Archives for January 2020

Should Watchmakers Make Their Own Tools?

January 30, 2020 by American Watchmakers - Clockmakers Institute

Before I became a watchmaker I worked in about 10 different fields ranging from management to custom jeweler. Watchmaking attracted me with its high demand for precision and the simplicity of the required goal—correct timekeeping. Through learning watchmaking, I noticed a helpful connection from the skills and knowledge I gained in my past activities. Though seemingly completely unrelated, they play a big role in allowing me to figure out how the watch mechanism works. One of the skills I developed during my past work experience was the ability to improve existing tools, as well as make my own tools. I believe watchmakers will be interested in the thoughts I would like to share in this article.

So, the question is: Should Watchmakers Make Their Own Tools? My answer is yes. There are several reasons for watchmakers to make their own tools. These reasons are all related, and contribute one to another, just like the fingers on one’s hand. Here they are:

1. You will become a better craftsmen.

Figure 1

The watchmaker’s hand-eye coordination gets better with the performance of every new task through working on a new project and using different techniques and materials, eventually developing a special feel for it. By working on projects where there is not any pressure, the watchmaker has a great opportunity to use the tools he would seldom use, and test his own craftsmanship.

Every time I have a chance to make a tool I do so, even if I can buy a similar one from a supplier, such as the hammers in Figure 1.

The tools in Figure 2 are watch movement holders. These tools are very convenient, especially if you are working on large movements. One of them is a holder for pocket watch movements. I made it from a hockey puck. It is very comfortable to hold while working on big movements. It does not interfere with watch hands, and does not slide on the bench. The other movement holder made from wood holds movements securely. It is easy to secure movements in it, and also it does not interfere with watch hands.

Figure 2

2. It will make your job easier.

By making my own tools for the job, I know exactly what operation the tool is intended for, thus it can be made with all the required details. Figure 3 shows a set of tools I made to work on balances. Shown in Figure 4 is a copper table I made to heat pallet stones and for bluing hands. The slow heating and cooling properties of copper allow great control over your work.

Figure 3

3. You will save a lot of money.

Figure 4

Swiss companies that make tools for watchmakers make great tools, but if the watchmaker can make his own for less, it is definitely a win. Figure 5 shows a very inexpensive hardwood peg sharpener I made from a block of maple wood and a razor blade. This tool helps me sharpen the thinnest point on hardwood pegs in order to clean bearings. I was not able to achieve this quality of sharpening with any other tools. Figure 6 shows a tool to help work on the balance.

Figure 5

4. You will learn to think creatively.

Figure 6

When a craftsman is willing to face a mechanical problem through developing and making his own tools, then he will learn to ask questions, recognize problems clearly, and solve them. This process, if repeated many times, will become a good habit and encourage a creative approach to any technical issues encountered. Watchmakers will also benefit by looking for answers with other trades and crafts, and the tools they are using. Making your own tools develops the creative approach to the work. Figure 7 is a tool I designed and created to hold hands and small wheels while reaming or cleaning. This is a very useful tool for the delicate projects.

Figure 7

Figure 8 is the tool I made to work on wheels and balances. It is very comfortable. Both of my hands are free, and there is less risk of breaking the pivots, due to the brass runners.

Figure 8

5. You will enjoy your work more.

When you work a long time with a tool you created it becomes like a friend. If you surround your workplace with tools you created, you will have more confidence and less stress. This confidence will help to develop a good, positive attitude, and improve your work habits.

Shown in Figure 9 is the polishing tool invented by watchmakers a very long time ago to polish screw heads and other small watch parts. Figure 9 shows one I made for myself from brass. This way, I can polish screw heads just like craftsmen did hundreds of years ago. Two long screws on the back of the tool allowed for fine adjustments. Parts are secured in the cut on the front and the tool glides above the tin plate charged with Diamantine.

I do not expect everybody to agree with my opinion, and I am sure there are a lot of arguments against making your own tools, especially pushing you towards purchasing existing ones. But if you have never made your own tools, try to make one, and you will never be the same.

Figure 9

By Alan Chernomashentsev

: Figure 4

: Figure 5

: Figure 6

: Figure 7

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: Figure 9

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: Figure 3

A useful Horia Jewelling Tool Accessory

January 24, 2020 by American Watchmakers - Clockmakers Institute

The Horia Micrometric Jewelling Tool # BG5372-61-4 is a very fine instrument that can, as its name suggests, adjust jewel position in extremely small and precise amounts. It has served me well for adjusting wheel and arbor endshakes, but for some processes it falls short. This tool has a 4mm hole in the stake as well as the soleplate, which allows me to use Seitz 4mm stumps and pushers. The stumps and anvils have 4mm posts and larger shoulders that rest on the soleplate. There are a limited number of different-shaped stumps for certain processes. However, the range of Seitz pushers is quite extensive. Many times over the years, situations would arise that I would have liked to use this tool, but the correct stump was not available.

Figure 1

I thought if I could use the pushers as stumps, I would have any situation covered. The trouble was that the 4mm pushers do not have shoulders and would drop completely through the soleplate. I needed to raise a pallet fork on its arbor and I wanted to use the Horia tool. Consequently, I needed a stump with a small hole to clear the arbor and a small, flat diameter to support the under side of the pallet. The correct size flat pusher was at hand, but I could not use it. This situation drove me to finally resolve the inconvenience.

Figure 2

The hole drilled in the under side of the soleplate is larger than the 4mm hole in the topside. I reasoned that I could create an adjustable stop in the soleplate. The bottom plate hole allowed a 5 x 1 metric (5mm diameter x 1mm thread pitch) tap to slip easily into it. Without actually measuring, this demonstrated to me that the hole was 5mm or very slightly larger. I tried a 6 x 1 metric taper tap, and it started to cut threads as shown in Figure 1. To compute the metric tap drill size for a metric tap you would use the formula TD=MD-PITCH, where TD is the tap drill size, MD is the major diameter of the tap, and PITCH is the millimeters per thread. This would cut an approximate 75% thread depth. Considering in this case that the tap was 6mm and the pitch was 1mm (threads are 1mm apart), the formula was TD= 6-1 or 5mm. Most likely a 5mm drill was used to create the bottom soleplate hole. Cutting fluid was liberally applied around the hole, and the body of the tool was held loosely in the tape-covered jaws of a bench vise. The body of this tool is cast and easily threaded by turning the tap one-third to one-half a turn to cut a thread, and then back one-quarter to one-half turn to break up the chips and allow them to escape out through the tap’s flutes. I tapped threads as deep as I could as shown in Figure 2. A bottoming tap was then used to cut threads as close to the 4mm hole bottom shoulder as possible as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

A rod that measured just over 6mm in diameter was chosen, mounted in a three-jaw chuck in the mini 7″ x 10″ lathe, and turned down to 6mm as shown in Figure 4. The cutting tool was then presented to the rod on an approximate angle of 10° as shown in Figure 5.

This provided a taper that allowed a 6 x 1 metric die to acquire a grip on the rod and start cutting the threads. The lathe head was rotated by hand from one-third to one-half turn to cut the threads and then back at least one-quarter to one-half turn in order to break up the chips and allow them to escape from the die. About 1″ of thread was cut as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6

Figure 7

As mentioned previously, the pusher diameters measure 4mm, Figure 7. In order to variably adjust the height of a pusher, a post slightly less than 4mm was turned on the end of the threads. Figure 8 shows the thread and post nearly parted from the rod, and Figure 9 shows the relative size of this accessory.

Figure 8

Figure 9

Figure 10

The post end of the accessory was held in a watchmaker’s lathe that had been mounted on the x-y axis bed of a Sherline Mill as shown in Figure 10. The lathe head was locked to prevent rotation. Three thin slitting saws were stacked and held in a mandrel that was mounted in the mill head. The saw was then brought to center as shown in Figure 11. The threads were flooded with cutting fluid, and the saw was spun while the watchmaker’s lathe and head were moved very slowly along the x-axis (right to left) into the spinning saw as shown in Figure 12. The lathe was periodically moved along the y-axis (front to back) allowing the saw to cut a flat root in the slot. The finished, adjustable pusher stop accessory is shown in Figure 13. The pusher stop’s screw head is shown in the soleplate viewed from the underside in Figure 14.

Figure 12

Figure 11

Figure 13

Figure 14

I am now able to use any of the Seitz pushers as stumps. The pallet fork and guard pin shown in Figure 15 needed to be slightly raised on its arbor. With the adjustable pusher stop in place, I am able to use a pusher as a “stump” as shown in Figure 16. The correct sized “stump” stabilized the pallet as its arbor was pushed down a few hundredths of a millimeter at a time, as shown in Figure 17, effectively raising the fork and guard pin into alignment.

Figure 15

Figure 16

Figure 17

By Dale LaDue, CMW21

Cleaning and Oiling a Small Synchronous Motor

January 17, 2020 by American Watchmakers - Clockmakers Institute

In this article I will show how I clean and oil a small synchronous motor that is used in a figurine clock, Figure A. The clock is manufactured by the United Clock Company of Brooklyn, New York. The clock actually uses two nearly identical movements, one for the time mechanism and one to run the dancing ballerina and the accompanying music-box mechanism. The clock indicates that the motors are licensed under Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Patent 2140365.

A Google search shows the actual patent and diagrams. The motors used in the clock have evolved from the patent, but the patent provides interesting reading on what was patented. One such improvement was “to provide a new form of bearing element . . . involving such features as an annular enlarged lubricant storage head, absorbent means in said enlarged lubricant storage head whereby substantially all of the stored lubricant is held by said absorbent means. . . .” The movements in the clock are dramatically simplified from the ones illustrated in the patent. However, the inventor, B.E. Lenehan, provides information that will be helpful later when oiling the motor.

I will show servicing the clock motor, since it has the most opportunity for wear to be corrected since it runs continuously. The figurine, music box, and illuminating lamp are switched and don’t run continuously. The clock unit is removed from the case by removing the two retainer nuts and back plate, Figure B. The motor is removed from the clock body, Figure C. I next measured the distance from the end of the spiral gear to the cap end for future reassembly, Figure D.

The rotor arbor is next removed from the rotor cup, Figure E. The spiral gear is placed in an opening in the bench block, and the arbor is tapped out with a small round 1/16″ flat-faced punch. A washer is placed between the motor body and bench block for support. The disassembled parts are shown, Figure F. Next, the annular lubricant storage head is simply popped off the front bearing (note the opening orientation first), Figure G. The distance between the faces of the front and back bearings is then measured, Figure H.

The next step is to remove the front bearing. This one is most apt to have wear, and can be serviced while it is out. The rear bearing rarely wears, but will be removed, checked, and cleaned. To remove the front bearing, a piece of steel wire is cut about 2″ long, and the burr removed from the cut. The diameter of the wire is such that it can be inserted through the back bearing, tilted, and placed on the back of a milled or pressed recess ledge in the bearing, Figure I. The wire is lightly tapped once with a small hammer, and then tilted the opposite way and tapped again. Just two taps removes the bearing, which is not a tight fit at all. A tube also comes out of the cavity that sits in the milled or cupped recess in the back of each bearing, connecting them, Figure J. This tube is described in the patent as a journal for oil transfer to the back bearing, since there is no annular oil storage head on the back bearing. It also provides oil storage where the journal fits in the bearing recess. The patent describes the journal as having two or three fibers of wool yarn to wick the oil to the back bearing, and spiral grooves to return excess oil. The journal in the motor is just a simple piece of tubing with no evidence of wool remnants or grooves. The rear bearing depth is measured and is simply pushed out with a small drift.

All parts are cleaned in Zenith Formula 67 watch cleaning solution and rinsed twice in naphtha. The parts were left to dry overnight. The felt wick in the annular storage head is soaked in naphtha and pressed between pieces of a paper towel and repeated until the towels no longer show any residual color from the dirty oil.

The bearings are checked for wear by inserting the rotor arbor into the bearing and rotated to check for out-of-roundness. The rear bearing is fine, but the front bearing is worn. I reamed the hole out to accept a piece of oilite bronze, and drilled and line reamed the finished hole. Completed repairs and clean parts are ready for assembly, Figure K, the rear bearing is already inserted).

I placed the journal-tube in the rear bearing, oiled the juncture of the journal and bearing, oiled the recess in the front bearing, and pushed the front bearing in the body using dimensions recorded during disassembly. I placed synthetic clock oil in the journal and let the oil pull into the journal-bearing recess. I then pushed the arbor slowly in to push the remaining lubrication in the cavity, Figure L, which is actually the figurine motor) while blocking the back bearing. I next installed the annular storage head, and slowly added oil until it was nearly saturated, Figure M. I don’t believe that this fed much oil to the bearings. When I removed and cleaned it, most of the residual oil was still in the felt wick. I then inserted the rotor arbor slowly into the bearings, and then placed the rotor cup onto the arbor. I placed the gear end on a piece of Delrin on my bench block, and with a hollow punch, tapped the cup onto the arbor using the dimensions I recorded before disassembly.

The clock plates and parts were cleaned and serviced, Figure N, assembled, and the motor installed, Figure O. The mounting plate was added, Figure P, and then the completed assembly was test run, Figure Q. I let the clock assembly run for a couple hours to check for noise, and then added the dial, glass, and bezel.

Figure R shows the figurine mechanism. The motor turns a set of gears and levers, which causes the ballerina to rotate and move up and down. The gear train also runs the small music-box mechanism. Since this motor drives two mechanisms, a spinner knob is included to set them in motion when the power switch is turned on. Cleaning and oiling was all that was needed, along with cleaning and lubricating the music-box mechanism. Since this portion of the clock was usually just operated for special display purposes, it was in excellent, unworn condition.

By Bob Little, CC, CW