hand polishing tool - Tripod

[Noho]

Hi,

 

I have managed to somewhat restore several watches now, however one common issue I have is scratched/tarnished parts, mostly screwheads, and some bridges. I wanted to have a try at polishing screwheads at least, and give a go to bridges if successful with screws.

 

If my understanding is correct, there are several ways to do it :

- lathe : i dont have one so problem solved

-polishing tool for screwheads

-hand polishing tool (tripod/frog)

 

I had a look at the options for the 3rd solution (tripod/frog) and found 3 tools :

- bergeon flat grinder 30444

this is advertised as a tool for clock pallet adjustment, though on Boley website they say it can be used for polishing purposes (https://www.boley.de/en/shop/7719.flat-grinder-bergeon/510301.flat-grinder)

 

- Horia swing polisher tripod

Seems to be the perfect tool but costs a lot (https://www.boley.de/en/shop/7720.swing-polisher-tripod), and is advertised by Horia only for screwheads but Boley mentioned bridges, etc. Not sure how those would be held in the jig

 

- Other swing polisher tripod - I dont know who makes this tool but seems more capable for larger parts such as bridges. https://www.boley.de/en/shop/9062.swing-polisher-tripod/1838283270.flat-grinder

 

I would be happy to hear your experience with the polishing process and those tools, and if you have other solutions to proceed (ps : i dont have machining tools so wont machine a tripod myself...)

 

Thanks !

[watchweasol]

Hi Having the tool is only part of the problem you are going to need different grades of polishing compound and a lot of patience.

[JohnR725]

4 hours ago, Noho said:

some bridges

if you mean like a brass bridge the ability to take out a scratch is nonexistent. Usually the plates the bridges have a finished of them are often played Ted is almost nothing you can do.

4 hours ago, Noho said:

I had a look at the options for the 3rd solution (tripod/frog) and found 3 tools :

- bergeon flat grinder 30444

a tool like this is something you could make yourself if you really wanted to. Then setting it up can be an interesting challenge.

4 hours ago, Noho said:

Horia swing polisher tripod

misleading terminology? Notice it basically looks like the same tool above at least at how it functions it's not a true swing tool at least not the pictures I'm seeing.

5 hours ago, Noho said:

Other swing polisher tripod

basically they're all the same tool in a different form and none of these are swing tool.

 

28 minutes ago, watchweasol said:

Hi Having the tool is only part of the problem you are going to need different grades of polishing compound and a lot of patience.

unfortunately that's the other problem. You want to use traditional methods like proper metal lap the proper lapping compound or you want to do what I do and just use lapping film? But no matter what you do have issues with basically like everything it just takes practice is not a quick solution to a problem unfortunately

so if you had access to tools

https://watchmaking.weebly.com/screwhead-polisher.html

then if you want to do screw heads this is nice tool. They often times come up on eBay at a price considerably cheaper than this

https://www.horia.ch/en/Products/Polishing-screws/Lathe/Polishing-screws-lathe-in-his-box.html

then even though it's listed up above here it's listed with more detail plus some of the various grinding compound you may or may not need

https://www.horia.ch/en/Products/Polishing-screws/Tripod/Apparatus-Tripod-to-polish-screws.html

[Noho]

thanks John for your feedback. I'm fully aware that it takes a lot of patience and practice, and i think screws are a good place to start. The horia tripod looks good, but the price is pretty steep and seems to be limited only to screws. Doesnt leave the door open to polish other parts in the future.

 

I've seem some polishing lathe on ebay, but always hard to know if they are in good usable condition or not.. well, that's part of the game i guess..

[nickelsilver]

The last one is the most useful. The little plate can be used to glue flat parts to, and you can hold a pinvise in it to grip screws and such. You'll want some micron graded paper, self adhesive, 20micron, 12, then a tin plate with 1 micron diamond paste.

 

The Horia swing tool is mislabeled- their swing tool is a micrometric adjustable block that is more for filing than polishing.  The screwhead "lathes" like Horia's are good but honestly a tripod is faster and better to use. I have one of the lathes, got it when I was wet behind the ears and used it a lot- but I can do a screw in a tripod between twice to 5x faster, same or better polish. I've done thousands of screws and other flat parts and tripod all the way. 20 micron, then 12, on glass, then tin block. If the mojo is right you can do a repeater hammer in 10 minutes (for a new build that gets inspected at 30x under microscope).

[Noho]

41 minutes ago, nickelsilver said:

The last one is the most useful. The little plate can be used to glue flat parts to, and you can hold a pinvise in it to grip screws and such. You'll want some micron graded paper, self adhesive, 20micron, 12, then a tin plate with 1 micron diamond paste.

Many thanks for your inputs ! Do you mean this tool : https://www.boley.de/en/shop/9062.swing-polisher-tripod/1838283270.flat-grinder

 

I finally found where to buy it, and the price is quite better than Horia

http://www.schurch-asco.com/e-shop/catalog/index.php?cPath=81_254&osCsid=1925a76dd37d0a04addcfae2d698b31d

 

i've seen some pics of similar tools where shellac is used to hold parts on the piece holder (that little anvil). And the use of a pinvise seems quite common for screws.

Need to find some acceptably priced tin plate now...

[nickelsilver]

19 minutes ago, Noho said:

Many thanks for your inputs ! Do you mean this tool : https://www.boley.de/en/shop/9062.swing-polisher-tripod/1838283270.flat-grinder

 

I finally found where to buy it, and the price is quite better than Horia

http://www.schurch-asco.com/e-shop/catalog/index.php?cPath=81_254&osCsid=1925a76dd37d0a04addcfae2d698b31d

 

i've seen some pics of similar tools where shellac is used to hold parts on the piece holder (that little anvil). And the use of a pinvise seems quite common for screws.

Need to find some acceptably priced tin plate now...

Yes that's it. You can hold with shellac or superglue- the latter releases well in acetone.

[Noho]

Thanks !

2 more questions on this topic :

- what about using only 3M paper on glass for the process ? i believe it goes down to 0,5 micron, so about the same as diamantine.

- is there any material (book, website) regarding this process ? I only found a book from Audemars Piguet but that's it ( https://www.booksimonin.ch/en/5640-horological-finishing-and-decoration,-hi.php)

[nickelsilver]

In my experience, which is many many hundreds of hours swiping a tripod on things, after about 5 micron paper, paper does no good. I do 20 micron if it's a rough piece,  then, 12, then straight to tin block with 1 micron diamond.  Often it's a swipe on 12, correct the feet, 2 or 3 more to get spot on (level), few more swipes to get all the surface, then tin.

 

With paper you'll never get a true "black" polish as it's a tiny bit supple. Tin is rigid enough to get _totally_ flat. Also, the finer micron grades of paper very quickly load up and the metal buildup creates scratches orders of magnitude larger than the paper grade.

Edited July 15, 2021 by nickelsilver

[JohnR725]

32 minutes ago, nickelsilver said:

after about 5 micron paper, paper does no good. I

I've noticed the same thing I have 5 µ pink film and if I run a steel part across it comes out nice and shiny. All the other lapping stuff I have is for fiber optics and if I go finer it just doesn't seem to necessarily translate into a nicer polish.

[Noho]

good point about the paper loading up with metal dust. Got to get my hands on that tool and start experimenting...

[GULAIFU]

If there is anyone who sees this, what method is used for polishing domed screw heads?