Inserting Pallet Jewels

[Lawren5]

The exit jewel came loose so I ended up pulling both jewels and removing the shellac. However, I'm having one heck of a time trying to reinsert the jewels. What is the preferred procedure for doing this?

[clockboy]

You need a pallet setting tool such as this:

Also find attach this article on the procedures on how to fit them.

pallet folk jewl setting.pdf

 

[oldhippy]

I think now obsolete. I have seen them on ebay but not often. What do watchmakers use today?

[JohnR725]

It looks like in the photograph there is still shellac on the stones? Alcohol will dissolve the shellac they will have to be absolutely clean than they should slide in. They definitely will slide in because there supposed to be movable in other words there adjusted to an exacting position. It's why they use shellac under heat the stones can be moved.

Then the modern version of the tool showed above can be found at the link below. They do show up on eBay from time to time at several hundred dollars if you're lucky new price with the heater very very expensive.

http://shop.bergeon.ch/Catalogue/PDF/1092 C D.pdf

[oldhippy]

Nice price from good old Bergeon, always willing to relieve you of your hard-earned cash.

[audiomagnate]

I joined today because one of my pallet jewels somehow got tilted skyward and was not engaging with the escapement wheel and a search brought me to this thread. I gave the wayward jewel a nudge and it seems to have rotated back into place, but I'm going to take a better look tomorrow when my USB microscope arrives. There's plenty of shellac still in the gap so maybe all I'll need to do is heat things up a bit. I'm not sure if its current position is the way it came from the factory or not, but I'm hoping a better view will clear that up. 

[Lawren5]

That Bergeon tool looks nice but as a hobbyist I have a hard time justifying that kind of money. I did manage to get one of the jewels reset and am currently working on the other.

[audiomagnate]

Have you read this yet? It's about the only information I could find about setting pallet jewels. http://raulhorology.com/2012/08/eta-6498-escapement-fitting-the-pallet-staff-and-jewels-setting-depth-of-lock-and-run-to-banking/

My hair-brained ill-informed plan is to simply heat things up holding the tip of a soldering iron close to the loose jewel while observing it with a USB microscope. When the shellac flows i will remove the heat and hope for the best.  

[Lawren5]

Yes, I came across that link the other day. I used a piece of wood to make a "staking  block" similar to what's shown in the article. Still, trying to fit these small components is a challenge.

[JohnR725]

2 hours ago, audiomagnate said:

There's plenty of shellac still in the gap so maybe all I'll need to do is heat things up a bit

There's another option for something like this and that is dissolve the shellac ain alcohol and make a glue. Then you can just put a small amount on the fork let the alcohol evaporate and it's fine. This also works if you think the stones are loosing you don't want to play with heating them up you just glue things back. Then because this is still shellac if you have to move things around later on it works just fine. Versus some other inappropriate method of gluing the stones in.

[audiomagnate]

That sounds like a much better idea. That way the other jewel won't be affected. Will 70% isopropyl alcohol work?

[JohnR725]

3 minutes ago, audiomagnate said:

70% isopropyl alcohol

So the alcohol I have is labeled denatured alcohol. Says that it's for thinning shellac, cleans glass and metal and Clean burning fuel for Marine stoves. Nowhere on the canned this say what sort of alcohol it is. Googling the product code gives me both links below the second link actually looks like they can I have. Then I was wondering if they change the formula but I saw somebody already asked that somewhere else and apparently it's still what it's supposed to be which is denatured alcohol. Apparently that's an ethanol-based alcohol with a little methanol to make it Bad at least for drinking.

So you can try if your alcohol doesn't work and I'm concerned about the water content. Then hardware or woodworking store as shellac is used as a finish. And what does Google I was reminded you can get it pre-mixed with solvent zero idea as to whether it's suitable for our need and unfortunately even the tiniest of canned is a lot. Plus you can buy the shellac as flakes for wood furnishing and that does work for watch repair it just comes in a really big quantity

https://www.amazon.com/Klean-Strip-GSL26-Denatured-Alcohol-1-Gallon/dp/B001EMB2A0

https://www.amazon.com/Klean-Strip-QSL26-Denatured-Alcohol-1-Quart/dp/B002MBX2QE/ref=pd_sim_60_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B002MBX2QE&pd_rd_r=0a2270f3-7cc9-11e8-ae7d-27beeed8d987&pd_rd_w=6e08C&pd_rd_wg=xEPlz&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=7967298517161621930&pf_rd_r=PBR09Q93MVQBRCKBCARV&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=PBR09Q93MVQBRCKBCARV

 

[JohnR725]

Other options for holding your pallet fork images attached. Commercial tool holds the fork down. Then a lot of times I'll just use the brass plate and has a variety of holes. It was just simple and easy to make and the reason for all the holes was it can also be used for bluing screws.

[audiomagnate]

Upon closer inspection, it looks like the gap is not supposed to be there. The jewel in question is the one on the right in the first photo and shown in closeup in the second photo. The third photo is of the properly seated (and lubricated) jewel.

[audiomagnate]

Here's a better shot that clearly shows how the loose jewel has pulled away from its former location.

[clockboy]

When I have fitted the stones I have made sure both are exactly the same height. Using the the tool I showed in my original reply post makes this relatively simple to achieve.