infryq

!markdown

Yesterday I slept in. The day was evenly split between sewing in the AC and working on the White. I took the cordomatic to the basement, clamped it in the bench vise, and got the cover off with just a couple of judicious hammer taps to a hunk of wood held against the lip of the lid. Everything inside was coated either in dried-out grease or a powdery yellow substance. The mainspring was involved, so I took a break to watch some videos on how to safely remove, clean, and reinstall barrel mainsprings in clocks, with and without special equipment. Lunch, felled one of the side seams over a new book I’m reading called The Bastard Prince by Patty Jensen. P hung out with me and wound up taking a much-needed nap. Back at the White, I got the mainspring out without any trouble and got to cleaning. I used Fast Orange since I’m not super into kerosene, and just made sure to follow up with a clean dry rag to get off any residue. The coils near the center were difficult; I tried rigging up a rod to give myself something to pull against to make room for my fingers but it didn’t really work. I ended up sacrificing a couple of toothpicks with oily cotton wrapped around them to the cause. Cleaned the spring case, removed the cable spool, got rid of most of the yellow powder, then took a look at the contacts. The spool holds two ring tracks, and the cover holds two copper prongs, one pressed against each ring. As the spool turns, the prongs maintain contact, completing the circuit. The insulation on the old wire was completely shot, so I unsoldered it in prep for new. Getting the panel with the rings on it off was tricky since it’s held on with bent-down tabs that were pretty tight; the best way I found was to stick the spool on edge, wedge a smallish flat screwdriver butted up against the end of the tab, and tap with a hammer. Eventually the tab bends backwards enough that the screwdriver head can get underneath, and it’s much easier from there. Unsoldered the similarly-shot wires from the back of the ring panel, and cleaned and polished the prongs and the rings.

Retreated to the cold place, P and I did the crossword, then dinner, more sewing over Lucifer, then snack and sleep. Dreamt of packing for air travel and rubbing off patterns from rtw clothes.