New Mainspring

[montyfox]

I am attempting to put replace my first mainspring. This isn’t as easy as the video makes it look. I can never get it to stay in the notched hole when I release the spring from the winder. It always unwinds past it. I haven’t tried it on the new mainspring yet, I’m just practicing using the old one. Maybe this makes a difference. What do you do if this happens when you try to set the new mainspring? I certainly don’t want to keep removing it and rewinding it as I would assume this would ruin the tension in the spring. Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Monty

[Bob Tascione]

Hi Monty,
I’m not too clear on the notched hole. Would that be the hole at the bottom of the barrel for a T-End spring?
If so these holes can sometimes wear a little bit resulting in a small “ramp” for the spring to slide up and out of the hole. Filing (perpendicular to the barrel bottom) this ramp away will often fix the problem. If it’s too far gone then drilling a new hole will be necessary. Again, you may not be talking about the same thing so please let me know if it’s something different.
Cheers,
Bob

[montyfox]

That’s the hole I’m talking about. It is for the t-end of the mainspring to go into. It is located on the outside edge of the mainspring barrell. Perhaps I’m making the mistake of winding the entire spring into the winder and then trying to set it correctly into that t-end hole. It doesn’t look like there is any rap that would allow the t-end to pop out. I think that when it expends from the winder in the barrell it’s just expanding past the hole. Is there anyway to readjust the spring once it’s been loaded into the barrell or do I have to take it out and start again?

[Bob Tascione]

Good morning Monty,

No real safe adjustment that I can think of. Something important to watch for is that the “T” is be caught just on the “outside” edge of the winder barrel when fully wound into the winder and not allowed to sit inside the winder so that it can be inserted into the hole “before” the plunger is pushed. When pushing the plunger the mainspring barrel should be pressed up against the winder so that the spring sets all the way down in the mainspring barrel at all times to keep the T from lifting out of the hole. If the hole and T end are in good shape then the spring should remain in the hole after it’s been inserted.

Bob

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