Member postings for Adrian Downes

A few quick ones for you 👍

Firstly put the chinese movement to one side & buy a decent quality old fashioned movement off the wibberlWobbly Web - A jeweled Gts Rotary or Accurist with Incabloc shock protection would be my choice. (A quality watch will come apart & go back together much more easily than a cheap one) 

Having got your movement - take it apart one piece at a time, replacing it immediately to teach your self how it all fits together before removing it again & then the next piece..... Going back wards & forwards drills home where everything goes & how it all fits together 

You know you are starting to get somewhere with watchmaking when you start finding pieces.

You know when you are improving when you stop losing them in the first place 😁

AND you know that you are finally succeeding when it still goes at the end❗😂

As has been said you do NEED to dress your tweazers regulatoly - preferably just before you start pinging! ( I even dress brand new, out of the box tweazers befofore use)

Carefully examine your tweazers under a good glass.

ALL the edges should be crisp & flat with sharp right angle corners.

The inside flats should meet parralel & you have to learn how little force you need to grip.

When viewed end on the points should be a fine oval cross section, from the top they should come to almost a fine point & edge on, with the tweazers just closed a slightly broader one.

As a test of your dressing it should be easy to pick up a fine hair off a glass plate.

Edited By Adrian Downes on 30/04/2022 21:02:05

Can you not engrave or have them engraved for you?

What you have at the moment is NOT a simple pendulym so different rules/laws apply & you cannot directly apply your observations.

When you make a more sensible & secure pendulum then, assuming that the rest of the movement is in good order, you can expect a slight variation in timekeeping - gaining a little at the start of the week & losing it at the end.

The clock was made & has run successfully for many years with the fly as it is. I would definitely NOT try to speed up the striking by trimming it!

I suspect that either your cleaning/overhauling has not been thorough or, more likely, that the mainspring needs replacing. Did you completely strip the clock to clean it?

The strength of the friction spring is not that critical. It needs to be strong enough to allow the fly to be carried by the arbour but weak enough to allow a little slippage when the train comes to a sudden stop.

Before jumping in & modifying a brand new item in the hope that it might work it would make more sense to find the cause of the problem first!

I would suggest good old fashioned marking blue to highlight exactly where its binding.

Proof of the pudding 😁

Chomps brass quite nicely but complains about a bit of gauge plate!

Next stage is to improve the support mounting & make up a proper motor mount.

First working prototype.

Spindle / headstock is mounted on a myford milling slide supported by a fence / register bolted on to the side.

The motor fixing is a temporary lash up & in the configuration shown gives a spindle speed of approx 780 rpm.

Traditionally -

4 pints of water,

2 table spoons soft soap - dissolved by boiling

Then

2 table spoons full strength ammonia.

Soak & scrub with a suitable brush untill clean.

Rinse twice in hot water

Dry thoroughly in boxwood dust

Brush up with a soft brush liaded with French chalk

Peg out pivot holes

& the job is done!

Edited By Adrian Downes on 05/01/2021 21:50:25

Robert,

Serial number is LK 462

Hi Robert,

Would the serial number help identifying it?

I'm pretty sure it's on the bed somewhere.

Hi Nigel,

I used to run one some 40 years ago, machining and engrsving large controlpanels for the coal and electric boards.

Have you tried pantograph services? They do drive belts, copy & some spares.

Regretfully replacement spindles are no longer availiabe 😢, hence my desire to reduce the workload.

Hi Pete,

Engraving cutters are held in a simple taper, usually with a retaining cap & the spindle can't hold parralel sided cutters.

A collet spindle that can take small mills used to be available but..... Hens teeth are commonplace by comparison!

Hi Jason,

I already use the engraving spindle for copy milling & am trying to reduce the strain on the fine spindle & the pantograph joints. Something a little more robust without breaking the bank. Might look at replacing the plain bearings with ball races.

Hi Mart,

As mentioned above intended for light duties & I think its got to be better than using D bit cutters in the engraving spindle.

Hi Clive,

See post above - just a lash up to prove the concept.

I'm a clockmaker so intended for light duties but yes..... I'd look at fitting it to an angle plate on top of the machine. 😊