Mainspring manual winding

[ClaudioCavalli]

Hello everybody,  today I finally got around to  taking apart a barrel and took out the mainspring and re-installed it three times on my practice movement.

Encountered only a problem during the first unwinding with the mainspring jumping out of the barrel when luckily only a couple of coils left to unwind.

All three windings went relatively smoothly.  However, I do have a recurring problem:  when winding the spring my cots get pinched between coils and little plastic residue is left between the coils.

Is the only way to avoid this to wind with no cots?  Wouldn’t this run the risk of introducing moisture and skin oil  in the barrel? What other option is there?

[Neverenoughwatches]

5 hours ago, ClaudioCavalli said:

Hello everybody,  today I finally got around to  taking apart a barrel and took out the mainspring and re-installed it three times on my practice movement.

Encountered only a problem during the first unwinding with the mainspring jumping out of the barrel when luckily only a couple of coils left to unwind.

All three windings went relatively smoothly.  However, I do have a recurring problem:  when winding the spring my cots get pinched between coils and little plastic residue is left between the coils.

Is the only way to avoid this to wind with no cots?  Wouldn’t this run the risk of introducing moisture and skin oil  in the barrel? What other option is there?

Its the last couple of coils left to unwind that have the barrel under the most tension, and risk flicking it across the room potentially doing the most damage. Initially i used to trap cots as well, very rarely now with practice, the barrel is held in movement holder so you have both hands to manipulate the spring without having to worry about the barrel. I did make a little jig to wind the spring in during those times, a needle with 2 bends  and fitted into a pin vice. The needle point held in the barrel hole while the first bend fits over the spring. Turning the jigs winds the spring into the barrel, the first few coils have to be done by hand though then the jig takes over.