Pinning it up

Checking of the barrel flatness

Shuai working on the barrel exercises

Eddie and Shuai started on the subject of barrels this week.  The barrel may look simple, but there are many things to look out for in a barrel, for example, the flatness, concentricity, endshake, sideshake, condition of bearings, teeth and the the mainspring within and at the end they should be cleaned and lubricated. Now they must complete the exercises to make 5 perfect barrels and another 7 complementary barrels of various sizes, manual and automatic from modern and vintage watches.

A scale to calculate the 2nd pinning point of the hairspring

Theren cutting the 2nd pinning point

Tomas finishing up his customized roller removing tool

On the other side of the room, the other boys started on the next topic in the oscillator series, cutting the second pinning point of the hairspring.  It is a very interesting subject where some math is involved in calculating where the hairspring must be cut for the optimum performance in the wrist watch.  Once the point is found and cut, the balance must again be vibrated to confirm the position to a tolerance of plus or minus 10 degrees.  Once this is achieved the students will move on to the final step of making the double bend for the outer pinning point and time the watch.  The whole course has been building up to this point!  Exciting times!

The roller removing tool designed by the students individually

Because doing hairspring all day everyday can be tiresome at times, the students took a break in between work to make a tool that is used to remove the roller on a balance.  All the students made their own design and made them extra fancy!