mechanical metronome question

[49410enrique]

for reference I have a Seiko Seiko SPM-320



my question: this may apply to other mechanical ones too, but when i'm finished using it do i need to let the mechanism run it's full time to completion (i .e  stop click and pendulum stops moving) before puting it away or can it be stored/closed up till next time with some clicks left in it from the previous wind up, i just want to make sure i'm not leaving a spring with residual tension that could affect accuracy in the future (or are they designed to store this 'potential energy' and it's fine to just close it up when finished without waiting for it wind down)?

[pianowolfi]

I'm using mine since decades without ever even thinking about letting it run out before closing it up. The tension of the spring doesn't have any influence on the accuracy. Maybe the tension decreases during time (I don't really know if it does), but still that won't have any influence. Otherwise the metronome would start to beat slower as soon as it runs out of wind-up-energy. But in fact it becomes only softer, not slower.

[49410enrique]

thanks i was prob worried for nothing i'll just use it normal and if it's not done when i'm done, oh well i'll just lock it up till next time

[p_aria]

right the metronome works just like a wrist watch,.. the spring gives the energy to move the pendulum, but frequency is determined by the pendulum mass and lenght, as the balancer with spring does in the watch;

and in fact, to change the frequency you move the mass along the slider;

have a good fun with metronome ! .. personally, I could not use it since I was a child.. it puts too much pressure to me!

merry christmas to everybody!

[49410enrique]

right the metronome works just like a wrist watch,.. the spring gives the energy to move the pendulum, but frequency is determined by the pendulum mass and lenght, as the balancer with spring does in the watch;

and in fact, to change the frequency you move the mass along the slider;

have a good fun with metronome ! .. personally, I could not use it since I was a child.. it puts too much pressure to me!

merry christmas to everybody!

that makes total sense, color me embarrassed i should have known if i'd just thought about it a bit more. i'm actually very good at physics (took a fair amount as part of my biochemistry component to my undergrad).