Main spring

[lad111]

I fear I may have put the main spring in backwards. Is there a general rule of thumb to detect this or do I just follow the gears. The clock is a Sessions Tambour with looped main springs. Clock has been a real pain in my rear since it has had no care for several years….talk about opportunity to learn!

[willofiam]

lad111, you are exactly right, the real pains are what we learn from, unfortunately you and I are learning alot lately. to make sure mainsprings are put back in place properly there are several things that can help, tracing the train back, usually the arbor will have a hook that is flat or peened over on the catch side, I have had some that are difficult to tell pictures will do the trick. with mainsprings in barrels always carefully mark or document which way it has come apart, some are obvious but there can be others that a little more difficult to tell, of course we have all put something together the wrong way at one time or another so like you said @lad111 wrote:

talk about opportunity to learn!

I have a great hope to get thru these learning experiences but since I am so slow, hardheaded, stubborn, probably not for awhile, William

[lad111]

Thanks William.
I have the mainspring in but I fear it is tightening instead of unwinding. So I guess I’ll take the spring out and flip it and then insert it again. Here is a picture of it but not sure if one can tell if it right or not

[arutha]

The spring will only tighten when its being wound but you are correct in that it is in the wrong position. As you look at the picture it looks like the spring on the right will unwind into the mechanism which will stop the movement. I have done this on at least 3 occasions, it is quite annoying, you are not the first to make this mistake and you wont be the last Good work on getting the movement back together.
Paul.

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