Home Forums General Discussion Forum Hairspring Removal

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  • #49210
    chris mabbott
    Participant

      Whenever I service a watch, I always remove the jewelry from the balance wheel, the roller and hairspring (HS)
      A tricky job at the best of times. Fortunately I’m like an old ad the went like this….,

      Wanted: person with long thin fingers for taking things out of long thin jars 😆
      But if a person has large hands, holding the balance is difficult and removing the HS is even more difficulter 😆

      I’ve tried the few methods available,and there aren’t many, in removing the HS but my preferred method is a tiny 0.35mm screwdriver that I made up especially for that purpose, in fact, that tiny screwdriver is my staple for many different little tasks.
      Yesterday I decided to mess around and make a HS removal tool that I saw on a video a long time ago, which was my reason for using the screwdriver initially..
      It consisted of two small pieces of brass round stock that I fashioned into pry bars.
      This was brought about by a Waltham that had the tightest HS ever, and I struggled with it, almost disastrously, until eventually getting the thing off.

      So I tried my bars on a 16s HS afterwards and VIOLA off the spring came as slick as **** 😆
      It was a good test because it was a smaller HS and it was tight..

      What do you guys use for this fragile job?

      #59312
      gerene
      Participant

        I use the tool I made according to Bob’s description in the staffing video’s.
        Chris, can you show us a picture of your tool?

        Jan

        #59313
        chris mabbott
        Participant

          I will Jan, when I get back home a little later..

          #59314
          bernie weishapl
          Participant

            I also made a tool like Bob shows in his video’s. It works pretty well for me. Be interested in seeing your tool.

            #59315
            tmac1956
            Participant

              All:

              I too made one like Bob’s. But I also made three as described in the Chicago School of Watchmaking. They are made from old mainsprings of various thicknesses and widths. They work pretty well – a drop of oil and a twist and off comes the hairspring. Adjustments are easy too. I’ll admit that they aren’t very attractive. ;)

              Later,
              Tom

              #59316
              chris mabbott
              Participant

                Guys I didn’t forget about this but I’m away until Thursday and the only image I have is a HUGE one on my pod, which needs to be edited down a piece or two 😮

                I’m sorry to admit but I can’t remember the type our Bob shows in the video 😳 I always was a poor student 😆
                Can someone post an image please..

                #59317
                chris mabbott
                Participant

                  By the way Tom, those babies are lookin good my brother 8-) nice job. Things don’t have to look perfectly pretty to work well, dang, I have lots of scary looking but useful bits and bobs :)

                  #59318
                  chris mabbott
                  Participant

                    Here’s one of two of the little brass HS removal bars, for me they works great..

                    #59319
                    randy
                    Participant

                      I don’t have a pic..but I’m spoiled in that I have my Dad’s set of hairspring tools…the kind that came on small clear plexi rods. The removal tool looks a bit like what Tom fashioned.
                      I take the balance,.set it into a hole in my bench block that accommodates the roller, and then whilst ( notice that I’m working on my queen’s english ), holding it with my fingers near the rim,..I gently insert the tool and twist / lift until it releases.
                      The key here is patience, and I like Tom’s idea of adding a bit of oil…..

                      Chris..nice looking levers you’ve crafted ….

                      #59320
                      chris mabbott
                      Participant

                        Randy, I did notice your very correct usage of “whilst” and I am impressed :D Have you been slipping over to Van 😆

                        #59321
                        tmac1956
                        Participant

                          Chris:

                          That’s a great idea of using brass you won’t scratch anything that way.

                          Later Tater,
                          Tom

                          #59322
                          randy
                          Participant

                            It’s a linguistic hold-over from when the wife and I spent a month in the Midlands a few years back…..lovely place…..

                            #59323
                            chris mabbott
                            Participant

                              That’s where I’ve spent the past week visiting the fam, except my queens has degraded into something that sounds like
                              EyeYAHH Aw’right 😆 no idea where that came from ;)

                              I thought with you being next to Van , or little England as we used to call it, you might have been influenced 😆
                              It was always funny to see lines of people going into Vancouver from the US side while we were going to buy cheap products from your side. Communal border hopping 😆

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