How to tell the spouse

[mahlon]

I have been curious as to how all of you got started in this new enterprise. I have been restoring antiques for the better part of 35 years. In a good year I will work on anywhere from 200-300 diferent pieces. When I told my wife I wanted to move toward clock repair, she had afew choice words, all to ask if I had lost my mind. I have been picking up a few tools, but have not gotten to the really expencive yet. I keep telling her that I have a doz. or so clocks of my own to practice on . I’m not sure I want to do watches.
Mahlon

[arutha]

I manage to placate my wife by taking her out for a meal every time I buy an expensive piece of kit, it takes her mind off of the expense, for a short while anyway. I have changed jobs more times than my wife can count but she knows I love this and will stick at it so that helps a bit.
Good luck

[Bob Tascione]

That’s funny Mahlon and Paul!
This may just turn into a popular topic up here. A fun one for sure!
The trick for me was that I was already into clocks and watches before I met Phyllis. She knew what she was getting into and still stayed with me! Although…we’ve been together now for over 40 years and I still on occasion have to dodge bullets!

Have fun,
Bob

[digitaltripper]

Wow I guess I am blessed…I don’t have a spouse…yet…Wait, is that a blessing?? I was married once…Just once…So the only one to complain about anything here would be me….I cut myself a lot of slack though

Jim

[david pierce]

I am relatively new to watches but not to machine work. I had a career that I loved until 1999 when the company I was with for 22 years went under. I now have a job that I have worked at since then but although it pays well, it isn’t fun for me. In my case, watches provided a perfect solution to a mindless unenlightening work situation. The good news with watch tools is they, thus far, have increased in value actually outperforming my 401K. Before landing here I went through the TIME ZONE WATCH COURSES I, II, and III which provided a basic understanding of watch movements. The scope of the course was limited to part replacement which is certainly a valid approach, but it was not where I wanted to end up. I feel fortunate to have found this course because Bob is on an extremely short list of watchmakers who have actually made watch parts in a shop situation, and has a willingness to share this knowledge with his students. As far as my wife is concerned, I think she would rather see me spending my later years making watch parts, than sitting in front of a TV set with a beer and a channel changer.
david

[arutha]

The rest of us are glad too David as you too are happy to impart your valuable experience
I went through life hopping from one job to another, you name it, I have probably done it, from working in a tropical fish store to working in a slaughter house, building, roofing, engineering factory etc etc.
I never through my whole life knew what I wanted to do. My entry into horology came through hurting my back quite badly, crushed disc, a bulging disc and osteoarthritis. After spending a week in hospital on morphine until they could get my medication sorted to get the pain under control I spent the next two weeks at home wondering what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I would never be able to take a manual job again and the idea of working in an office made me feel sick. My sister in law has a jewelry shop and she asked me one day if I had considered clock repair……the rest as they say is history

[ddhix2002]

It helps me that my grandfather is a life long clock maker.

It also helps me that my wife has known me to get into 100+ hobbies (some advanced, some not) in our 6 years so far. Beer making, ships in a bottle, distilling, model building, winemaking, coin collecting, fire breathing, fire eating, tattooing, book binding, cinematography, film developing, camera making, and of course clocks.

The three big ones that have stuck for me are clocks, tattooing, and wine/beer/distilling.

So I usually start off by purchasing smaller items here and there. The only big things I’ve ever needed are for the clocks, tattooing, or alcohol. She’s usually cool with the big purchase as long as she knows I’m not going to let it sit and collect dust.

For the clocks, I started playing with junk. Ordered a pile of junk off eBay, bought a few piles of junk on craigslist, and just played with them for a while with basic hand tools until I got it all down. I didn’t feel like I should spend much on tools at first. So for a let down, I just matched a near-sized socket up to the winding arbor with a screwdriver attachment to let springs down.

Fortunately, my grandfather has given me a lot of tools. Most of the tools are basic and don’t cost much, but they all add up. That’s not to say I haven’t spent a lot of money ordering tools.

Unfortunately, I got into this about 2 years too late after my grandfather quit working on watches. He sold all of his watchmaking equipment on eBay for about $3,500. He told me recently he would have just given it to me if he would have known.

. . . Now I need a lathe. Looking to buy one.

[david pierce]

Ddhix,
I like wine and beer drinking, when can I come over? What do you want to use the lathe for? Watch lathes are more accurate but lack the ability to take heavy cuts. If I needed a lathe strickly for clocks it would be a TAIG. It is accurate, affordable, has a large steel bed for its size and has a massive quiet induction motor. Universal and D.C. motors sound like kitchen mixers. You can also purchase a headstock with an ER-16 collet spindle for $115.00. The basic lathe is under $500.00. The best watch lathe for the money is a Sincere/Vector. It is an extremely accurate Geneva design watch lathe paterned after the Bergeon lathe. You can check out these machines by going to Youtube and Ebay and taking a look. For a milling machine I like the “small” bench mill sold by Harbor Freight. It uses industry standard R-8 collets and end mill holders and is a fairly heavy industrial quality machine. It is a heavier duty machine than the Sherline or Taig mills.
david

[ddhix2002]

@david pierce wrote:

Ddhix,
I like wine and beer drinking, when can I come over? What do you want to use the lathe for? Watch lathes are more accurate but lack the ability to take heavy cuts. If I needed a lathe strickly for clocks it would be a TAIG. It is accurate, affordable, has a large steel bed for its size and has a massive quiet induction motor. Universal and D.C. motors sound like kitchen mixers. You can also purchase a headstock with an ER-16 collet spindle for $115.00. The basic lathe is under $500.00. The best watch lathe for the money is a Sincere/Vector. It is an extremely accurate Geneva design watch lathe paterned after the Bergeon lathe. You can check out these machines by going to Youtube and Ebay and taking a look. For a milling machine I like the “small” bench mill sold by Harbor Freight. It uses industry standard R-8 collets and end mill holders and is a fairly heavy industrial quality machine. It is a heavier duty machine than the Sherline or Taig mills.
david

Well I want to use it for clock parts, primarily. I have only dabbled very lightly in watches, and I think I should tackle watches seriously only down the road when I have more experience. So as for machining any watch parts, it’s not a big concern for me right now.

You just about have me sold on the Taig lathe.

I searched ebay for “Taig Tool Rest” and found one for about $26; not bad!

It appears that almost everything you need as far as lathe accessories are very affordable. That’s good. I like affordable.

I’m glad you mentioned Harbor Freight. They have a 7 x 10 lathe for sale for $499, and I have considered buying this lathe for a couple of years now. It would appear to me that the Taig lathe is a nice in-between as far as watchmakers/jewelers lathes, and the Harbor Freight lathe.

Also, I noticed that collets and all accessories for watchmakers lathes are really mix-and-match, and the harbor freight lathe has fewer accessories to choose from. On the plus side for Taig, it seems like accessories are easy to come by in greater numbers, as well as being affordable.

I’m glad you suggested the Harbor Freight Mini-Mill. I’ve considered getting that before, too. But I haven’t really had much of a justification for it before.

I also enjoy hobby gunsmithing. I think the Taig lathe could take care of a lot of gunsmithing projects, which is good. Originally I wanted the Harbor Freight lathe for gunsmithing. But the Taig seems like a perfect compromise for clock work, guns, and whatever other small projects I get in mind.

Question: You mention the ER-16 collet spindle. For clock purposes, would you just use any of the Taig collet sets sold on eBay? Or would you get a holder (or something) to accept the watchmakers collets? Also, it would seem to me that if you bought a lathe with a 3-Jaw Chuck, couldn’t you fit just about any collet into that?

[arutha]

Hi Ddhix, a 3 jaw chuck will not hold a collet correctly, a collet is drawn into a sleeve which ensures it closes equally around its entire diameter and making sure it stays acurate when holding the work, a 3 jaw chuck would only close on the collet in 3 places and would most likely damage it. The ER16 collet holders are fairly cheap and a must have, any sets of collets that are ER16 will suit that lathe.
I will leave David to answer your other questions as he has far more experience.
Paul.

[mahlon]

I am pleased to here all the stories that this post has generated. I, like David was forced to change careers, because of health problems. I started out in construction (homes as well as commercial buildings. By the time I was 25 I had broken my back. had 25 surguries on my knees,and various other broken bones. Rather than quit construction, I became a cabinet maker, as well as restoring antiques as a hobby. By the time I was 35, I had broken my back 3 more times, and was forced to retire. That didn’t work for me, so I began buying, restoring, and selling antiques. Thats when I bought my first clock. It is a trade mark clock. i restored the case, and then did what any self respecting carpenter would do. I soaked the movement down with WD40, started it up, and it has been running for over 20 years now. I have made it my mission in life to clean and restore the movement, before I croke.After watching Bob’s clock videos, I am pretty sure the springs are set, and it needs a few bushings. It keeps pretty good time for the first 3 days,but falls behind my Gustoffe Becker. As far as tools go, I have been picking up a few here and thers off e-bay. Between the little box of tools and the books I have probably spent $400.00. I am looking at a lathe right now, and my wife is looking at me. Having worked on antiques all these years I am leaning towards a Peerless. I still use hand planes, and shappers in my shop. I am sure Taig is a good lathe, but I try not to buy products from China, thats just my personal preferance. I would like to see Bob, use some of the other tools of this trade ( wheel cutters, pivot tools, ect.) I tend to learn more by watching then reading. By the way what part of the country, or world are all of you from? I am in central Oklahoma.
Mahlon

[ddhix2002]

@Arutha wrote:

Hi Ddhix, a 3 jaw chuck will not hold a collet correctly, a collet is drawn into a sleeve which ensures it closes equally around its entire diameter and making sure it stays acurate when holding the work, a 3 jaw chuck would only close on the collet in 3 places and would most likely damage it. The ER16 collet holders are fairly cheap and a must have, any sets of collets that are ER16 will suit that lathe.
I will leave David to answer your other questions as he has far more experience.
Paul.

That makes sense.

So instead of getting the ER-16 headstock, what about part 1045ER, the ER-16 adapter for the lathe? It’s only about $28 as opposed to $120. The only ER part that I could find that was $120 was the Headstock with ER Spindle for the Milling machine.
http://www.taigtools.com/c1045ER.html
http://www.taigtools.com/erspindle.html

Also, part 1040 is a collet set, and is not labeled as ER-16. Could this be used instead of ER-16 collets?
http://www.taigtools.com/c1040.html

Finally, they have part 1040ER, which is a 6-collet set in sizes: 1/16, 1/8, 3/16, 1/4, 5/16, 3/8 . Would this be preferable?

[arutha]

Ddhix – The collet adapter looks perfect, that is exactly what I have on my Vario-Lux lathe and it works very well. The imperial collets could be useful but convert the sizes to mm and see how close they are, .5mm difference and some of the sizes might be useful but if they are almost rounding up to whole mm’s then there isnt much point in having them, unless of course they are cheaper than a new set of metric ones or as spares. I would assume they are ER16 but to be on the safe side you can always e-mail the web site and ask.
I have heard a lot of good things about the Taig lathes, they are badged as Peatol lathes in the UK so bear that in mind if you are looking for parts, a quick search on the UK e-bay might produce something cheaper?

Mahlon – I have back problems but not as bad as yours! I am in the UK.

Paul.

[mahlon]

Paul, the bad back I have learned to ignore, it’s the feeble mind that worries me.
Mahlon

[willofiam]

Howdy, This is what I do, try saying this to your wife when a new tool is needed , I just say,”Honey, I need a new tool and if I dont get it you will be lacking this hunk of gorgeous man, so what do yah say?” and she says, “NO 😡 ” and “whatever 🙄 ” so then, after months 😯 of no new tools I try a new tactic, which goes like this……”please, PLEASE, please, I will do whatever you want around the house and take you out for dinner and, and , and pretty please, please please”

---

Well, I really dont say that and really dont want to take the chance. I too have been in construction of all types throughout my life, 20 years my own cabinet shop, ect..ect.. My lovely wife has seen first hand the labor involved and the tools needed to accomplish a job properly. She is also aware of the wear and tear physically with what I had been doing. We had been praying for some time about what direction I should take as I could no longer physically handle the business I was in and it seemed like everything around me was getting older 😆 . She is also aware of the way I get my mind set on something and Ill put every ounce of thought and energy behind it, So after I decided to make clock repair a business I sold my fishing boat, 4 wheeler, F-350 truck, hunting bow, ice fishing gear, ect..ect.. and have been investing into tools, shop, supplies and so on. I see a business which will never get boring or dull, lifelong learning actually using your brain :idea:. staying busy even without customers, continuing the art while getting old and feeble as I am..and after I told the story of how a customer had started crying because of all the fond memories brought back by having her grandmothers clock running again some guy said to me “your doing a good thing”..How can you lose.!!!!!! I talk to my wife about what I am thinking and learning and working on, she pretends to listen as I ramble on and on, somewhere along the line decided it was better to say, “I trust your judgement” and “whatever makes you happy makes me happy”, (I think she just doesnt want to hear me whine and complain about not having the right tools) but it seems as though she is quite involved with everything and loves the hunt for a clock, a pocket watch or some tools….what a wonderful wife by the way I have the best one so you guys out there looking will have to settle. when she wants to do something I will give any wanted advice and full backing on whatever it is..shes an adult..we all live and learn..and so the world goes round…I usually try to get by with what I have until I notice there is a tool that can make the job better, easier, more accurate in the end saving time and money, justifying the cost, along with the knowledge of what may work best..with advice from others I will make the investment. I KNOW for sure I can spend money, with the horological market the way it seems to be I think any worthwhile tool is a good investment . William
P.S. I think it was Paul who posted the “buy dinner” idea, thanks alot as I now owe my wife 327 dinners, I’ll send a bill.

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