Workshop Notes
Marking Holes in a Dial
The British Horological Institute has archived and edited the following from e-mails sent to the Clock/Clockers mailing lists on the Internet. The information here does not necessarily indicate a method approved by the BHI, we are only publishing this digest so that others can decide for themselves whether the methods listed below will suit them.
From:
Ron Schorr
Alignment of winding arbors When replacing dials, how do you aligning the dial so as to mark and drill out the holes for the winding arbors as new assemblies come with only the centre hole drilled?
Method 1.
If you have the old dial, use that as a template. If not make paper templates. The stock used for manila file folders works well. Make measurements and mark the paper where you think the arbors fit. Only punch the holes no more than 1/4 inch in diameter and put the paper over the movement. you can then tell if you are a bit off and can "drift" the holes to where they should be. Draw a line between the centres of the winding holes and draw a perpendicular from that line through the centre of the hand holes. The vertical line should be long enough to exceed the diameter of the dial. Then use a compass to mark a circle about the size of the dial with the hand hole at its centre. and cut the disk to size.
You can now lay the template over the new dial with the centre, 6 and 12 aligned and the winding holes will be in the right position.
It's pretty difficult to drill good hole in sheet metal. See the page on drilling sheet metal for more help.
