My first training victim is a Hamilton 940, have successfully repivoted the broken balance staff as a lathe exercize and now want to fully disassemble for cleaning. I often read that you should use a spring winder when installing the main spring, so the question is, how do I go about removing the main spring from its barrel without risking making it cone shaped? Do I just pull it out by the center and let it fly, or is there a preferred way?

Thanks,

Bruce Aldo

I have been reading many boards on the Chapter 185 Discusssion Site for a while, great site, very informative. Thanks to all.

Hi Bruce,
Chances are if your mainspring is steel, it will be set and should be replaced with a new white alloy one. I take the barrel arbor out and then with a pair of tweezers pull up on the inner coil while holding the rest of the spring tight with my thumb. I then work the spring out of the barrel one coil at a time being sure to only let one coil go from my thumb grip at a time. Do this until there is no more spring in the barrel.
You are correct when you say you should have a mainspring winder to put in the new spring, unless it is a t end spring. Sometimes you can line up the new t end spring with the hole in the mainspring barrel and just push the spring into the barrel with your thumbs. Hope this helps. Any other questions just write.
Good luck,
Brian C.

Brian,

Thanks for the help and I will replace the main spring with a new, white alloy type.

Bruce