Free to a good home

[MrRoundel]

Thanks Chris. I did see a bit of debris of sorts on some of the wheels, and pinion and pivot on at least one of them looked a bit rough. Not as worn as what I've seen in videos, but not perfectly polished, to be sure. That said, I am looking at them under a 3X zoomed 15x eyepiece setup, so perhaps they won't look as perfect?

I'm going to run the wheels and bridge through the US again after pegging out the jewels. Truth be told, I am a bit afraid of pegging those jewels, as you can't easily remove the cap jewels and I don't want a piece of pegwood breaking off in there. I'll clean things again and take another look under the higher magnification. Thanks again, as always. Cheers.

*Update: Question: I'm not sure what you're referring to with the plastic washer on the sweep wheel. I know there's an extra shoulder/part on the third wheel that sets down against that spring. If that's what you're talking about, it looks OK to my eye. Thanks.

 

[Chris Radek]

Yeah those are meant to be cleaned only with ultrasonic. If you break off pegwood in them, you'll have to press apart the whole setting and then reseat both jewels, which is hard. They aren't really meant to be taken apart and put back together. If you have one that's really screwed up, I'll send you a replacement entire setting - that's pretty easy to replace.

Usually a high current draw problem is pretty overt, not a minor cleanliness problem. You did pull the center wheel off its post on the dial side and service it, right? Those get stuck really bad. Or it might be lack of end shake somewhere, or your sweep brake isn't releasing when the stem pushes in, that kind of thing.

 

[MrRoundel]

Ah, that extra piece on the third-wheel is a brake. Interesting. I didn't know what it was for exactly. So it could be like dragging brakes on a car. Interesting.

Yes, I did remove the canon pinion assembly. One thing I wondered about early, is whether I lubricated the center-wheel assembly properly. I may have made the mistake by doing it like I saw a guy do in a video, or at least how I thought he did it, rather than how it shows in the manual. I oiled the center tube, as instructed, but did not place oil below the canon pinion and on top of the incorporated wheel. Instead I just placed oil at the bottom of the canon pinion below the wheel. Uh-oh?

FWIW, I never set the hands since I've had it apart. I only placed the seconds hand lightly on its post to see how fast the watch was running. So I'm hoping that no harm was done to the center wheel assembly.

 

[MrRoundel]

Thanks again to Chris, I dodged a bullet with the center wheel assembly. To properly lubricate the part I had to remove the calendar works. It's pretty easy to take apart but there are a few springs that are a bit fiddly in putting things back together.

I was informed that it is very important to lubricate the center clutch assembly properly. I didn't have the right moly lubricant, Moebius 8201, so I used Moebius 9415. It seemed like it might be a good substitute, but I'm open to warnings about this. I had considered using my 8200 (Which lacks the molybdenum additive.) but it's a bit old, where the 9415 is new. Once I set a little lube in the proper places I tried to spin the wheel while holding the pinion. It was a bit stubborn, which is probably preferable to it being loose, but quickly allowed movement that felt nice and snug. I'm really glad that I rechecked on that procedure, as I definitely would have had a worn part in the not so distant future. Of course that's taking it for granted that I'll have it fully up and running well pretty soon. Maybe tomorrow. Fingers crossed. Cheers.

 

[MrRoundel]

I haven't been spending much time trying to get the Accutron back together, but did attempt getting the train bridge on. Unfortunately, this time is proving a bit more difficult. I tried leaving the fourth wheel bridge off, as was recommended in a post I found elsewhere, but that seemed to make it harder. I've got some other issues I'm contending with so I may wait until I can try it when I'm a bit more relaxed, as working with those little wheels, esp. the index wheel, requires a quiet mind.

My question is: Has anyone else used the tip of leaving off the fourth bridge and had better success with it? Good idea? Bad idea? Any input is appreciated. Cheers.

 

[MrRoundel]

FWIW, I didn't have much success leaving off the fourth bridge. I did figure out that the train bridge goes on a lot easier if, once I get the wheels in their lower jewels, I start with getting the index wheel either in its jewel or at least well vertical, then work my way up the line. This is similar to way I sometimes find that putting a small pocket watch together is easier if I start with the escape wheel and work my way to the center wheel. This is, as I said, similar, but crazy small, and virtually untouchable, aside from the arbor and pinion. I ended up using a tool I had made for assembling an ESA9154. I just put a slight bend at the tip of a brass pin. I then flattened the tip against an anvil until it had a flat hook on it. It allowed me to get above the index wheel's rim to maneuver it by the pinion. Assembling an Accutron is probably never going to be easy, but at least it's back together, and I am learning a lot.

I'm now waiting for an Accucell battery to see if that will work to slow the 2182 down to where I can regulate it and render it wearable. I'm a bit confused by the being able to index the watch to do the same when using a 1.55V battery. In addition, I don't have high enough magnification to see the index wheel's teeth to be able to count them to index it properly. Fingers crossed the Accucell "fix" will do it.

BTW, I am a bit smitten with these Accutrons. While I may not step up to buy a nice 214 any time soon, I'll enjoy the 2182, and perhaps one of those interesting Accuquartz watches someday soon. For those unfamiliar with them, these use a quartz crystal for timing, but utilize the tuning fork vibration with index and pawl fingers for physically moving the train as they do in a conventional Accutron. It is a true hybrid that I don't think Bulova made for very long. Cheers all.

 

[Chris Radek]

The Accuquartz are definitely neat!

I always grease and install the center wheel and 4th bridge, then flip it over and oil those two jewels, install hack and spring, fork and coils, then test current and timekeeping. If all is good with the fork and electronics, then oil the main bridge jewels and put the full train in (don't forget the set lever screw). Then I install and check the dial side/date stuff last.

 

[MrRoundel]

Thanks, Chris. Funny, I almost started the train-bridge without installing the set-lever screw. These things are tricky, but neat. I make fewer mistakes each time I put it together. So, what does that make, only 45 last time?

Thanks again for your help. Although someday I might change that to, "It's all (OK, maybe partially.) your fault". Enjoy!

 

[MrRoundel]

While it hasn't been running very long with hands on it, I'm pretty happy that I seem to have been able to phase a 2181 Accutron to run with a 1.55V battery. I just timed it once around the dial and seemed pretty bang-on to 60 seconds on the minute. There is a question of hand clearance though, as the second hand is down pretty close to the minute hand. Fingers crossed.

I will now try to phase the gift 2182 that started this journey to run on a 344 battery. I'll probably be able to now that I picked up a couple of Accucells.

* I do have an additional question for the Accutron expert(s): What is the best way to clean the pawl jewel? I had dipped it in One-Dip, but either it didn't clean off some debris, or it picked it up from the index wheel, which I cleaned in the ultrasonic. It's right where debris would build up from a transferring of it to the jewel. Thanks ahead of time. Cheers.