Longcase Escapement Repair

[David Thompson 1Participant @davidthompson1]

[David Thompson 1Participant @davidthompson1]

I have repaired several longcase escapement pallets by soldering pieces of spring onto the worn pallet. I have often wondered if I have "let the temper down" with the heat involved. I recently thought it might be better to cement the spring to the pallets with epoxy glue. What are your thoughts on this method?

David Thompson

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

What are the fatigue properties of epoxy? There are an awful lot of seconds in a year.

[Peter Cook 6Participant @petercook6]

At soft solder temperature I would not have thought you would make much difference to the temper. At silver solder temperatures you might be losing hardness, but then how hard were the original palets?

I suspect spring steel is a lot harder than the palets were originally.

 

Edited By Peter Cook 6 on 07/04/2023 20:52:55

[roy entwistleParticipant @royentwistle24699]

Escapements have been successfully repaired like this for many years.

Roy

[Clive SteerParticipant @clivesteer55943]

For a lasting repair soft solder is the best as the thickness of the solder film can be quite thin and maintaining pallet dimension for correct escapement action is essential. Having said that there are excellent epoxy glues, such as those used to attach ultrasonic transducers to the tanks, but these need a glue film thickness to work correctly.

Soft soldering at about 250 C shouldn't reduce the hardness of the spring material being applied and even if it did the clock would probably work for another 100 years before the needing the "veneer" replacing.

CS

[David Thompson 1Participant @davidthompson1]

Thanks everybody. That settles it for me. Soft solder as always.

[Author]

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