DIY Screw polisher

[rossjackson01]

DIY Screw polisher.

Inspired by Alex Hamilton, I have made my own screw head polisher. Less than £4 in parts. I hour to make. Chuffed.

 

 

Additional photograph information

Bottom nuts are tightened to make a solid base.  Nuts below and above wood are to make the level set when using the polishing base. I will get a small picture frame with glass to insert the polishing paper. The screws can be altered to accommodate. I can now polish to 1 micron. 

 

I piece of wood 2" x 2 1/4". 2 x M4-30mm bolts. 6 nuts. 1 pin vice from set of 4.

Edited April 4 by rossjackson01
More information

[watchweasol]

Hi Ross a cunning piece of thinking Itb will do exactly what the pukka tools will do at a fraction on the cost   well done for thinking outside the Bergeon Box.

[mikepilk]

Nice work Ross, but is it solid enough to work properly  .... we await the first test.

I have some brass bar left over, I might have a go at one myself.

[Nucejoe]

2 hours ago, mikepilk said:

Nice work Ross, but is it solid enough to work properly  

Well, first screw would be cosmonaut , but please mike don't tell Ross I said that. 

2 hours ago, mikepilk said:

 .... we await the first test.

Wise idea. 

 

[rossjackson01]

Have a look 

Watches Repair Grinding tools for repairing watches Polishing screws watch clip large steel wheel - AliExpress

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006323971307.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.1.222eNcXxNcXx7O&algo_pvid=9dbf666f-da7d-478b-aeec-3ccf26ccc021&algo_exp_id=9dbf666f-da7d-478b-aeec-3ccf26ccc021-0&pdp_npi=4%40dis!GBP!34.06!28.95!!!303.26!257.77!%402103890917122601452468668eed45!12000037037463356!sea!UK!4431570049!&curPageLogUid=Ap2YMIcipYZ9&utparam-url=scene%3Asearch|query_from%3A

Click where is says . Colour tool board right image.  Full set of tools, for this item

This is £132 plus 20% VAT  plus postage  = £170.

Has ten different pin vice holders. Mine holds any size of Watch screw

Charging £28 plus Vat plus delivery = $40  just for the paper holder

 

Mine works well. Very solid

Edited April 4 by rossjackson01
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[rossjackson01]

As you can see. Poor photographs, sorry. Works perfectly.

 

[rehajm]

16 hours ago, Nucejoe said:

Well, first screw would be cosmonaut

…the first screw would be a beeping toaster that causes panic in the United States, then a dog screw, then the cosmonaut…

[rossjackson01]

23 hours ago, mikepilk said:

Nice work Ross, but is it solid enough to work properly  .... we await the first test.

I have some brass bar left over, I might have a go at one myself.

Yes it is solid. Polishes the screw head well. I am going to attach a flat head (DIY) stump from my staking set into the pin vice, using a larger hole chuck. As Alex's comment, I can then hold any flat item with shellac so that it can be black polished. Not tried that yet, but should be easily possible.

Edited April 5 by rossjackson01
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[tomh207]

18 hours ago, rossjackson01 said:

Yes it is solid. Polishes the screw head well. I am going to attach a flat head (DIY) stump from my staking set into the pin vice, using a larger hole chuck. As Alex's comment, I can then hold any flat item with shellac so that it can be black polished. Not tried that yet, but should be easily possible.

Ross, I have had the idea of getting some dial feet replacements, the ones for the milling tool and supergluing them to small flat parts and fitting them to the tripod for polishing. Then drop them in some acetone (nail varnish remover) to get them apart once the part is polished.

 

Tom

[rossjackson01]

On 4/6/2024 at 10:58 AM, tomh207 said:

Ross, I have had the idea of getting some dial feet replacements, the ones for the milling tool and supergluing them to small flat parts and fitting them to the tripod for polishing. Then drop them in some acetone (nail varnish remover) to get them apart once the part is polished.

 

Tom

Good idea for small items. Alex uses the stump for larger objects. Same principle with shellac though. 

[mikepilk]

I couldn't resist Ross, and have started hacking some brass I have left over from the balance holder. Construction is under way !

What lapping paper do you use ?  Alex uses 6, 3, 1, and 0.5 micron. 

Cousins don't have 6 micron, but they have 5 (4500 grit). I have 3000 grit wet and dry, so I'm wondering if I could go from that to 3 micron, 1 micron, and 0.5 micron (is this final one really necessary ?)

I need to find some glass 

The hardest thing was finding the parts I knew I wanted, but had no idea what they are called. I found them eventually

Edited April 11 by mikepilk

[mikepilk]

I finished my polisher yesterday, and just tried it out. I'm surprised how easy it is to get a good result - just a couple of minutes. I thought it was going to be more difficult - a nice surprise as most things in watchmaking are harder than you expect.

I bought self adhesive 3M lapping film https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/film-lapping-3m-261x266x , 9, 3 and 1 micron, and stuck it to sheets of glass. The 9 micron is course enough to remove large scratches. 

I'm glad I used the M6 thumb screws as the large heads allow for small adjustments.

Edited April 18 by mikepilk

[Waggy]

On 4/4/2024 at 1:40 PM, rossjackson01 said:

DIY Screw polisher.

If you have access to a 3D printer, here is my design I did a few weeks ago:

 

[rossjackson01]

Getting more interesting this post, innit?

Mikeplilk, Waggy. Impressed with your efforts. Makes mine look amateurish. Hey, that's what I am. Still, I have good results with the 'frog'. Apprentice test piece.

Paper is from

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234602659940?var=534248554534

 

I am aware that the more I delve into the DIY, the more I am gaining understanding of watchmaking. Well, a little each time.

Ross