The following series of posts were originally posted in the "Clock" section under an alarm clock thread. Greg posted some outstanding tutorials regarding the care and feeding of hairsprings. Those posts should be here in the repair section, in their own thread so that they may be handy for reference, and readily found when needed.

just the balance and hairspring. I wouldn't add weight until we know whats going on with it.

Even a badly mangled hairspring can usually be corrected with little loss of strength. Have you any experiance with this? There are a couple of different ways to correct them.

#1. If mildly bent, I leave the hairspring and balance right in the movement. using to very pointed tweezers...I start from the stake and reconfigure the spring to the regulating lever and then on to the coil. The hairspring when running should barely touch each side of the regulating "fork" at the same even rate. when viewing the hairspring from the end it should be as straight as possible. I've found that if its slightly off it will be alright..just doesn't look as good as if the coils are in a straight line. The coils however should not touch each other...this will throw of any type of regulation.

#2. If the spring is too badly mishapen to correct in the movement. the next step would be to remove the balance unit from the movement. I then place the unit in a piece of pithwood to do the correction. the hairsping is in the air, but you can look down on it and find the shape.

#3. I will in severe cases remove the hairspring from the coil. this process is very good for beginners for practice so that you can really get the hang of the coil shape. I use a pane of glass painted white on one side. lay the painted side down on your counter. remove the hairspring and collet from the balance staff. In the alarm clocks especially you may need to do more that a little nudging...be careful not to mangle the spring or collet. try oil or carefully placed navel jelly between the staff and collet. once you have removed the colleted hairspring...place it on the non-painted side of the glass. make sure you can look down on the work comfortably(probably the most important piece of advice). Then using a couple of pair of good-long-pointed tweezers begin re-shaping the spring from the collet outward. I sometimes will use a very sharp-long-pointed tool that I made(sort of a scratch awl). look at the coil spacing and keep the same distance between each coil. This is a challenge to say the least, but once you get the hang of it its very rewarding(at least to me) to be able to correct these.

I will try to post some photos.

Greg continues:

Hairspring tools(that I use)

greg

a before and after using the glass and tools shown. Unfortunatly I had surgery yesterday so probably shouldn't have attempted it. but you get the gest.

Greg

When I began hairsprings, I purchased an assortment of alarm hairsprings and also an assortment of watch hairsprings from one of the suppliers. Starting with the large hairsprings, I made simple bends...simple correction. Then on to more complex bends more complex corrections. After that I went to the next smaller size and so on, to thru the hairsprings for watches.



I'm going to create a better set of photos with clearer(I hope) instructions. Seems like a good project to keep me busy.

Greg

The Beat:

reshaping the hairspring

Reshaping a hairspring coil that is raised.

From the appearace of the dial...I think it was an oil furnace!!! Were it not for a "rip" in it which shows fibers...the dial is so soaked with oil that it has the appearance of celluloid!
Unless its a different material than I know of. It actually is working now, everything is cleaned. I only need to polish the bell,case etc. and put it back together

greg