Lathe recommendation

[Dmitry]

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.

[Dmitry]

Will any of those aliexpress lathes work, or should I look for super old gear off ebay?

[tomh207]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[MJSchoir]

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]

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]

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]

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