Question about watchmakers lathe uses

Find a 21-jewel lady's watch (preferably a dead one that has no value to speak of). Take it apart. Try to duplicate the smallest those parts on your lathe. I think after you've tried it you'll understand what the Boley will do that your lathe won't.

I sold a fully tooled Boley lathe with chucks and collets to a man in Minneapolis a few years back. Nice little system. I have pix around here somewhere of it. Beautiful work by the the people at Boley NIce little pedestal lathe with all the trimmings. Tiny motor. Pristine box of collets and cutters and other parts. Quite a treasure. perhaps he is making making time out of metal and saphire with it to this day And aren'twe all making time out of rubys and meta as we share this glorious time of year here on the blue marble somewhere out there a man is crafting clocks just because he thinks its the right thing to do... with a tiny lathe

I don't think I could duplicate it (ladies watch) with the Boley, not that good of a machinist yet, but, is it just the size of the cutter that makes the level of detail finer with a smaller lathe. Couldn't I fabricate a tool post holder that would hold the same cutters that the Boley would hold? Or, it it that 1 turn of a dial on the Boley is

0.00001 where my smallest "click" is 0.001?

John

Sit right in front of it, with your nose half a foot away from a part spinning at 6000 rpm.

Nick

Some of the parts one makes on boley lathes like that *are*

0.001 inch IN diameter.

Jim

Indeed. And working to .001 is like doing heart surgery with an ax, when it comes to watches of this nature.

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner

Look closely at it and you will see that there _is_ no dial. With a Boley you work freehand or with purpose-made jigs.

The price on that particular Boley is a collector price, probably because it was one of the last models made by the company. If you want to have some fun you can find Webster-Whitcomb type lathes (the Boley is based on the Webster-Whitcomb design) online for under $200. You might want to get one of those and a book on their use and play with it when you have time. I think you'll find it highly educational. In a way it's a return to a different era.

One thing that those pictures don't really convey is the scale of it--this is really a tiny piece of machinery.

Right in front if it, heck. There's usually a microscope between me and my boley lathe.

:)

Jim

You are getting old. :-))

Ni-so am I-ck

LOL. I've just found that when doing real fine work, a binocular microscope makes the difference between making it right, and busting drills and tools. You can *really* see what's going on there.

Jim

I use these:

find them less cumbersome than a microscope. Jim

Those are nice - I see the dentists using those sorts of things a lot now.

Still, the optics in a good microscope are probably a bit better, and they zoom as well. Granted it's somewhat confining to have to work in one spot at my bench, which glasses like that would fix.

Jim

I have these ones:

Very light and you can clip on different leses with different magnification (up to 10?). Not a huge magnification, mut very good for minute work. Also, they don't come in your way that much for "normal looking" (reachin for a tool etc.).

Really can reccomend them. And not expensive.

Nick

I want one of these instead:

Abrasha

I use these

with a pair of grocery store bought half frame glasses underneath them. Can't live without them any linger.

And when I work Platinum I have a pair of protective glasses on top of the grocery pair. Quite a set up. Putting on 3 set of visual aids to get anything done. It's getting rather pathetic. :(

Abrasha

What is the purpose of the thing (faceplate?) that looks like it has 3 little anvils on it? It is near the front of the case in the first picture.

Like a Sherline.

Like an older Unimat.

Nick

Abrasha wrote in news:npadnctNUusDAQ3enZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

Here's one for sale (in the UK)

This tool is used to clamp part like the "main plate" or a "bridge" of a pocket watch or wrist watch, so the various cutouts for spring housings and gears can be bored out. Take a look at the production process of fine watches at Audemars Piguet at

Under the heading "Finishing", there is a picture that's titled "Circular graining of a bridge", which shows the cutouts very clearly.

Another image is under the heading "Assembly and Timing", "Assembly the

443 parts" You can clearly see the bored cutouts.

Another operation the tool is used for is shown here:

Abrasha