How to steady your hand?

[kd8tzc]

So I took apart a watch movement yesterday, and one of the issues I am having is how do you steady your hand when trying to place something when reassembling the movement?  I will get the gear assembly or whatever near to the hole that it needs to go in, but getting the part that goes into the hole is challenging and keeping my hand steady seems to be the biggest issue.

[Endeavor]

Some people have very steady hands, some have steady hands and some less steady. You could try to hold the one hand with the other to steady.

I'm left handed and my left hand is reasonable steady, but for very delicate jobs I may have to hold / support my left hand too.

Age can be a factor, sitting too long in the same position, experience and certainly nerves can contribute !!

Holding (with tweezers) a Rolex balance-wheel in situ with my right hand, and adjusting the Microstella screws with my left-hand, perhaps due to a combination of adrenaline and nerves (Rolex= no mistake allowed!!), my right-hand started to shake out of control. I've now learned & know that my RH may do so and have to take that into consideration. It was for sure a matter of high nerves.

If it is the nerves / pressure, take a brake, go for a walk or try again for example the next day. Standing up, letting blood flow through your arms and relax may help to steady your hands. Gaining experience will help too.

If it is the natural abilities of your body, you have to find ways to control or get around it. That's my 2-cents

 

Edited March 22, 2023 by Endeavor

[Marc]

Try to arrange for a hand or arm rest of some kind. Dedicated watchmaker benches often have these built into them but it's easy enough to improvise something.

Avoid caffeine before working on a watch.

[Endeavor]

5 minutes ago, Marc said:

Try to arrange for a hand or arm rest of some kind

Perhaps these gel or silicone mouse pads to rest your wrist on may help?

[tomh207]

Breathing and muscle tension make a difference too. Breathing should be consistent and unbroken, under oxygenated muscle tissue tends to tense up, it can also have an effect on eyesight. Muscle tension should be relaxed, whole body relaxed, what I mean here is the minimum muscle tension to perform the act and no more, anything else will introduce tremors over a very short timespan. I have a tendency to tense my neck and shoulders which plays havoc with shaking hands at the micro level. A lot of my knowledge of this comes from sport’s coaching, specifically precision shooting.

this has also been confirmed by someone I know who used to train techs in SMD soldering and micro welding electronics under microscopes.

 

Tom

[kd8tzc]

Thanks for the suggestions.  The breathing reminder was good... reminds me of what my Dad taught me when shooting.

I combined a few of the tips and it does help.  In fact, I am super excited as I just was following Watch Repair Tutorials lesson #5 where Alex has you remove and reinstall the balance wheel and pallet fork, and I was able to do it with no issues.  I had been so stressed out over it, but it just went together very easily.  The balance wheel scares the heck out of me, but now that I have removed it from my practice ST26 movement, I'm not as scared about it. 

I hope I can go through the rest of his lessons so I can build up to tackling my grandfathers old pocket watch that has a bad balance wheel.  It's an old Illinois Grade 405 Model 1 17 jewel Autocrat from 1921.  The movement looks very similar to the ST26 (far nicer though), so I may want to find the parts diagram just so I have it when I get to that point.  I do recall it was a "double roller" which I am not sure what that means.

Before then though, more to learn on the ST26 like complete disassembly, cleaning, lube, reassembly, etc.  That's a lot to cover.        

Edited March 22, 2023 by kd8tzc

[Neverenoughwatches]

7 hours ago, kd8tzc said:

Thanks for the suggestions.  The breathing reminder was good... reminds me of what my Dad taught me when shooting.

I combined a few of the tips and it does help.  In fact, I am super excited as I just was following Watch Repair Tutorials lesson #5 where Alex has you remove and reinstall the balance wheel and pallet fork, and I was able to do it with no issues.  I had been so stressed out over it, but it just went together very easily.  The balance wheel scares the heck out of me, but now that I have removed it from my practice ST26 movement, I'm not as scared about it. 

I hope I can go through the rest of his lessons so I can build up to tackling my grandfathers old pocket watch that has a bad balance wheel.  It's an old Illinois Grade 405 Model 1 17 jewel Autocrat from 1921.  The movement looks very similar to the ST26 (far nicer though), so I may want to find the parts diagram just so I have it when I get to that point.  I do recall it was a "double roller" which I am not sure what that means.

Before then though, more to learn on the ST26 like complete disassembly, cleaning, lube, reassembly, etc.  That's a lot to cover.        

Your blood sugar level plays a huge part in keeping your body stable. One of the first signs of low blood sugar is hands starting to shake at magnification . This coupled with nerves is an indication to push your seat back, stand up and go have a cuppa and a sarny. Also learn some hand anchoring techniques. Short distance stabilty onto a solid surface means less shake from a long unsupported joint such as your elbow if your work is too high. Your pinkie and ring finger placed on the bench will give an anchor point for your wrist. If you are struggling to place something accurately try resting a finger from your non tweezer hand on to one of your tweezer fingers.

[Endeavor]

9 hours ago, kd8tzc said:

I had been so stressed out over it, but it just went together very easily.  The balance wheel scares the heck out of me, but now that I have removed it from my practice ST26 movement, I'm not as scared about it. 

Nerves, adrenaline, experience, tensing up, breathing, wrist support and all other suggestions above may help you.

Glad to hear that you accomplished your (most?) feared job

Experience does help, but never get too relax either or else the watch will "bite" you

[JoeSchmoe]

The way I do it is:

Brace the pinky side of hand, the side of the heel of your working hand against some thing that won't move. Your index and thumb should be able to fully articulate ( like holding tweezers). Where you brace it should allow room for the watch and the task you are going to do can be placed within range. If bracing the side of the heel of your hand doesn't allow enough movement, brace your mid forearm. You may even go as far as to using a workbench with a vice and put something in the vice to lean your forearm or wrist against.

Place the watch and area you are going to work on within range of articulation on something that doesn't move. Trying to handhold it could be difficult or impossible unless you brace your hand holding the watch. Make sure that you can articulate what you need to do comfortably and the watch is not moving or shaking because you are holding it.

Take a few moderate and slow deep breaths and start to do the work on an exhale. Your hand will be steadier on exhale.

Make sure you have plenty of light to see what you are doing.

Good luck!

Edited March 23, 2023 by JoeSchmoe

[VWatchie]

18 hours ago, tomh207 said:

Muscle tension should be relaxed, whole body relaxed, what I mean here is the minimum muscle tension to perform the act and no more, anything else will introduce tremors over a very short timespan.

I believe you're on to the most crucial aspect of keeping your hands steady. Of course, there's a mechanical side to it like the underarms and sides of the hands need to be resting against the table. Hence you need to lower the seat or heighten the table the get the arms at approximate eye level.

Other than that, unless you suffer from some condition, this is all a matter of being able to relax and only use, as you say,  "the minimum muscle tension to perform the act and no more".

When working on watches I constantly try to monitor my mental and physical state in this respect. You may think that you are relaxed, but trust me there's always more to do. For example, check your shoulders, can you let them down and relax them even a bit more? The answer is always yes! Check your respiration. It should be slow and controlled. Try to put yourself in a meditative-like state.

When I was younger I used to shoot Olympic air rifles. 90 % of being successful comes down to being able to relax and control your breath. Be especially watchful when doing difficult stuff like fitting stiff springs when you know that a mistake will likely cost you the part and possibly weeks or even months of searching for a replacement.

So, relax! 

[tomh207]

Lots of good advice in this thread. Amazing the variety of experience the community here can bring to and apply to watch repair, sometimes from the most unlikely activities.

 

Tom

[watchweasol]

Hi Iam knocking on eighty still working on watches and clocks, hands not as steady as they were but still good , breathing control and avoid frustration learn to put down the tweezers and walk away and chill stay calm and when working with springs that fly use rodico or work under a sheet of polythene to trap flyers.

[Willow]

Interesting topic and lots of good replies, i have a tremor  that's why i choose to work on clocks, even that can be fun at times but listening to you guys it is possible to work on watches, i have a couple hanging around the house only the quarts type but a start so i might give a go.

[kd8tzc]

Funny, I tried these techniques yesterday on a ST36 (pocket watch sized movement) and it was workable.  Now, looking at a Timex movement... well, those holes seem a LOT smaller, but I will give it a try too and see what happens.  I think the big problem with the Timex movement is getting everything to line up with the 2nd plate once all the wheels and such are in the bottom plate.

[watchweasol]

Hi. Willow. Have a go. The technique is the same only smaller. I only use a loupe or binocular head set and manage to get the pivots in ok,  just stay calm and don’t rush and do not force anything . When assembling the plates and wheels before tightening any screws check the seatings and the end shake, if no end shake is visible start again.. with quartz the rotor can be a pest.

[Neverenoughwatches]

1 hour ago, Willow said:

Interesting topic and lots of good replies, i have a tremor  that's why i choose to work on clocks, even that can be fun at times but listening to you guys it is possible to work on watches, i have a couple hanging around the house only the quarts type but a start so i might give a go.

Eyup Willow. You have nothing to lose. In my mind i think that there is always a way because we are such adaptable creatures. And as WW says haha yes the magnetic rotor is, putting it mildly  # a little bugger #

[tomh207]

2 hours ago, Willow said:

Interesting topic and lots of good replies, i have a tremor  that's why i choose to work on clocks, even that can be fun at times but listening to you guys it is possible to work on watches, i have a couple hanging around the house only the quarts type but a start so i might give a go.

@Willow, practice with spring and screw selections you can buy for cheap online from material houses. There is no pressure then as you are not working on a watch, just manipulating something that doesn’t really matter if it pings off to a 4th dimension to hang out with the wire coathangers and socks from the washing machine . As a bonus you have potential spares for the future if you need them. 
 

Tom

[tomh207]

Just had another thought from the dim and distant past, as a kid I did learn some stuff from a sign writer that my grandfather got in to do some work on his restored steam traction engines. He used a dowel with a softish pad on the end, bit like a piece of cotton material stuffed with cotton wool or similar worked as a ball around the dowel and tied tightly at the top like a bag. This was used to steady his working hand and was controlled by his non-working hand. Maybe something to look at for those of us struggling at times.

 

Tom

[oldhippy]

Some days can be difficult so I would work on a clock. A few pints down the pub helps. 

[tomh207]

1 minute ago, oldhippy said:

Some days can be difficult so I would work on a clock. A few pints down the pub helps. 

Always a plan to have as backup OP

 

Tom

[VWatchie]

On 3/23/2023 at 6:21 PM, watchweasol said:

with quartz the rotor can be a pest

Indeed! A neat trick to keep the rotor in place when assembling the train of wheels is to place a ferrous object, like a watch screw, opposite the rotor. That will keep the rotor in place. It's illustrated in the following post:

 

[Neverenoughwatches]

7 minutes ago, VWatchie said:

Indeed! A neat trick to keep the rotor in place when assembling the train of wheels is to place a ferrous object, like a watch screw, opposite the rotor. That will keep the rotor in place. It's illustrated in the following post:

 

i have used a small magnet in the past. It didn't seem to affect the watche's running. You could always demagnetise afterwards. I actually tried to demagnetise the rotor as an experiment, it was unaffected.

[VWatchie]

12 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

I actually tried to demagnetise the rotor as an experiment, it was unaffected.

Interesting! "They" call it a permanent magnet. Perhaps that has something to do with it!?

[RichardHarris123]

Permanent magnets can be demagnetised. 

[Neverenoughwatches]

10 minutes ago, RichardHarris123 said:

Permanent magnets can be demagnetised. 

 

54 minutes ago, VWatchie said:

Interesting! "They" call it a permanent magnet. Perhaps that has something to do with it!?

Maybe so , maybe something more powerful than i used may have. It was only the cheap blue Chinese type, they demagnetise tweezers very well.  Point being if the magnet used to hold the rotor in place happened to magnetise other components.  Demagnetise the full movement shouldn't affect the rotor. I wonder what magnetic effects the rotor has on other parts? Or if that matters ? All quartz watches have them to turn the train. John may be able to answer this little conundrum