Messages: 209 Location: Phoenix
Registered: November 2013
Re: You're on the right track now...>
Tue, 17 January 2017 07:28
Rob B wrote on Mon, 16 January 2017 22:56
The secret to repairing watches is understanding them in technical detail. Any good book on watchmaking will have detailed information on how an escapement works.
I have found a couple of blogs that folks in watchmaking school wrote as they progressed, and I have picked up quite a bit of knowledge that way. I read most of "practical watch repairing" electronically which was okay but the pictures were hard to see, so I only got the words and not the picture of what I should see in my head. I also went through the TZ watch school level 1 and level 2. Understanding how the geometry is setup is tricky for me without being shown in person. This is the first project I have worked on, ever, where I am adjusting things like this. It's a bit scary so I am trying to be very careful.
1) At first, ignore the beat error totally. It is affected by a few things but corrected only when everything else is right.
This had me confused for a bit because the balance would always come to rest in the correct position, roller centered and the bar between the banking pins; yet the thing runs terribly. I am almost certain that main reason for the huge beat problem was that one of the 'pushes' that the balance was expecting to get never arrived properly because the lever was hanging up.
I have another question: Is it safe to say that the position of the balance wheel rim, with respect to the hairspring and roller table, is irrelevant? I guess what I am trying to get at is the resting positions of the balance wheel arms do not matter? Or does it?
Place a paper slip ( a small strip bent into a "V") under the balance rim to hold the balance from moving).
I like this one a lot...I used to take a small piece of rodico and put it under the wheel but that requires a bit of pressure be applied, and this way seems a lot safer.
2) For adjust the rate, you will not need to make any change to the hairspring at all...don't even try. At the end of the balance arm, or close to it, there should be a screw on the balance rim that sits out from the balance a little bit, unlike the other screws which are tightened right down.
Well, I see the screws and I think these are the 'mean time' screws? Right now they appear to be completely buried into the rim and have a washer under them as well. I wonder if this is part of my problem....?
Given the fact that my rate is unbelievably fast and that to slow it down I need to unscrew the screws I am suspecting that someone goofed with this at some point, turning them in to try and increase the rate for whatever reason. I don't know if the wheel is currently poised, and I do not have any tools to test it, but I assume this problem, if I have it, will appear during attempts to regulate to positions?
My concern is that if I loosen the screws a bit the timing washers may come loose and start messing with me. I guess for now I will try to bring them out a tiny bit and see if I can see the rate start to come down, at least that would prove the change is moving things in the correct direction.
I hope the above assists you. These old 18 sizers are not that easy to see and examine the escapements, but with careful observation and plenty of light, there is always a way to see what you need in order to correct bad adjustment, which is common to find.
I noted compared to say, a Hamilton 992b, how hard it was for me to move the pallet bar and observe the pallet stones; because the bar is under the plate you are staring at it makes moving it a bit of a chore.
Lighting, as you noted, is also a huge challenge. I held a flashlight between the plates to get enough light to clearly see things.
