Hi Hector,

I see now You have got one of this clocks. It is about 60 years old and made before II Moscow Watch Factory adopt the brand SLAVA. This is the first modification of this movements.

You have done perfect looking job on the barrel lid. Hope that the bush will stay in it's place, if it tends to foll off, then You can solder it. The way to solder it is to enlarge a little the hole on the lid first, so the bush will go in almost free. If tight fit, then the solder will not be able to penetrate in between. Does the barrel rotate true on the arbour now? The most important when placing such bushes is not to loose the center of the hole.

 

[oldhippy]

8 hours ago, nevenbekriev said:

Hi Hector,

I see now You have got one of this clocks. It is about 60 years old and made before II Moscow Watch Factory adopt the brand SLAVA. This is the first modification of this movements.

You have done perfect looking job on the barrel lid. Hope that the bush will stay in it's place, if it tends to foll off, then You can solder it. The way to solder it is to enlarge a little the hole on the lid first, so the bush will go in almost free. If tight fit, then the solder will not be able to penetrate in between. Does the barrel rotate true on the arbour now? The most important when placing such bushes is not to loose the center of the hole.

 

. 

 

Edited January 25 by oldhippy

[nevenbekriev]

Sorry if I have done something wrong, but I don't understand what is wrong. Hector asked me before about this kind of clocks and now I see He has got one, (with the same movement), that is this thread about

[oldhippy]

2 hours ago, nevenbekriev said:

Sorry if I have done something wrong, but I don't understand what is wrong. Hector asked me before about this kind of clocks and now I see He has got one, (with the same movement), that is this thread about

nevenbekriev, please except my apologies, I didn't realize it was the same type of clock. I have removed it.  

[HectorLooi]

8 hours ago, nevenbekriev said:

Does the barrel rotate true on the arbour now?

I originally put the barrel cap in a step chuck and enlarged the hole to receive the bush. So the hole should have been centered to the barrel cap. But the barrel wobbled terribly when it put it back in the movement.

So, I cut out the bush I put in last night and put in another one. But this time I fitted the cap back into the barrel, then I trued it up in my 4 jaw chuck and finished the hole receive the arbor. It runs true now.

I checked my step chuck just now and I think that it was the problem. For some reason, the step chuck doesn't run true.

Looks like I've got to chuck the chuck. 

[nickelsilver]

Often (usually?) step chucks are soft enough to turn. They have a through-hole of a given diameter, chuck on a piece of bar there, then you can retouch the step/s. Make sure there aren't any bumps or burrs on the cylindrical and tapered portion that fit in the lathe first!

 

If the bushing needs to be flush on the inside, I like to cut a small step (can be very small, like 0.2mm deep and bigger on diameter), and make the bushing with a corresponding lip, so when all pressed together it's almost impossible for the bushing to accidentally push out.

Edited January 26 by nickelsilver

[nevenbekriev]

Specially when barrel lid to be rebushed, I make the bush with smaller internal diameter. Then, put the lid in place on the barrel correctly according position mark, if thhere is no position mark - then make one. Next I turn a step on the face of a bar to enter the barrel hole and then fix the barrel on the face of the bar with shellac. Then I turn the internal diameter of the bush to size. This guarantees perfect true barrel rotation on the arbor

[HectorLooi]

17 hours ago, nevenbekriev said:

I see now You have got one of this clocks. It is about 60 years old and made before II Moscow Watch Factory adopt the brand SLAVA. This is the first modification of this movements.

Hi Neven,

Thank you for the history of this clock. There was a "2017" molded into the bakelite base of the clock. I thought it was the production date.

The lume on the hands of this clock were replaced with black paint but I see from photos on eBay that the hands were originally lumed. I was thinking of restoring it back to the original look. 

Do you think that the original lume had radium?

[oldhippy]

Do you think that the original lume had radium?

I'm sure it did. They were not concerned about safety.  

[HectorLooi]

I just relumed the hands. Now considering whether the relume the dots on the dial.

[nevenbekriev]

The natural lume is seen on the dial and it has green color. It doesn't seem to have radium, also they stopped using radium in the 50's and this clock is made later. Do the dots on the dial still shine for some time in the dark right after ehposed to bright light?

Good work with the hands!

The factory existed untill mid 90's and then was closed. In the 80's they started to put plastic wheels under dial and plastic barrel for the alarm spring. When the factory was closed, the movement looked like this and only 2 jewejs left from 11 in the original

Edited January 26 by nevenbekriev

[HectorLooi]

I relumed the dial today and put everything back together. Here is shot of the clock face in the dark.

[oldhippy]

Excellent.