A quick question re: Replacing roller jewel

[Cary]

OK, I finished 99% of the Waltham 83 movement that I have decided to bring back to life. Watch was dropped, and I found a movement exactly like it to put in Grandads case. This mvmt took a really hard hit, but the staff didnd break. It did shatter jewels and break off the roller jewel. I found a 83 parts movement with gold jewel settings and replaced them, now I have to remove the splinter of the roller jewel. I dont have an alcohol lamp, so will a candle, or a lighter heat the shelac enough to remove the old part? Can I heat a small metal rod enough to rub it around the roller table to remove the jewel.

I need some improvised tips here?

Thanks,

Cary

[Cary]

OK, I finished 99% of the Waltham 83 movement that I have decided to bring back to life. Watch was dropped, and I found a movement exactly like it to put in Grandads case. This mvmt took a really hard hit, but the staff didnd break. It did shatter jewels and break off the roller jewel. I found a 83 parts movement with gold jewel settings and replaced them, now I have to remove the splinter of the roller jewel. I dont have an alcohol lamp, so will a candle, or a lighter heat the shelac enough to remove the old part? Can I heat a small metal rod enough to rub it around the roller table to remove the jewel.

I need some improvised tips here?

Thanks,

Cary

[jim88]

Replacing a roller jewel is much easier if you remove the roller from the balance staff but you'll need a staking set to romove and replace safely. If the roller is removed it can be heated to remove the jewel and old shellac and cleaned in alcohol remove any last remnants of shellac. The same can be done with the roller on the balance staff but I would remove the balance spring first. A metal clamp is used to hold the roller. A special tool is made for this but you might be able to fashion your own. The clamp has an extension on it that you heat. The heat then transfers to the roller and softens the shellac. A candle is more than sufficient to heat the roller. That's what I use. You can move the candle or other heat source on and off the clamp so you don't burn the shellac. Once the shellac burns, it's no good anymore. Once I used a very clean pencil point soldering iron touching the roller opposite the side the jewel is on to just soften the shellac so I could straighten a roller jewel. Careful, those roller jewels have a nasty habit of popping right out of your tweezers and disappearing into thin air. Good luck, Jim.

[Oliver Mundy]

Just a thought: ? Might it not be possible to remove the roller itself, jewel and all, from the balance-staff of the donor movement and transfer it to the other? I have done this successfully on English lever movements, where the roller is simply a press-fit on the staff. I realise that American construction methods may be quite different, although (to judge from my own Model 1883) the layout looks identical.