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Making a Balance Staff


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Need to make a balance staff for a European picket watch. The old staff had both pivots broken off. First I disassembled the watch and removed the balance staff. Removing the roller table was the hardest part because it was a Three arm balance and my Magic Roller Remover would not work so I used the scissor type.6747fe43a99bd188eacf952d9fef8dac.jpge7e75d9c69e9a769a9ad6711e9c6b4a6.jpg1fa88274beaa1d13932d30eec2514bed.jpgc078f7e520c6a346dfadcaff67cec649.jpg30f532e8ae4870da44c7cbcaa0281ed8.jpg1e2a163391ea846c35b2b298187f5b07.jpg844d0cfbd16fab2a941d595c66400080.jpg

I then determined the widest diameter of the balance staff and found a 2.0 mm piece of Blued Steel. I cut off 1 inch and sized the collet, and inserted in into my Boley Leinen Lathe. I then started to cut the Balance and Hairspring side by first using the old staff as a guide and marking the piece of steel with my carbide graver.84d1245e54d14e9c32e366e831d56e88.jpga8d59714009b2c8e9837c7d0a23a9576.jpg

I started cutting down the first diameter where the balance fits and simply cut and measure until it was snug but still room to stake it in place. I then cut the hairspring diameter next and fix and cut repeatedly until it was snug. I used a special gauge to measure as I went along. Once the part fit was good I worked on the pivot with the graver until I got it down to around 0.2 mm and then used a stone to get it to around 0.14. The rest I plan to do on a Jacot tool.0674a45da0908e5666cce3fe60dacaea.jpg5f5da6c0d5a8c8836f329b4007570fd4.jpg974ed69f2161befa35058fb02420bf8f.jpg

I then flipped the part around with a different collet and started working the Roller Table side using the same technique. I Amos finished off the plate where both the rolled table on one side and the balance on the other side rest.7f9288040022be85fb24dd8435190d3d.jpg

Slight error in the description. I left the full part in and started working on the roller table side before cutting off the part and flipping it around...saves time.fef5e1e9bedb5099cc57df61d48dd29c.jpge35b6f93179d1155af32162d51002e0d.jpg69dcc763d9f12d137ec285e3e6e5a2d8.jpg73865aa95c3ce5477a81ab5860cefa62.jpgae5f5dd2ca1ac1eaceaf541f66d0e1c0.jpg

I worked on the other pivot as well and got it down to 0.14 with a graver and then a stone...on the Lathe. The final product looked great. I am waiting for a set of vintage pin gauges to get the pivot size exact. Will finish it off next week.bae231293c9eefa9bb05910589d5ce6d.jpg13be0555c60fc6945650f2f963450b71.jpg

 

 

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More progress. As well, made a video on how to use Jewel Hole Gauges. So I staked the balance wheel onto the newly made balance staff, friction fit, and it fit really well. Very pleased . I then used the jewel hole gauges to determine the hole size and this the pivot size. Turned out to be 0.10. Now I need to burnish the pivots to that size, fit the part in the movement and once fit perfectly, I will add the rolled table and the hairspring.



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Also lined up the impulse jewel to the center of two arms and then drew the line straight from the jewel to the pallet fork pivot then placed the hairspring on the balance loosely to align with stud; while the impulse was perfectly centred with between the banking pins.


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    • as you took the mainspring out what did it look like? It's amazing how much amplitude you can get if the mainspring actually has the proper shape. last week I was doing a 12 size Hamilton and was very much surprised with the beautiful back curvature the mainspring had. Then the watch had a really nice amplitude the group would be so proud it was 350 until I dropped the lift angle down to 38 that drop the amplitude quite a bit below 300. then with the beautiful back curve it still had really nice amplitude the next day. I really wish all my mainspring's look like this as the watch had beautiful amplitude the next day. So many of the aftermarket pocketwatch Springs I see now do not have anything resembling a back curve may be a slight curve and that's about all. They still work but they just don't work as nice as a properly made spring. then Omega as all sorts of nifty technical documentation unfortunately every single corner is watermarked with where it came from who downloaded it etc. very paranoid company. On the other hand I will snip out images like from the document on recycling a mainspring barrel. for instance here's the section on what your mainspring should look like. water damaged a lot of times means rust was there rust on this watch?
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    • Welcome to the forum, enjoy. It’s highly unlikely you will be able to purchase a new bezel look on eBay for a pulsar watch for repair to find a bezel.
    • just one little minor reminder here this isn't your normal balance wheel.  pages 17 and 18 are what you really want to be looking at. normally studs don't turn but this watch has the etachron system designed for lots of adjustment. Personally I would try to rotate the stud back to where it's supposed to be. If you're lucky you didn't actually bend it at the stud it just looks really bad as the stud has been rotated grossly out of position.. I think things will look a lot better if you put the hairspring back where it's supposed to be by rotating the stud. it's hard to tell if you actually did bend it at the stud or not we won't know until you rotate the stud back more or less where it's supposed to be. Then you want to pay attention to the manual of how to put the hairspring back in the regulator pins because yes they rotate also and they rotated specific directions otherwise bad things will happen to your hairspring. so initially you can open up the regulator as wide as it can go and don't worry about closing it until thing everything is right then you can close them a little bit
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