Balance Wheel Support Platform for Watch Movements

prusaprinters

This is an easy-to-print platform for supporting the balance wheel during a watch service.  It is similar to Bergeon item #7990 “Support for Cleaning the Impulse Pin”.  In addition to allowing for cleaning of the roller jewel, it makes a useful support for dynamic poising and removal of material from the balance.  This model features a couple changes from the BG7990, namely a slightly more aggressive taper and rounded end to improve usefulness.  A small chamfer has been introduced in select areas to improve print quality.It is recommended to flip the object around to avoid printing overhangs.  In other words, the V-shaped end should be facing down towards print-bed, while the U-shaped side faces up.  This way, the nice, flat surface of the print bed will translate into an equally nice, flat surface for your balance to sit on.  The platform should be nice and stable, with no rocking motion, when placed on the benchtop.  If your printer/filament combo has a tendency to over-extrude, I recommend dialing back the extrusion multiplier slightly to achieve a flatter surface.    I have printed examples of the support platform using monotonic and octogram spiral as the first layer.  Depending on your use case, you may prefer one over the other.  Tested on both the Prusa i3 MK3S+ and Mini+ with a 0.40 nozzle at 0.10mm, 0.15mm, and 0.20mm layer heights.  The example shown in the photos was printed using Overture Matte Light Gray PLA.