Lathe Accessories

[david pierce]

There are some old posts I wrote a year or so ago about the Sincere Lathe being a good lathe for small watch size parts. As far as I know the only members on this forum who bought one are Bob and myself. These are good high precision lathes and accessories are available for them. You guys who are scrambling for lathe accessories may want to take a second look at these machines. They are very affordable when compared to a Bergeon lathe which is their Swiss counterpart. The basic lathe comes with a drilling collet holding tailstock and a cross slide and still sells for under $1000.00. The milling (gear cutting) attachment is under $300.00 the last time I checked. The indexing plates are around $200.00. A set consisting of a large T-Rest, Small T-Rest and a file rest is around $100.00. The induction motor is around $200.00 but you can always use the $30.00 sewing machine motor with foot control. Check it out, it doesn’t hurt to look.
david

[arutha]

If I knew when I first started what I know now and I had the money(probably the biggest issue for most of us?) I would have bought a sincere lathe. The trouble is we tend to buy what we can afford and for me that was a Wolf Jahn for £250 with a reasonable selection of collets, a lot of stuff I will never use and a nice box to keep it all in. You then start playing the bidding game on e-bay trying to fill the gaps in your collets and jacot drums, re-pivoting stuff, it becomes an expensive headache.
If I had the money I would buy a sincere otherwise I would do what I have already done and buy what looks reasonable for what I could afford. Some form of lathe is better than no lathe
Paul.

[david pierce]

Paul,
Yes, and on top of that if you have to be lucky enough to find that stuff. A 6mm 3 jaw chuck, 6mm 6jaw chuck, 6mm collets, a Wolf Jahn cross slide, Index plates, milling attachment etc., etc., only come up for sale once in a blue moon after sombody dies. The Sincere accessories are currently being manufactured and can be purchased as needed or wanted.
david

[arutha]

A lot of that stuff is nice to have David but for most watchmakers/clockmakers these days they wouldn’t use it.
If you want a good idea what to look for in a starter lathe here is a list;
Headstock, Bed, Foot, Graver rest, Tailstock, colletts from 2 to 50
Here is a list of what I do on my watchmakers lathe;
1. Make brass bushes when I dont have ready mades of the correct dimensions
2. The odd balance staff
3. Truing up bent clock pivots
4. Re-pivoting
5. Turning up brass hand collets

These are the most common jobs. If you are wanting to make parts for your watch then the other components start becoming useful but they are certainly not necessary for general watch and clock servicing. If you did ever decide to start looking at producing parts then I would seriously look at the sincere because as you rightly state, there is a rarity and cost issue with accessories for these 6mm and some 8mm lathes.

This is just what I use my watchmakers lathe for, I turn up other bits and pieces now and again but for repair work this is about as far as I go with it at the moment.
It is difficult when we start out as we don’t have much idea of what is essential.
Paul.

[daryn]

Early watches were made with little more than turns, and English mandrel, wheel engine, topping tool and fussee engine,
Most repair work was done with turns and an English mandrel, there’s usually a way to do something if you don’t have or can’t afford the bespoke attachment,
That said I can’t even lift my box of watch lathe gear anymore!

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