Aneroid Barometer repair
121,541
Publicado 2011-06-01
30th May 2011
The Barometer's 8 inch dial is march Walter Bushnell Calcutta & Simla
The pointers return spring had completely rusted away in several places but I have repaired it with the spring from a balance wheel from an old clock that I had taken to pieces some years ago. I wasn't setting out to carry out a faithful restoration; I was simply setting out to see if I could breathe some life back into the old instrument.
As an inventor I have designed a lot of special purpose machines and I have designed, built and sold machines that have been used in the manufacture of capsules for aneroid barometers and barometric sensors used in ejector seats but I have never owned a barometer.
I love tinkering and fixing things and I think that now I've got this barometer working I might modify the case and just have a round dial, but that's for another days playing.
The spring I used in the video was back tempered by putting it on a hotplate (cooker) with some silver foil over it for a few minutes. Not very technical I know but all my working live I've had to be precise, now I can please myself and the spring was adequately "let down" for my needs.
By the way pressurizing the air in a plastic bag the way I do in this video is only a guide to the fact that the capsule is working if there were the tiniest of tiny holes in the joints or body of the capsule it may still respond to quick changes of pressure but would never track the slowly changing weather conditions.
Here are some links to a mercury wheel barometer that I fixed
Here's a link to this video • Barometer...A quick look at how I rem...
Here's a link to part 1 • Part 1 of 2 fixing a mercury wheel ba...
Here's a link to part 2 • Part 2 of 2 fixing a mercury wheel b...
Thanks for watching, I love to hear your comments.
Kind Regards ... Andy
Todos los comentarios (21)
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Ihave been watching this for the past 9 years for some reason It puts me in a good mood 💕💕💕
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Andy, thanks very much for the guidance. Knowing mine was likely a push fit gave me the confidence to use a bit of WD-40 in the center hole of the dial pointer, along with a small flat pry bar that put an even force on both sides of the shaft. A gentle pry was all it took to pop off the pointer w/o causing any damage to the pointer or dial. I was then able to remove the porcelain dial to observe the mech, which appears to be in good condition and working well! Cheers - Stuart
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Wow fascinating, you were very brave taking a risk on that barometer!!! Can’t believe you fixed it, I had a similar problem with my barometer but being a very very quick logical thinker I took it upstairs where there would be more pressure (due to my boiler leaking carbon monoxide). Unfortunately I tripped over the socks on the stairs that I was waiting to pair up. Tragically this led to my barometer braking completely and my dreams shattered along with it. I tend to just look out of my window now to get the weather which is less than ideal. Many thanks Dr. Grimsby
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Thank you for sharing. I just found a vintage hoffritz barometer at a thrift store for 2 dollars and I am dying to get it to work!! Your video will no doubt help me trouble shoot!
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Happy New Year to you too. I started out collecting clocks (before that watches and old staplers), and now I am going into all sorts of scientific instruments.
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Man this was an excellent video! Glad to know how to test one with that bag method! :D
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Nice interesting find and save. That's great that you got it is working again and amazing that it is still quite accurate too.
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Hi Stuart I’m glad you’ve managed to sort things out. Kind Regards ... Andy
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Thanks for the post Andy. Have just bought a rather cute post war-ish Barigo set into a ships wheel - approx. 2.5 inch face. As the needle has been stuck on' Stormy' for the day I've had it I was assuming it was a no goer but your sealed plastic bag trick has demonstrated that it does indeed work so I suppose it is more a calibration issue. I'm sure a little more research will unearth a fix. Thanks again
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I have an old Welby barometer that belonged to my grandfather that is over 50 years old. The internal mechanism looks very similar to yours. I have to tap on the glass to get the needle to deflect properly.
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Hi there, that’s great. I love to hear that I’ve been able to help someone to fix something; it’d be good to think that after I shed this mortal coil my image might still be rattling around the ether on YouTube telling folk how to fix old stuff. Thanks for the feedback and well done on the repair. Kind Regards ... Andy
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Wow,well done mate,
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Thanks Andy. Very interesting
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Hi, happy New Year. I'm not familiar with that barometer but it sounds like a very easy and practical way of allowing you to calibrate the scale. Kind Regards ... Andy
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@AllAmericanFiveRadio Hi Rich It's amazing that the capsule has held a vacuum for so long. I used to own a company that manufactured Induction Heating equipment and when I was working with fridge manufactures they said one of the main considerations of the 12months guarantee was the soundness of all the welded and brazed joints that hold the pressurised gas. Vacuum can be even more problematic to hold in small metallic structures. There's not a lot of vacuum held and it's soon lost.
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@Scubarod 1 of 2 The calibration screw can be very sensitive.. With all things like this there is a problem of ‘Stiction’ that is a resistance between the fixed part and the moving part of the device. It’s because of the ‘Stiction’ that you have to tap the barometer to get the needle to settle on the true reading. Re calibrate the unit and tap it to settle the needle on the new reading. Andy
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I have an old Everest barometer- I have no idea how old this is, could be maybe 20-30 years old. It's one of 3 gauges in a block of wood, comprising also a thermometer and what was a humidity meter. I have converted the humidistat to a clock now! Anyway, I have been monitoring the barometer & comparing to my local online weather website, and so far it seems fairly accurate.. At the moment, I'm adjusting the length of the main lever which pushes on the other lever which pulls on the chain around the pointer spindle. It's a very fine adjustment..
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Fantastic video! Extremely interesting, thanks
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thanks for posting
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Andy, thanks. I think I'll carefully try the heat approach. Also, I did send a query to a barometer expert and am hopeful for a reply. I'll let you know the outcome. Cheers - Stuart
