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Some Of My Watch Lathes


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JDM,

In the watchmaker style lathes there are three basic designs. These are the JACOT, WW, and GENEVA style lathes. The reason they look similar is because I have more than three. I have other small lathes such as two UNIMATS but I do not consider them to be watchmaker lathes. The reason for having so many is:

1) I like the machines and enjoy restoring them.

2) An investment for my later years. The increase in value of these machines has far outpaced my 401K.

david

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19 hours ago, StuartBaker104 said:

The sincere lathe can be found on ebay.com but not ebay uk, although it appears they will ship to the UK. Sadly, it looks like £500 for the lathe, £250 for a set of collets plus shipping and duty, which is going to take this over £1000...

Compare to the Vector for GPB 3,900 which is the same product, full options and boxed.
https://www.hswalsh.com/product/vector-watchmakers-lathe-hl11

Attached for reference the summary of prices and ebay Items from "sincereclocks"
This is not a cheap hobby. But still cheaper than others:D

LATHE PRICE (1).xls

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On 17/12/2016 at 1:53 AM, david said:

Tmuir,

I have only seen pictures of the BTM lathe and have not seen the actual lathe. I looks almost exactly like a Geneva style Boley but I don't know if the companies were connected in any way. 

Mark Lovick has a video on Youtube showing the disassembly and assembly  of his Sincere lathe. I think the video was about changing the drive belt but also shows how to take the machine apart and put it back together.

david 

Hi David,

Sorry for being slow in replying I've had a busy few days.

The BTM was made in England for the British military and their allies during WWII and is basically a direct copy of the Bolley lathe as for some reason German made lathes were in short supply in the UK during this time. :D

I have never had access to a Boley lathe to compare it directly to my BTM to see if the parts are truly interchangeable though, but I am guessing they would be as it would of allowed what Boley accessories were in the UK to be used with the lathe.

The lathes have two finishes, 'War Finish' with is black crinkle paint on the stand and grey paint on the rest, or those that were made after the war have a chrome finish which were made to sell to the general public. Obviously after the war many became war surplus so 'War Finish' ones are more common.

Is the video one of Mark's premium videos as I haven't come across it on his youtube channel and have yet to subscribe to his premium videos although I can see at some point next year it will become worth my while.

Tony

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Tony,

If you take it apart clean  all of the bearing components (spindle, cone bearings, thrust bearings) and make sure there is no grit or other contamination on the surfaces. I like to use hydraulic oil as a cleaning solvent. When I reassemble the spindle components I wack the collet end with a piece of soft wood to help seat it. I then tighten the nut in the back until the spindle begins to bind. After that I back it out by about 1/4 to 1/2 of a turn and the spindle should turn freely. You can then run it for a few minutes and check for any heat build up. When it runs without end shake and there is no heat build up you have it adjusted properly.

david

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Thanks David.

I've yet to get it out to check as Christmas preparation got in the way. When asked by the wife to stop what you are doing and help sort out everything for Christmas I know better than to argue with her.........

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Santa was good to me today... my Boley & Leinen lathe arrived as expected. I will have to strip it down and clean before trying it out as it's very grubby.

At the risk of starting an international incident, can I please ask for suggestions on spindle oils that I can buy in the UK? I have seen that I can buy Castro Hyspin 32 in 5l cans from RS components for about £20. Seems like a lot more than I need, but I can't find anything else obviously suitable in smaller sizes.

Also how about suggestions for oiling the cross slide?

I've seen that I should use petrol to clean it with... but disposing of a large quantity of dirty petrol won't be easy, so planning on white spirit :-)

Thanks

S

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I'm not sure of the correct oil to use but if you go to Myford lathes they have several different grades purely for general oiling and one for headstock bearings. Sold in 1 ltr cans.

Myfords are small lathes but well renowned for their quality so I would think if the lubricants are ok for their machines they would be ok for any small lathe

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I have found that hydraulic oil has a good viscosity for the cone spindle bearings. I do not like extremely thin oils such as 3&1 oil. I personally like to have lubricant on any two rubbing metal surfaces. As long as the surfaces are wiped clean and re-oiled on a regular basis to prevent the build up of gunk, you should be in good shape. 

david

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Thought it was time to share some pictures of my new lathe now it's all cleaned up. Sorry, no pictures of it in pieces, but my hands weren't in a fit state to touch my phone or camera.

It was extremely grubby and the rear bearing was very tight on the spindle and took some removing and a bit of polishing to make it fit properly, but apart from that all was very straight forward and it seems to run very true and smoothly when adjusted. The cross slide has lost most of its plating, but the slide rails are adjustable to take out any wear.

I patiently rewired the 50 to 60 year old motor controller (sewing machine type), only for a big capacitor in it to go bang after 5 minutes, so I decided a new motor and controller would be a better bet. That's still in the post, and I'll wait for it before mounting on a board.

I would like at some point to find a tailstock drilling attachment - one popped up on ebay today, but it's expensive as it has a whole tailstock with it that I don't need and may not be able to shift on again. I also need to get the female end of the tailstock runner re cut as it's quite badly chipped.

I followed the instructions inside the lid and have boight some Mobil velocite #6 for the bearings. The cross slide has a thin smear of grease for now, so will see how that goes.

IMG_1117.JPGIMG_1118.JPGIMG_1121.JPGIMG_1122.JPGIMG_1125.JPG

 

Edited by StuartBaker104
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On 2017-01-04 at 5:15 AM, david said:

Stuart,

Your lathe looks like a real treasure. I hope it inspires other forum members to post pictures of their machines here.

david

Ok, here are some pictures of the lathes i use at the moment!

 

The lathe I use the most, Boley/Leinen Reform

148388860247389700_resized.jpg

 

148388860155834400_resized.jpg

 

A sturdy Boley used mainly for lapping details on watch cases

 

148388860333904800_resized.jpg

 

For bigger objects I use my Boley Prec.2 

148388860514404000_resized.jpg

 

148388860408525500_resized.jpg

 

Currently under resoration, a Wolf / Jahn 8mm lathe with a whooping 493mm bed - intended to treplace my Boley for lapping jobs etc.

148388926702860700_resized.jpg

 

148388926596987100_resized.jpg

 

And finally a Harrison M250 - used for making parts, jiggs etc. for the lathes etc.

 

141995899242804400_resized.jpg

 

Edited by RCDesign
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  • 2 weeks later...

So I went to the watch and clock fair at the NEC last weekend. It seems to get smaller every time but it's only 10 miles down the road for me so it seems churlish not to pop along.

I did have an objective, which was to talk to the people from PennyFarthing tools about tailstock drilling attachments for my lathe. Their answer wildly exceeded my expectations and for £35 I bought this which is a ground bar fitting my tailstock with a taper fit precision 3 jaw chuck.  They make them in house and at it's first outing I used it to bush a watch barrel.  May be a bit of a stretch for pivoting but very happy so far.

IMG_1150.JPG

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  • 7 months later...

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