Cannon pinion removal "on the cheap"

[mbwatch]

On 12/2/2024 at 8:00 AM, mbwatch said:

I use my heaviest tweezers all the time, carefully. And I have not had a problem with a bent arbor or seconds pinion or broken center wheel jewel

Welp my luck ran out! I just broke the 4th wheel center seconds pinion of an Enicar 1010 with a tweezer slip on the cannon pinion. It had been a very lucky 404 Club find for such a brand, but now will be a lot costlier.

[VWatchie]

On 12/3/2024 at 4:21 PM, mikepilk said:

just push crown pinions back on with tweezers, and not use a staking set?

That works well most of the time but I've had movements where the train wheel bridge was so thin it would sag while pushing the cannon pinion. A staking set (or staking block) is handy in that case. However, I would still push down the CP using tweezers.

[mikepilk]

12 minutes ago, VWatchie said:

 However, I would still push down the CP using tweezers.

My  point being, that people are happy to press CPs back on with tweezers, so why worry about removing them with tweezers?

Most pull off quite easily. If they are a bit stiff, I will use the cutting snips (as shown above) to make sure I get a vertical pull.

[VWatchie]

2 hours ago, mikepilk said:

My  point being, that people are happy to press CPs back on with tweezers, so why worry about removing them with tweezers?

I see that as two different operations. When reattaching the CP using tweezers, there's little risk of damaging the centre wheel arbor, the fourth wheel pivot, or the CP itself. A cannon pinion remover isn't needed for safety reasons, but it is efficient, convenient, and, as a bonus, safe. 

[LittleWatchShop]

16 hours ago, VWatchie said:

I see that as two different operations. When reattaching the CP using tweezers, there's little risk of damaging the centre wheel arbor, the fourth wheel pivot, or the CP itself. A cannon pinion remover isn't needed for safety reasons, but it is efficient, convenient, and, as a bonus, safe. 

For me, safety would be an issue pulling with tweezers because I must be SURE the movement is FIRMLY in the holder. The MC tool solves this in an elegant way.

[mikepilk]

1 hour ago, LittleWatchShop said:

For me, safety would be an issue pulling with tweezers because I must be SURE the movement is FIRMLY in the holder. The MC tool solves this in an elegant way.

Or, two fingers with finger cots on