Reply To: Chinese Lathes

[bernie weishapl]

I went thru that phase also. If you are going to do primarily clocks I would go with something like the Taig. David P. has the chinese lathe which he said is better for watches and advised me the Taig would be better for clock work. I just got a Taig because I am making arbors for the mainspring wheels on two antique clocks which as you know are larger in size. Today I also pivoted a wheel that was worn badly with the taig and it worked slick. I have a boley lathe which is the same size as one of those chinese lathes and the mainspring arbors can be done but it takes lite cuts and time to do the job. It just doesn’t have the power to make large cuts. I don’t cut gears because I seldom run into that problem and when I do I have a friend who cuts them for me at a reasonable price. I will replace teeth if I have from 1 to 5 teeth max that need replaced.

I will let David chime in on the chinese lathes and give you his opinion. Congrats on the course.