Jump to content

Lathe recommendation

Dmitry

By Dmitry
in Tools & Equipment

 Share

Recommended Posts

Dmitry WRT Addict

Dmitry

Posted
Posted

Hello,

I restore pocket watches and quite often find myself in need of a winding stem or balance staff that is extremely difficult to come by.

Can you please recommend what I should start with in terms of a small lathe, cutters and consumables to get me going?

Thank you.

tomh207 Distinguished Member

tomh207

Posted
Posted

Aliexpress I am not sure. On eBay the Chinese watchmaker lathe is usually the 1set one. This is not cheap, several thousand dollars for a comprehensive setup, although much cheaper than Bergeon. I believe that the 1set lathes are renamed, reboxed in Germany then sold for even more.

 

Older lathes can be had for much less however there are a couple of issues I see. You don’t know how abused it has been in the past. You will need to strip it down, clean, lubricate and rebuild, this can be fun and enjoyable on its own. You will probably spend time and money finding attachments and accessories for sale and that can take a while.

 

I am not an expert by any measure and I’m sure more advice will come along from people more experienced than me.

 

Tom

LittleWatchShop Distinguished Member

LittleWatchShop

Posted
Posted

From what you describe, all you need is a WW lathe.  Peerless, Marshall, Levin, Boley...etc.  They show up on ebay all the time.  I have many--kinda went on a buying binge.

To make stems, you need a filing rest.  They do not show up as often on ebay, but they do show up.

For me, I prefer carbide gravers.  You can buy Waller carbide gravers on ebay or you can still buy new ones somewhere...need to jog my memory.

You will need a graver sharpener...pretty cheap.  And my preferred sharpening stone are the diamond plates you can get on amazon for cheap.

I think you can do all of this for roughly $500 to $600.

Yes, a lathe is indispensable...and I am just an amateur!!!

HectorLooi Distinguished Member

HectorLooi

Posted
Posted

Aliexpress doesn't carry any decent watchmaker's lathes.

When you buy on eBay, be aware that there are some lathes that are cobbled together from different lathes and the precision is just not there. 

Ask the seller do an alignment test by mounting conical centres on the headstock and tailstock and sandwich a coin between them. If the axis are true, the coin will be vertical. 

There were some very good lathes coming out of the Eastern Bloc a few months ago. And complete sets too. I had just bought my second lathe and couldn't think of a good excuse to get a 3rd and maybe a 4th.

JohnR725 Distinguished Member

JohnR725

Posted
Posted
17 hours ago, Dmitry said:

aliexpress lathes work

Just because I'm curious Which lathes are you talking about?

5 hours ago, HectorLooi said:

Aliexpress doesn't carry any decent watchmaker's lathes.

I suspected that but I was just curious as to what they're actually selling.

5 hours ago, HectorLooi said:

Ask the seller do an alignment test by mounting conical centres on the headstock and tailstock and sandwich a coin between them. If the axis are true, the coin will be vertical. 

You have a lot of faith in the sellers grasping how to do that. Then if you buy a lathe without the tail stock then that's not an issue. But even without having a tailstock you can still have problems with the headstock which isn't necessarily easily seen.

 

LittleWatchShop Distinguished Member

LittleWatchShop

Posted
Posted

I have purchased maybe five lathes. Yeah, kinda obsessive. All have been pretty good.  I have sold one. For that one, I provided runout data, and showed the alignment of the headstock and tailstock both vertical and horizontal. Never seen another seller do this.

I have not been so lucky on ebay purchases of other items.

  • 2 weeks later...
MJSchoir New Member

MJSchoir

Posted
Posted

Hello, I don't mean to hijack the post but I am in the same boat looking for a reasonable first lathe. I am currenlty working thorugh the BHI DLC and I know I will need one soon. A watchmakers lathe is out of the question as they run to thousands but I wondered if this might be a good choice? https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/125771177728

Any tips would be appreciated.

JohnR725 Distinguished Member

JohnR725

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, MJSchoir said:

first lathe. I am currenlty working thorugh the BHI DLC and I know I will need one soon. A watchmakers lathe is out of the question as they run to thousands but I wondered if this might be a good choice? https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/125771177728

It depends what would you like to use your lathe for? If you are going in to clock repair no idea whether the price is good but this is something somebody In clock repair might use. But it isn't a typical watchmaker's lathe.

Then brand-new watchmakers lathes cost thousands used ones usually don't.

 

MJSchoir New Member

MJSchoir

Posted
Posted

I don't know whether I'll aim for clocks or watches, I certainly play with watches a lot more. Ideally I want something that will enable me to complete the DLC exercises and from then on be able to make up replacement staffs and turn my own dials for all the watch movements I have without them, maybe even try a watch case down the road.

The problem is there is very little second hand market here and even those that do show up are not that far from the price of a new machine, but usually in a suspect state.

I'll have to keep looking I guess.

tomh207 Distinguished Member

tomh207

Posted
Posted

IIRC the BHI course recommended lathe is for a 8mm watchmaker lathe. Have a look at section 12 here https://bhi.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/BHI-DLC-Technician-Grade-SAMPLE.pdf The lathe you linked to would be more use for clockmaking with the recommendation there being you probably need both. These cheap lathes imported from china can work very well but need quite a bit of fettling. Have a look at YouTube channel artisan makes run by one of your countrymen.

 

Tom

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Topics

  • Posts

    • ChrisInOz
      No images showing

      By ChrisInOz · Posted

      The post below contains the link. If you don't already have a discord account it will take you to the registration screen.  Registration is free.   https://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/31653-mark/?do=findComment&comment=279066
    • luiazazrambo
      WWW Eterna sucked me in.

      By luiazazrambo · Posted

      HWGIKE#57 Valex FEF 190 15 jewels Swiss lever full service and repair This one was waiting for a balance staff replacement in my cabinet parts and case cleaned up with a new balance staff and a 4th wheel as the original 4th wheel had a broken pivot for the off center second hand. I never attempted a balance staff replacement before however I received a Bergeon Molfres (i was hunting it for about 2 years) and with the help of it I managed to remove the old staff and riveted the new one in. It also received a new MS, crystal and the hole for the MS arbor was also tightened. With the new MS now it has an acceptable performance meaning that the amplitude goes up to 280 fully wound, has an acceptable beat error and I have the two nice lines but only dial up, dial down is not as nice and I could not figure out as why. I have the two lines but the amplitude is dropping to around 230 and the lines are a bit hairy. Both dial up and dial down the lines just go up and down without seemingly any pattern. I cleaned the movement two times, and then a 3rd time pegged out the main plate and train bridge holes but made no change. Both the HS collet and the roller table was too lose on the new staff... I did not count how many times I took the balance cock off to sort out the HS collet, the roller table and the beat error, somebody before me also shortened the HS by pushing it out a bit and it seems every time somebody is messing with the end of the HS the protruding bit is most of the time twisted bent etc. This one was probably one of the most challenging repair and service. I might take the new MS out and clean it lubricate it as I just pushed the new one in to the barrel from the retaining ring. Plus started to re-read the theory of the escapement and how to analyse the graph on the timing machine: Greiner Chronografic Record manual. I am also thinking to put the watch on a 24 hour long run with the eTimer SW it once helped me to figure out what was wrong with a watch. There is an interesting part of the Greiner record manual talking about the pallets and the end shake of the balance and pallet staff. Maybe this is my issue? Who could that possibly identify? After a few years now I am still without a clue how could watchmakers make parts I can only see with my microscope or how could/can they carry out complicated services impossible to do.. real magic..... .... ..... before I sent this post while the pics were uploading I had an idea, i was browsing the possible outcomes on the timing machine I had one for magnetism..... so I demagnetized the movement and it is not hairy now.... two really nice lines 0.2 ms beat error still a bit wavy, but a lot lot better..... argh....  
    • Nucejoe
      Hello from Cypress, CA

      By Nucejoe · Posted

      Hi there, welcome here.  
    • JohnR725
      No images showing

      By JohnR725 · Posted

      yes the advertising revenue should generate money. The question is how much money? Then as far as the cost of the website goes that's relatively easy to determine? all you would have to do to grasp costs and profitability would be to go to the link below and you can actually get a website for free try it out for free I believe you get no advertising initially. They also talk about that they'll help you out they have marketing tools and some sort of paid subscription or something. So I guess were shopping for a whatever just ask them what would a maybe could use this one as an example in other words it's going to look basically identical to this is going to have advertising a paid subscriptions what's it going to cost? After all they want to sell or give us a message board like this they should bill answer the questions as they're the people who did the software for this. Yes they really said you can have a free discussion group at least to start. https://invisioncommunity.com/ I was curious about the monthly supporter thing where exactly do we find that on this message board? A quick search I'm not finding it so obviously I'm not looking in the right place?
    • Curare
      No images showing

      By Curare · Posted

      Help me out here, but with all the advertising on this site (which I don't mind) wouldn't it pay for itself or even make money for the owner ???
×
×
  • Create New...