Another Benchtest!

 

Week 8

This week we had another bench test! Nicholas from England!

Here he is learning how to put in the mainspring in the barrel by hand.

 

STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS

Workshop B

Students:
    Amer, Dunham, Faris, Ivan, Louis, Varun

    This week Ivan continued planning out his school watch with Fusion 360.

     Ivan also continued his restoration work on his pocket watch.

He beveled and polished the edges of the ratchet wheel and used tetrabore to matt finish the top of the screw.

Here Ivan refinished the entire surface of the barrel bridge. He used paper to flatten the surface before he frosted the surface.

GUEST STARRING

Workshop A

Students:
    Art, Daniel, David, Harold, Miguel, Nine

    This week Daniel, David and Miguel learned how to oil the gear train and apply epilame.

Coming in at a 45º angle to touch the pivot to allow oil in.

Using a dropper to apply epilame only to the teeth of the escape wheel.

2 Incabloc jewels. The one above has epilame and the bottom does not. You can see that the epilame helps the oil to form more consistently for cleaner work.

     This week Daniel made a prototype of his escape wheel and asked Ivan to help him create his gear train in Fusion 360.

Daniel made some mistakes centering the spokes and wants to reshape them to be thinner.

    This week Daniel also prepared to take his escapement exam next week

    This week David and Miguel took their escapement exams and passed!

    This week David also serviced his Omega 601.

    This week Miguel made and finished his pallet fork holder just in time for his escapement exam.

    The base is made out of brass that has been straight grained and black rhodium plated before the mandrin was cut down and friction fit into the base. It was designed to be adjustable when under the microscope to check the cleanliness of the pallet fork.

 

COMING UP NEXT...

We have another bench test next week! Tune in next week to find out where they're from.

 

 

 

Thank you for reading! 

Hope to see you again next week! 

Bench Test!

 

Week 7

    This week we had a new bench tester! Bernd from Germany! Here he is working on a 6498 and a pocket watch movement.    

 

STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS

Workshop A

Students:
    Art, Daniel, David, Harold, Miguel, Nine 

    This week, Daniel, David and Miguel learned how to remove the hairspring collet from the balance staff and flatten a balance wheel using the lyre and the horia tool.

Here is the laser welded collet of Nivarox for an ETA 2892 balance wheel.

Using hand levers, you must gently pry off the collet to separate it from the balance staff.

Then you place the balance in a Lyre tool to check the flatness of the balance wheel.

Finally after spotting the high or low spots, you place it into a horia tool and gently press with your finger.

Here is the balance wheel before flattening.

Here is the balance wheel after flattening, the wobble has been almost completely eliminated.

    This week Art and Nine have also finished their filing exams! They are now focusing on making some of the required tools and exercise pieces such as the balance bridge holder and the press fit plate.

    Here is art turning the spike of the balance bridge holder on the lathe.
 

    David also took several practice exams for escapements this week.

    This week Harold has dealt with ETA7750, 6498 and 2892, learned the disassembly and assembly of the balance complete, the different types of configurations of the hairspring, adjustment of the stud and regulator, and made good progress on the set of theory questions.

 

 

Thank you for reading!

Hope to see you again next week! 

Parts and Tool making!

 

Week 6

STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS

Workshop B

Students:
Amer, Dunham, Faris, Ivan, Louis, Varun 

    This week Ivan made a balance staff for his pocket watch.

    This week Dunny made a pinion and wheel for his school watch.

    This week Louis made an hour trip for a repeater pocket watch.

GUEST STARRING

Workshop A

Students:
Art, Daniel, David, Harold, Miguel, Nine 

    This week, Miguel continued adjusting the escapements for his 7 movements and he also made a custom anvil and pusher for his Horia to remove the guard pin of his P7001 pallet fork.

Anvil (Left), Pusher (Right)
The main bodies are turned from brass and the contact points are made of blue steel that have been pressfit.

The tips of the steel portion have been polished to avoid scratching the pallet fork when in use. The body of the brass anvil has been knurled for better grip and a groove was cut into the pusher to make it easier to remove.

    This week Daniel has shaped the spokes for his center wheel on the milling table.

 

THANK YOU FOR READING!

 

HOPE TO SEE YOU AGAIN NEXT WEEK!

New Lessons!

 

Week 5

STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS

Workshop A

Students:
Art, Daniel, David, Harold, Miguel, Nine

    This week Art and Nine learned how to turn on the lathe.

Art is turning the pin for the balance bridge holder.

 

    Art has also taken and passed his first exam!

    This week Daniel, David and Miguel learned about the different types of escapements.

    Daniel has started with pallet fork adjustment.

Daniel's set up for inspecting and cleaning his pallet fork. He made a custom tool by shortening a mandrin to hold the pallet fork under the microscope.

 

 Daniel also made an hour and minute wheel for his school watch in beryllium copper instead of traditionally used brass.

Above is the hour wheel and below is the minute wheel.

GUEST STARRING

Workshop B

Students:
Amer, Dunham, Faris, Ivan, Louis, Varun 

    This week Dunham finished several sizes of his pivot gauges. He finished the 0.17 and 0.20 pivot gauges.

    Dunny has also started making wheel blanks for his school watch.

Here is the wheel made in Berylium Copper

 

He has also started cutting out the spokes for his wheels on the jig borer.

Thank you for reading!

Hope to see you again next week!