Tid-Bit 12 - Tips for Working on Vienna Regulator Winding Drums
It is a good idea, when servicing any weight-driven clock, to remove the gear from the winding drum arbor so you can restore all of the pivots on the winding arbor. When servicing a Vienna Regulator mechanism I always remove the gear, and then remove the spring, and the pawl from the gear before cleaning the parts in cleaning solution. I then stone and burnish all of the bearing surfaces on the arbor – including the section of the arbor on which the gear rides.
While removing the gear is often a fairly straight forward proposition, the mechanisms made in Vienna tend to be not quite so simplistic, at least at first glance. The gears for both German and Viennese winding drums are typically held onto the arbor by a slotted washer. While many of the German factory-made Vienna-style mechanisms use a screw to retain these slotted washers (see Figure 1), the Viennese recessed these pesky little washers into the gear (Figure 2). The first time you see one you might just decided you don’t need to take it apart. None the less, with the simple technique that is the first subject of this Tid-Bit, you too will be able to laugh at this technical challenge and slip the washer right out!
Figure 4 – Safety Razor Blades – lower one is half of upper one
Back in the day they were considered safe because of the holder that was used when shaving with them – when installed in the holder only the very edge of the blade is exposed – which is understandably safer than the old straight blades used before the advent of safety razors.
As can be seen in Figure 4, the blade I use to remove these washers (the lower one in the picture) is half of a complete blade. I use a pair of needle-nose pliers to break the blade. Always wear safety glasses when working with these very thin blades – both when braking them, and when using them to remove the weight-drum washers. And always handle the resultant half-blade by the unsharpened side.
I have removed hundreds of these washers without managing to cut myself – but I will admit that each time I get ready to slide a blade under a washer I take a moment and make sure I know the steps I am going to take, and make sure I am very careful when using the blade. And make sure I have safety glasses on.
One of the advantages of using the safety razor blades is their very thin and very flexible nature, as well as the well rounded ends of the cutting edge. The flexibility and rounded edge make it surprisingly easy to slide the blade under the slotted edge of the washer. I start at one of the corners of the slot (see Figure 5), then wiggle the blade around (Figures 5, 6, 7 and 8) until I can slide the washer out.
