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Homemade Tools


Dpastl

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I'm really into machining and making my own tools (generally I spend more time doing that then the actual hobby itself...), so I thought I'd start a topic about DIY tools for watch repair.

My first success has been making a watch winder on the 3D printer.  Winders are one of the more expensive and difficult to find tools for me, so it really made sense to start here.

Here's the watch winder, it consists of three parts (from left to right): the pluger, spring barrel, and winding arbor.  The only non-printed part is to drill a small hole in the arbor and put a piece of steel through it to catch the mainspring.

IMG_1035.thumb.JPG.8fd59ddfbc5228fe22152b07713f40ef.JPG

It's certainly more fiddly than I imagine a proper tool would be and will not last as long.  But it gets the job done and you can make it any size you want!

You can find the CAD files on thingiverse:https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3540660

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27 minutes ago, vinn3 said:

  good show, tool maker !   what we need is an inexpensive watch winder for automatic  wrist watch.   vin

   i started to build one out of an electric wall clock.   it is just the speed of the second hand.   ill try again. vin

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Hi  Dpastl  A man after my own heart, after seeing the price of mainspring winders and removers for clocks I made my own and I still have all my fingers,  A roller remover table also for watches after launching one across the bench to oblivion,  future projects include a jacot tool and a small volume cleaning machine so going to be busy.  After I fix an outboard motor.

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2 hours ago, Dpastl said:

I'm really into machining and making my own tools (generally I spend more time doing that then the actual hobby itself...)

 

Glad I'm not the only one :) .  I spend a lot of time designing and making (hopefully) unique tools and recondition (scraping) machines and general machine repair.   I keep getting ideas for some neat things or some great machine appears that needs a home and just a bit of work to make it perfect, and I can't help myself.  Its all good though, as for me its a hobby.

What sort of machine shop stuff do you have?  I haven't yet acquired/built a 3D printer but its on the list. 

Edited by measuretwice
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We made quite a few tools in school but here's some more recent and useful ones I've made. A puller for strike cams on typical german clocks, a simple turret for 3 tools on the lathe (I often have small series of parts that need drilling and tapping: center drill, drill, tap), a collet holder for the polishing tripod as I have a good assortment of these little collets and they make polishing screws a breeze, and a dividing head for my mill. The latter is mostly modification; the mill is a Sixis 101, the spindle is a w20 model from a hydraulic automatic machine, the dividing head from a Schaublin 13 mill. Managed to strip the hydraulic spindle down and find a conventional drawbar, a bit of fanagling to get the head fitted, and now it's used mostly to make direct dividing plates for another gear cutting machine.db4a42b787a567771b309a2965df4111.jpgf49f99d679c7f6ff3efbcde32dff5eab.jpg7100e41e991042bf9f083c4d0b184506.jpg483f1607b935c63fa3169506e9983dfb.jpg

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I see a Levin slide rest on a Boley Leinen WW82 or 83?    I just got a WW83 that I'm redoing - the switch plate is a give away :)

 

What motor arrangement do you have?  Is it one of them with the repulsion motor?  Mine appears factory but has a large rheostat before a universal motor and a second large wire wound resistor for high/low.  Nicely balanced and all, but lousy speed control.

 

I painted it today, been having a hard time getting the right colour (mixing the paint myself) but its getting close.  I may play with more green less yellow tomorrow

CyIAtQK.jpg

 

 

2zmXHcU.jpg

 

Edited by measuretwice
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It's a ww82, single pedestal (bed can be swiveled through a few degrees if desired). The Levin slide got a retrofit from a Schaublin 70 crank and screw assembly on the x axis.

 

I replaced the original motor ages ago with a DC, fit the drive in the base, all nice and neat. Then discovered the beauty of 3 phase and tore it all out. It runs on a little 3 phase motor with built in countershaft, the motor sits a good 50cm behind the lathe. In Switzerland even the tiniest apartment has 380v (well, 400v now) 3ph so it's not an issue. I must have around 10k hours on it, it probably did 3x that before I got it (it was set up for contact lens turning). It's a marvelous machine.

 

 

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10 hours ago, measuretwice said:

I see a Levin slide rest on a Boley Leinen WW82 or 83?    I just got a WW83 that I'm redoing - the switch plate is a give away :)

 

What motor arrangement do you have?  Is it one of them with the repulsion motor?  Mine appears factory but has a large rheostat before a universal motor and a second large wire wound resistor for high/low.  Nicely balanced and all, but lousy speed control.

 

I painted it today, been having a hard time getting the right colour (mixing the paint myself) but its getting close.  I may play with more green less yellow tomorrow

CyIAtQK.jpg

 

 

2zmXHcU.jpg

 

I have a friend who has the ww82 version of your lathe, with the big speed control disc on the base.  He's been meaning to change it for 20 years but just hasn't gotten around to it! And I meant to paint mine too but have given up on that ages ago. It's gotten new bearings though.

The motor I use was apparently made in the technical school in the Vallee de Joux. It's an almost dead copy of similar motor units that were made by Golay Buchel.

Oh- I made the little quick change toolpost when I was in school too, it's a copy of the smallest model Dorian made at the time.

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I like the tool post....I may ask for a few close ups.

Here's what I'm thinking is the best solution for the motor.  You guessed it, my favourite, the Consew servo motor.   I can leave the OEM setup intact, but take the brushes out of the motor and thereby use it as a jack shaft/flywheel.   Drive the motor pulley from the Consew mounted behind it (actually underneath, but that's another tale).    A bit of research reveals these Consew motors are in fact 3P servo motors with a VFD.  The only problem with them is reversing the motor is pita, it takes multiple entries on the controller and mine has the threading attachment so I want convenient reversing.   But....being 3P  I can just put a switch in to reverse two of the lines to the motor and I should get reverse.  I've also mod'd the Consew so I can control it either with a foot control (using the OEM hall sensor lever) or a bench top rheostat

New P4 bearings on order :)

Consew schematic

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gPBjfP8GzdXJpX7w22RX8aVYs6zD05p0/view

 

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That ought to be great! I don't have a reversing switch on my motor so I just flip the belt. For the odd times I need reverse it's fine. Meant to post of photo of the cute thing before- here it is.

Have you done bearings like this before? The original setup Leinen used was with normal deep groove (but P4 class). When I did mine I talked to an engineer at Barden and he said that's A-OK for this size and speed, but that angular contacts would be best. Luckily they are the same size. One thing- I asked him about preloading, and he very strongly advised against doing it without a spacer. The Leinen design is similar to the modern Schaublin, no spacer. But the Schaublin, even the 70, is large enough that you can reliably snug up the spindle nut just to zero clearance, then advance according to the manual precisely to obtain correct preload. It's very difficult on the little Leinen, or I should say very easy to overdo it. After an expensive learning set of bearings (they made it about 3 weeks) I made an inner spacer tube the same length as the outer and go with the built in preload of the universal grind bearings. The model I used is FAG B7002.T.P4S.UL. Those have at least 10 years on them now.

motor.jpg

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23 hours ago, vinn3 said:

   i started to build one out of an electric wall clock.   it is just the speed of the second hand.   ill try again. vin

Hmmm... that's a great idea to use an old clock.  My first thought was synchronous ac gearmotors, but it turns out they are not cheap:https://www.digikey.ca/product-detail/en/crouzet/82344779/966-1836-ND/2466762.

 

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22 hours ago, watchweasol said:

Hi  Dpastl  A man after my own heart, after seeing the price of mainspring winders and removers for clocks I made my own and I still have all my fingers,  A roller remover table also for watches after launching one across the bench to oblivion,  future projects include a jacot tool and a small volume cleaning machine so going to be busy.  After I fix an outboard motor.

I'm glad I'm not the only one!  Best of luck with the projects!

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21 hours ago, measuretwice said:

 

Glad I'm not the only one :) .  I spend a lot of time designing and making (hopefully) unique tools and recondition (scraping) machines and general machine repair.   I keep getting ideas for some neat things or some great machine appears that needs a home and just a bit of work to make it perfect, and I can't help myself.  Its all good though, as for me its a hobby.

What sort of machine shop stuff do you have?  I haven't yet acquired/built a 3D printer but its on the list. 

I work at a University and so I have access to a variety of equipment.  My two favourites are the metal lathe and mill.  They're both cheap busy-bee tools but I've managed to clean them up pretty good (in between the students trying their best to wreck them).

My office ended up buying a Prusa Mk3 i3 and it's been great.  We were originally using Makerbot replicators, but they were just a waste of time.  Not sure if the makerbots are actually terrible or if they were abused, but they really can't compete with the Prusa we have.  The only problem I have is the amount of waste it generates, I much prefer working with metal for that reason.

How about yourself?

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4 hours ago, nickelsilver said:

Have you done bearings like this before?

I appreciate very much all the insight.  I've done some, and I have a reasonable sense of bearing set ups with AC's - a spindle I designed is below.   I did not realize though that the AC for this were the same size - that's an uncommon treat as they usually are not.   Provided I can figure out how to accurately measure the outer spacer, I have a surface grinder so can make the inner race spacer to suit the needed preload (or just make it the same).  I have not tried to take the outer race spacer out of the headstock - is it removable or is a machined feature of the casting?  AC P4's are available everywhere, but deep groove P4's are tougher to find, i.e. SKF or NSK have the former but not the later....so this makes sourcing easier.

Now I need you to coach me through bearings for the F1 lol (what a nightmare).

Since the theme is home made tools, and we're talking spindles.... here's some photos of a spindle I'm currently working on.  Its a new Z carriage and ER spindle for a BCA jib/borer mill.  The BCA is a British version of the Boley jig borer/mill.  The idea with the T slots is to make it a bit of universal platform for different things, EDM sinker will be the next addition, maybe a slotting head, etc.  As the spindle base can tilt, I plan on putting an encoder on the head for an electronic gear hobber as well....so many plans, so little time.

I haven't put it together yet, still trying to finish balancing the shaft assembly, which means finishing the homemade dynamic soft bearing balancer

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Edited by measuretwice
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Quote

  whenever you grind on a lathe,  cover the ways.

I guess you are referring to my post?   Thanks for the criticism but that is not a lathe.  Its a specialized machine called a tool and cutter grinder in that shot it is being used a cylindrical grinder.  Its a machine made for grinding.

Edited by measuretwice
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1 hour ago, measuretwice said:

I guess you are referring to my post?   Thanks for the criticism but that is not a lathe.  Its a specialized machine called a tool and cutter grinder in that shot it is being used a cylindrical grinder.  Its a machine made for grinding.

   my mistake.   i have a tool post grinder.  i always cover the ways when grinding.  vin

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have read and subscribed with much appreciation this interesting thread, I hope it will grow in the future. Thread title really doesn't do justice to you guys, there's nothing "homemade" here but fantastic work, done with great skills and equipment, in that order of importance.
Having just acquired a micro lathe - much lacking in features and accessories I have various ideas to improve it first while learning. There are many machining and 3D printing forums on the Interweb, but as long we remember that we also like watches (not all machinists do), it will be great to be reading here.

On 4/5/2019 at 4:12 PM, nickelsilver said:

Have you done bearings like this before? The original setup Leinen used was with normal deep groove (but P4 class). When I did mine I talked to an engineer at Barden and he said that's A-OK for this size and speed, but that angular contacts would be best.

I haven't understood a word of what you wrote. But please, keep telling and I might catch up eventually :biggrin:

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