Week 29 Feb. 7-12, 2011

*Update: added a few photos of the barrel bridge stem cut out

This week was quite a bit worse than last week as far as getting things done. On Monday I tried to cut out the recesses for the balance bridge but it didn't go so well I ended up making another one and finally got it to work. 

I was testing the bridge with an original balance wheel and staff and as you can see the mainplate jewel is sticking out quite a bit. This just means the balance staff I make will have to be a bit longer, not a big deal.

Then I worked on the recess for the sliding and winding pinion on the barrel bridge. I didn't really have the right tool or machine to make the correct cut out on the bridge so I had to improvise. It is supposed to be a curved shaped cut out for a round piece but I just made small steps in the material to create the recess. I forgot to take a picture of it so I'll have to update this tomorrow otherwise this makes hardly any sense. But anyways, you can't see the recess so it's not a big deal what it looks like really... Here's a pic of cutting the recess for part of the winding stem out of the bridge and mainplate.

Pic of the original (left) and the AMS1 (right)

Then I had to make a winding stem since the hole in the mainplate and bridge are a bit bigger than the original one. Only took about 3 hours (compared to the 6 or so for our exam) since I didn't really need it to be nearly half as accurate. Here are a couple pictures, with a temporary crown glued on.

Next thing I had to make was a new setting lever spring. The one I had made before was nice but it wasn't quite working properly on account of the shape of the spring. It was curved the opposite way and was too strong. Also when you pulled the stem out, the pin would jump out of the notch because there wasn't a big enough rest for it. So here is the picture of the new one on the left. It all works great now and the functions are smooth.

Saturday I decided to make a few of the parts needed for the moon phase. The springs were simple to make, but I found hardening and tempering them a bit tricky. They are very thin (0.20mm) so I was worried they might become bent while hardening. I first tried to put them in this tube (pictured) with some charcoal inside but the springs didn't get hard. Then I tried pressing them between two thin plates but that didn't work either. Finally I ended up making a little basket dealy out of wire that I wrapped around a piece of steel first. Then I put one spring in at a time and that worked great. They came out still straight and finally hard. 

As for an explanation of the springs. There needs to be a spring holding the star wheel and the moon phase wheel in place when they are not being activated. It keeps the wheels from moving and also so that the finger of the cam will always activate in the same place. The photos explain best I guess so just take a look. I know, I know the teeth on the moon phase wheel are backwards. That's just the spare trial wheel and I did a trial decoration on the underside of the wheel. It is just in upside down to see the decoration....

So next week I have to get started making balance staffs. I need to make 1 for our school watch W-01. And I should make maybe 2-3 for the AMS-1 since I would like to have one for a trial balance, one for a good nicely decorated balance, and one for a spare in case I ever break one. I could make a spare for the W-01, but I figure it would be not so likely I would break a balance staff in a pocket watch that isn't used. But anyways, not looking forward to a whole week or so making balance staffs. Nicholas if you read this maybe you can make me one?? Haha, cya next week...