Several years ago I designed a tool to service the mainsprings in old, 8 day and antique clocks. These springs are quite strong and can be dangerous to handle. The tool I designed was made mostly of wood and could be duplicated in whole or in part by anyone handy with tools. I have made the drawings available, free of charge, to all who requested them. I also sell complete units and just the metal parts that require metal working tools to fabricate. Today I had to put one together for a customer so I made a few pictures as I went along. Hope some of you find this of interest.
I precut all the parts for several winders at one time and assemble them as needed.
Here is the parts I will be putting together today.
Clock Spring ToolI found the job goes faster if I have a few jigs to help with the repetitive operations. Here is one of my drilling jigs.
Clock Spring ToolHere I have drilled all the necessary holes and countersunk them for flat head screws.
Clock Spring ToolMoving to the assembly bench I have a fixture for holding the parts while drilling pilot holes and screwing the parts together.
Clock Spring ToolHere is another drilling fixture that speeds up making some of the parts.
Clock Spring ToolI have a trim router dedicated to making the mortice for the gear on spring barrels.
Clock Spring ToolAt this point I get into machining parts. Actually only one part, the crank/chuck assembly is machined to any extent. I start with a common 0-1/4 tee handled tap wrench which i modify. I remove the tee handle and plug the hole. I then reduce the end to 11/32" so it will press into a 11/32" hole drilled in a 5" piece of aluminum round stock. After trying several different ways of holding the tap wrench on center I finally settled on a split bushing to clamp it in the lathe. It comes in true enough for my purposes each time I chuck one up.
Clock Spring ToolAnd another view in the lathe.
Clock Spring ToolI turn a spigot for the handle and then pin the handle to the shaft.
Clock Spring ToolAnother fixture holds the shaft so I can drill through the center of it and the spigot I turned on the tap wrench so these two parts can be pinned. I drill down through the set screw so it is perfect every time.
Clock Spring ToolAnd here is the finished winder. I leave the painting to the proud owner as painting/varnishing is not something I do well.
Clock Spring ToolThere is a short clip of the operation on Flickr. I hope this link works for those who might be interested. There is no audio with the clip.
http://www.flickr.com/photo_embed.gne?id=3134426494I think I'm done!!!
Joe
