Near miss with mainspring

[martinbevis123]

Hi

Being quite new to the wonderful world of horology I am slowly trying to build my stock of tools on a budget. Hence all the mainsprings that I have removed and installed have been by hand. No problems until yesterday where a lapse on concentration resulted in the spring I was putting back into the barrel slipping out of my hand and catapulting the barrel across the room. Luckily no damage done but it has made me think twice about doing this job by hand again. Mainspring winders are currently out of my price range but have seen various videos on the internet about making a homemade winder. Just wondering if anyone has made their own winder or has any plans / details about making one. Or any tips how I can make this task safer – I always were thick gloves and safety glasses when doing so.

Thanks as always.

Martin

[arutha]

Hi Martin,
if you check out Meadows and Passmore, Mervyn Passmore has designed a very safe spring winder. You can buy the kit or just plans I belive so could be worth a look. A guy called Joe Collins used to email you plans to his design free of charge I think but I have a feeling he might have passed away. His winder was nice but not useable on barrels with reversed arbors, I.e. carriage clock barrels and chime barrels. The only way to get around the broblem was to either find or make arbors which were the reverse of what was fitted to the clock, you could then remove and replace the springs with these and then put the proper arbor back in place.
Paul.

[martinbevis123]

Hi Paul

Many thanks for your advise. I will look up the Meadows and Passmore winder. The plans or the kit may be more in my price range.

[bernie weishapl]

The other thing you have to be extremely careful of is removing and replacing springs in a barrel by hand can cause them to be coned. There is no way around it and can cause running problems with the spring dragging on the barrel lid. I know it can be done and has been done but not the wisest way IMHO to do it. Just some food for thought. I got a Ollie Baker winder off ebay for $75. You might watch there.

[dave booth]

Here is a photo of my home made mainspring winder. The most expensive part was the let down wrenches and “Ollie Baker” type collars, both of which came from Merritts. I don’t recall what I paid for them, as I purchased them back in about 1990. The 7/16″ deep well socket, extension and handle cost me less than $40.00 at Lowes about six months ago. All construction is 1/2″ AC interior grade plywood, screwed and glued. The two split blocks laying on the floor in front of the winder are for barreled springs. There us a sliding pin (1/4″ cold rolled) for loop end springs. I push it back out of the way when I am doing springs in barrels. You can just see it sticking out the left side of the winder. I drilled holes in the top of the “box” to store the let down wrenches and parts. They are hard to see, but there are two spring hooks on a pivot at the base of the unit. The pivot is also 1/4″ cold rolled material, and can be slipped out if the hooks need to be reversed for springs that wind the opposite direction. There is no click or stop on the wrench handle, but it is easy to control, and if need be, a C clamp can be attached to the box to keep the handle from flying around. (I just leave the post of the clamp sticking out, so the handle can’t pass it.) The barrel clamp pieces slide into the channel. They are secured with 5/16″ x 6″ long carriage bolts, with a flat washer and a wing nut on each. I did the counterbores with a Forstner bit, then cut the squares out after the counterbores were drilled and the pieces sawn in half. IN use, the barrel is clamped in the square, and the counterbore allows clearance for the gear teeth on the edge of the barrel. I am not certain that was necessary; but it made it easier to figure out how wide the slot had to be, to slide the barrel clamp in. If you do not own a Forstner bit, you could probably just make up the clamps, and make the slot wide enough so that the gear teeth on the barrel could stick out proud of the clamp.

[martinbevis123]

Hi Dave

Thanks for posting the picture of you homemade mainspring winder – looks great. It has certainly given me some ideas and inspiration. I have been out in the garage and made a start on one. Though I am not much of a carpenter it looks a bit rough and ready but seems solid so far. I will post a picture when I have got it completed and tested.

Thanks all for your help and hopefully I will have my own winder soon.

[martinbevis123]

Hi

Just thought that I would post a picture of my homemade mainspring winder. My carpentry skills are not very good but have used this a few times and pleased with the way it works. It saves doing the job by hand and the risks that come with this.

Thanks

Martin

• This reply was modified 3 years ago by Tamas Richard.

[willofiam]

Hey Martin, nice work…as far as I am concerned, mainsprings are the biggest pain to deal with though having a tool to deal with them really helps. What are you using for the sleeves? First one I made I used copper pipe fittings of different diameters. William

[martinbevis123]

Hi William

Yes I must say that it has made the job much easier. For the sleeves I am using aluminium automotive hose connectors which can be purchased in different diameters. They are 78mm long so can make 2 out of each connector.

Martin

[Author]

Posts