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I have an old Waterbury time only train clock that needs a new hairspring, how do I start?

Wow! That's a can of worms if I ever saw one Lets start by determining what you've done so far, why you believe it needs a new hairspring, and what your skill level is. Some pictures always help too By the way, welcome to the board!

Just starting out but have a lot of tools and a great passion for clocks.Clock was given to me and hairspring is mostly missing, collar that is from balance wheel. Can't find hairspring with the correct collar and need to know how to hold to broach it out

Just starting out but have a lot of tools and a great passion for clocks.Clock was given to me and hairspring is mostly missing, collar that is from balance wheel. Can't find hairspring with the correct collar and need to know how to hold to broach it out

This is how I do it. These are a pair of 6" vise grips that I cut a groove in with a 4 1/2" right amgle grinder and a cut off wheel then smoothed the teeth on the jaws so they wouldn't booger up the collet.
Mr. RJ Software did a thread on Hairsprings and Balances,do a search,it's good reading.

If you've got a piece of the old spring left,mic it to determine thickness. Dig through your spring assortment and find one that has the same thickness and is 1/2-2/3 the diameter of your BW,do whatever you have to do to make the collet fit the staff and install it. At this point you dont want to do any more modifcations than necessary to install it in the movement making sure it's true in the round and in the flat. Set your regulator in the center,put it in beat, install dial and hands in a temporary manner and wind it up and let it run. One thing you don't want to happen is the coils to collapse and rub together. Don't even try to regulate or modify the spring for a couple of days just keep it wound. After running in if it's gaining time,that spring's not gonna work and you'll have to choose one that's slightly thinner or longer and do it again,you want one that after running in loses time. Once youve found a winner you can start cutting a little bit at a time(1/8) off the spring and resetting the round,flat and beat till you've got it keeping time within a minute a day,then you can adjust with your reg. None of this is gonna work unless you've done a full service on the movement. I've done four in the past two weeks using the 72 piece assortment from T-savers and contrary to what some say they do work,a little patience is in order and running in is essentual or you'll just be chasing your tail. Oh yeah,you think you've got enough tools,think again,those vise grips are just one tool I've made just for dealing with hairsprings not to mention the ones I've bought.(And 'bout to buy some more).

I'm in need of a steel spring, thanks for quick replies.I will try to make a holder for it.Only part of springs remains and none of the collet. Movement was in pieces so will be fun to assemble.Purchased a holder but seems to work only for watches, that was money wasted!

I'm in need of a steel spring, thanks for quick replies.I will try to make a holder for it.Only part of springs remains and none of the collet. Movement was in pieces so will be fun to assemble.Purchased a holder but seems to work only for watches, that was money wasted!

I had the same issue (search thread) and the only solution at the end was to re-use the old spring slightly shorter. I turned a new collet for it since it was impossible to pry the old one open.

If this is a small clock, you can forget any of those hairsprings from any of those assortments. The original spring in these old clocks is muuch finer and thinner than anything I could locate.
Not even my stash of 50+ old alarmclocks could help.

The closest spring I had was a hairspirng from an old pocket watch movement. Close but no cigar.

You may have to calculate the no of vibrations and then find a complete balance with hairspring to suit.

http://www.dashto.com/index.html carries steel hairspring blanks. If you don't know the CGS number of the spring clicking on any of the "pic" icons in hairsprings will bring up a chart to corrolate with the balance diameter. The chart assumes a BPM of 18,00. If you get a spring that is wrong there is a formula to go from the CGS number you tried to the CGS number that is correct, so record the CGS number of the spring you try even if it's wrong.

The hairspring blanks are not mounted on collets, so you will need to collet it yourself. To see if you have the right spring before spending the energy of mounting on a collet, just push the blank over the existing collet and hang for a short vibrate. Either use the count method or a balance in a watch (or clock) that runs at the BMP you need.

Holding the hairspring while working on it for truing is easily done by putting a cutting broach through the collet. It will hold it and allow good viewing from all angles.

Mounting the collet will be the most difficult task involved with this. You may want to get more than one spring when you find out the proper CGS number.

I have used hairsprings out of the selection from Timesavers with success many times. The first time that I tried wasn't easy but they will work most of the time.

Start out by choosing one that is closest in thickness and width. the material of the spring isn't real important but I usually try to match it with the old one.

Then install it full size, don't try to cut the length to match the old one.

Make sure it is installed in beat. Rotate it on the staff until it is.

Be certain the hairspring coils do not touch each other in operation, make bends at the end so that it runs true.

Set the rate adjuster to the center and run the clock with the minute hand on the clock.

Most likely the clock will run slow since the hairspring is too long.

After you do this a few times you get an idea of how much to shorten the hairspring by how slow the clock runs in an hour. But don't worry about cutting off too much, there are many duplicates in the hairspring selection so you can use another one if you cut it too short.

Most of the time in the end the hairspring is about half of it's original length when I get it right.

Make sure that every time that you shorten the hairspring that you also rotate it on the staff to put it in beat again and that it is running correctly, straight and true and no coils touching each other.

When the clocks runs to within 2 minutes fast or slow in an hour with the rate adjuster set in the middle you are just about there.

Sometimes it takes a while to get the correct length but it can be done most of the time. Some can be a real pain in the butt especially those that require some offset bends at the end so that it runs true through the rate adjuster to the anchor with no coils touching.

When you do get the correct length be sure to check that the hairspring coils don't touch through out entire rate adjustment. And remember that every time you shorten the hairspring you have to readjust the beat.

One last thing, be sure all of the tools that you use working on the hairspring are de-magnetized if it's a steel hairspring. I always de-magnetize the spring also just to be sure.

It's early here, still drinking my first coffee, hope this helps and makes sense.