Staff removal.

[Neverenoughwatches]

Here is my first attempt at cutting a staff from a balance wheel. I wanted a comparison between cutting the rivet and cutting the hub off.  Starting with the rivet was definitely harder than i expected, the rivet was thicker than i imagined and went quite deep into the rivet seating of the balance wheel, its easy to see how a staff hole gets deformed this staff rivet was thick. Thoughts are , difficult to work out where the rivet seating is and it's angle, i caught the balance wheel center right towards the end and the rivet seating is probably a slightly different angle. Cutting the hub away seems like a better option after this experience. 

[Knebo]

Very interesting @Neverenoughwatches and great pictures!!

Bummer for me, though, as I don't have a lathe. And it makes me put into question if I'll ever be able to replace balance staffs properly. Until now, I thought punching them out would be alright (even if many have argued against it already in this forum). 

 

[Neverenoughwatches]

4 hours ago, Knebo said:

Very interesting @Neverenoughwatches and great pictures!!

Bummer for me, though, as I don't have a lathe. And it makes me put into question if I'll ever be able to replace balance staffs properly. Until now, I thought punching them out would be alright (even if many have argued against it already in this forum). 

 

None of the pros here will agree that knocking a staff out is a good idea however it is carried out. After cutting one out i can now see why, in this case this morning the staff rivet was thick and sunk in deep on the balance wheel, i seemed to be cutting it forever, i had to stop twice to re-sharpen the graver and wondered when the wheel would become free, maybe why i caught the wheel, i was beginning to get impatient, it took a lot longer than i thought it would do.

[praezis]

6 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Starting with the rivet was definitely harder than i expected, the rivet was thicker than i imagined and went quite deep into the rivet seating of the balance wheel, its easy to see how a staff hole gets deformed this staff rivet was thick. Thoughts are , difficult to work out where the rivet seating is and it's angle, i caught the balance wheel center right towards the end and the rivet seating is probably a slightly different angle.

Cutting the hub away seems like a better option after this experience. 

Q.E.D.

[RichardHarris123]

Queen Elisabeth Died? 

[Neverenoughwatches]

1 hour ago, RichardHarris123 said:

Queen Elisabeth Died? 

Nope i dont think our old Queeny has anything to do with my staff antics

11 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Wasn't there a British documentary program called QED ?

1 hour ago, RichardHarris123 said:

Queen Elisabeth Died? 

Ah I see Frank Is saying the technique of cutting the staff hub has been proven to be valid .

1 hour ago, praezis said:

Q.E.D.

Smarty pants

Edited June 18 by Neverenoughwatches

[Curare]

I like the idea of cutting it out rather than punching it out. ( you know I just acquired a staking set for this purpose  )

I don't own or lathe and doubt I could ever justify one as a hobbyist.

Has anyone cut out a staff using something else?

Eg: A Dremel or similar tool.

Regards

CJ

[AndyGSi]

Be interested on an opinion from a lathe user as to how much you would need to spend to get something that with practice would do the job?

[Neverenoughwatches]

31 minutes ago, Curare said:

I like the idea of cutting it out rather than punching it out. ( you know I just acquired a staking set for this purpose  )

I don't own or lathe and doubt I could ever justify one as a hobbyist.

Has anyone cut out a staff using something else?

Eg: A Dremel or similar tool.

Regards

CJ

Yep ive tried a Proxon micro drill, a kind of posh accurate dremel using a diamond disk and freehanding the staff  it was way harder than the lathe. I caught the balance wheel several times. That idea might be ok with some sort of feed. You need high magnification for doing this even with my big boy microscope at x40 i felt i wanted more.

You will be using your staking set for a lot more than punching staffs out.

25 minutes ago, AndyGSi said:

Be interested on an opinion from a lathe user as to how much you would need to spend to get something that with practice would do the job?

I thought about this a while ago Andy, with a diamond burr to grind off the hub.