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Posted

OP, are You sure this hairspring is original to the balance? I have some doubts.  Have You tested the free oscillations frequency?

We need photos of the balance/hairspring in place. Only then really helpful advice on how to manipulate the spring will be possible.

The pivot is bent so slightly that it surely can be straightened. In such case I only use thick brass tweezers. Just like the ones on the pictures above, but made of brass. I don't heat them when pivot bent so slightly.

  • Like 1
Posted (edited)
17 hours ago, rehajm said:

…I don’t understand the heat/cool idea- ‘twas bent at room temperature and it didn’t snap so just bend it back. I’ve done the following for wheel pivots, too…

Bending a pivot it causes it to be "work hardened", so the heat is meant to counter that.

Work hardening, also known as strain hardening or cold working, is a phenomenon that occurs during the plastic deformation of metallic materials. As a material undergoes plastic deformation, its strength and hardness increase due to the accumulation of dislocations and the increased interaction between them. The process of work hardening can be understood at the microstructural level through the interactions of dislocations. When a material is subjected to plastic deformation, the number and density of dislocations within the material increase, leading to the entanglement and interaction of dislocations. These interactions impede the motion of other dislocations, increasing the stress required to overcome further plastic deformation. Consequently, the strength and hardness increase. 

Work hardening can be countered by thermal recovery and recrystallization processes that can restore the ductility of a hardened material by rearranging and/or replacing the dislocation structure. Recovery involves the rearrangement of dislocations into low-energy configurations, while recrystallization involves the formation of new, strain-free grains in the microstructure.

Edited by caseback
Correct typo's
  • Like 1
Posted
19 hours ago, rehajm said:

Yah that’s a good way to think about it.  Since I have the pivot tool from my Seitz set I give it a go with the expectation I may be replacing the staff. I’ve had great success with the tool though, a great time and hassle saver when it works. I’ve only had couple two or three snaps out of six or seven, one while learning how to do it and one where I miscalculated the pivot width and went too small in the jewel hole…

…I don’t understand the heat/cool idea- ‘twas bent at room temperature and it didn’t snap so just bend it back. I’ve done the following for wheel pivots, too…

 

Interesting video, I've  been told not to measure a staff's length for fear of damaging the pivots yet here we have a guy tapping a pivot straight with a punch and hammer...............🤔

  • Haha 1
Posted (edited)

Hey guys,  has anyone tried Bergeon 30350 pivot stargthening tool, is it good? Expensive though.

Should any heat be applied to the pivot , using this tool?

Edited by Nucejoe
Add foot note and spelling
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Interesting video, I've  been told not to measure a staff's length for fear of damaging the pivots yet here we have a guy tapping a pivot straight with a punch and hammer...............🤔

Yah the Feintaster can have a…taste for balance staffs. I’m not sure I’d try the propping up against a tree method on a balance. Then again I don’t cook them, either…

Edited by rehajm
Posted (edited)
41 minutes ago, rehajm said:

Yah the Feintaster can have a…taste for balance staffs. I’m not sure I’d try the propping up against a tree method on a balance. Then again I don’t cook them, either…

I've literally measured a few hundered of them using a feintaster. Using a fine 😄 touch, you should be ok 

Edited by caseback
Correct typo
  • Like 2
Posted
14 hours ago, mikepilk said:

Are the pivots on different wheels (escapement, gear train, balance) hardened to the same degree?

I wondered if balance pivots were less tempered and so more likely to break.

Unfortunately this too many variables to give you an answer to the question. Probably depends upon who manufactured the watch. Plus of course the quality of the steel and back to manufacturing again.

Then usually balance staffs break. Sometimes when they break they break the jewels also. But for some bizarre reason sometimes they bend and if you're lucky you can bend them. So sometimes you're lucky and you can bend them back and other times you're not lucky.

  • Like 1
Posted
1 hour ago, caseback said:

I've literally measured a few hundered of them using a feintaster with a feintaster. Using a fine touch, you should be ok 

Same here, i  use a bergeon bench micrometer that is very light to use, i spend half an hour each week identifying anonymous ones . I was told it could damage pivots but did i listen ?.........😅

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