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  1. Fritz genuflects before the mighty quartzophobe Apr 7, 2019

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    I took my trusty Waltham to the watchmaker yesterday. Its taken to gaining 25 minutes a day and thats usually not something you just adjust out with a touch of the regulator. Ingo, the crazed German watchmaker, whipped open the back and after a minute of examination proclaimed: "Oh, one of your meantime screws has broken off". He then goes on to explain that some hamfisted type likely tightened it into the wheel a bit too much, twisting the head partially off so it could drop off later, screwing up the weight of the balance and throwing the timing way out. He then proclaims that the remains are well and truly jammed in there and would need to be drilled out.

    Keeping in mind that this is one truly tiny-ass screw (256 threads per inch, thats about two threads per human hair width) I'm suddenly working out where in the hell I'm going to find a balance wheel for a watch made in the fall of 1888.

    Ingo calmly gets up, digs out a box of parts, pours us both a coffee and sits down to drill out the screw by hand and fit a new one. Half an hour later its sitting on the timer ticking away smoothly and showing a dead flat line.

    Impressive guys these watchmaker types.

    The coffee was even good.

    P1010815.JPG
     
  2. KingCrouchy Apr 7, 2019

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    Thanks for sharing! Great story!:thumbsup:
     
  3. Canuck Apr 7, 2019

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    Meantime screws are rarely screwed down tight. There are often two meantime screws, one each at opposing ends of the balance arms which are used primarily for bringing the watch to time with the regulator in the middle. If the balance wheel is bi-metallic, temperature compensating, the other two meantime screws are used for adjusting for middle temperature error, and they are usually close to 90° and 180° away from the ends of the balance arms. The middle temperature meantime screws can be moved either toward the cut in the balance rim to enhance compensation, or away from the cut to reduce compensation. Anyway, Ingo got it done.:)
     
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  4. Archer Omega Qualified Watchmaker Apr 7, 2019

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    Balance screws can certainly be a pain if they snap off. And they can be small - the pocket watch sizes are not too bad to deal with, but the wrist watch sizes are worse...this is from a Cal. 321:

    [​IMG]

    One screw head snapped off when I was adding washers during dynamic poising:

    [​IMG]

    But I managed to file a small flat area on each side of the side that was sticking out on the inside of the balance rim, and use tweezers to turn it out:

    [​IMG]

    Ladies watches are even worse...
     
  5. Syrte MWR Tech Support Dept Apr 7, 2019

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    Wow and wow.
     
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  6. Wuza72 Apr 7, 2019

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    Holy sh...…
     
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  7. GarethS Apr 7, 2019

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    The quantum world never ceases to amaze me
     
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  8. Professor Apr 8, 2019

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    This reminds me of a story about two rival engineering firms. One developed a drill bit smaller in diameter than a human hair that was harder than diamond. They sent a diamond with one of their drill bits run halfway through it to their rival to show off their new product. The other company sent back the diamond and the bit. They enclosed a note saying, we got the stuck bit out but unfortunately we had to drill a hole right down the center of your bit to do it.
     
  9. ahsposo Most fun screen name at ΩF Apr 8, 2019

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    And I always wondered where the saying "and in the meantime" came from....
     
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  10. Canuck Apr 8, 2019

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    Decades ago, I heard that Bulova sent a sample of the copper wire that was used in their circuit assemblies to someone, in order to make some kind of impression. Whoever it was they sent it to, drilled a hole though it, and sent it back!
     
  11. Deafboy His Holiness Puer Surdus Apr 8, 2019

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  12. Fritz genuflects before the mighty quartzophobe Apr 8, 2019

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    A company I worked for a few years back stocked 18" long EDM electrodes in diameters down to 0.008".

    you had your choice between solid, so basically a 0.008" solid copper alloy wire 18" long. no big deal.

    or hollow so you could run coolant through it... so an 18" long, 0.008" pipe.. okay, impressive..

    or with three parallel cooling channels running through it... that one still gets me.
     
    Archer likes this.