Lathe collets…

[tmac1956]

@david pierce wrote:

Tmac,
Even at that price you will not lose money on it. I have seen them go for over $600.00 on Ebay auctions. Cross slides for these lathes are one of the most sought after watchmaker tools out there; which is why the supplier raised his price.
david

david:

Here’s another on eBay. I wonder what it will eventually go for…

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BOLEY-WATCHMAKER-JEWELERS-LATHE-COMPOUND-CROSS-SLIDE-ACCESSORY-/190799499080?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c6c894f48

tmac1956

[david pierce]

Tmac,
My guess would be $550.00 to $600.00. It appears to be in good shape. I have been following this stuff for a few years now and it seems to constantly go up in value. There is a perception out there in watchmaker world that things manufactured in Switzerland are the best, Germany is second best and China and Japan make junk. The reality is that this is not true. The Chinese (Sincere) lathe is made by the same factory that makes the German (Vector) lathe. In fact, it is the same lathe.One lathe is labeled Sincere and the other lathe is labeled Vector. When they were caught doing this the sales pitch became “well, the lathe is made in China but it is finished and adjusted in Germany”. I own one of these and it does not need “finishing and adjusting”. It is a great ultra precision watchmaker lathe. I found out a few weeks ago that the BERGEON $39,000.00 Swiss lathe is really made by a company called DIXI which is owned by Mori Seki, a Japanese company. It is also a great ultra precision watchmaker lathe. The thing that makes your WW style lathe so good is that it is capable of being used to make small (watch size) and large (clock size) parts. It offers extreme precision as well as strength and rigidity.
david

[tmac1956]

@david pierce wrote:

Tmac,
My guess would be $550.00 to $600.00. It appears to be in good shape. I have been following this stuff for a few years now and it seems to constantly go up in value. There is a perception out there in watchmaker world that things manufactured in Switzerland are the best, Germany is second best and China and Japan make junk. The reality is that this is not true. The Chinese (Sincere) lathe is made by the same factory that makes the German (Vector) lathe. In fact, it is the same lathe.One lathe is labeled Sincere and the other lathe is labeled Vector. When they were caught doing this the sales pitch became “well, the lathe is made in China but it is finished and adjusted in Germany”. I own one of these and it does not need “finishing and adjusting”. It is a great ultra precision watchmaker lathe. I found out a few weeks ago that the BERGEON $39,000.00 Swiss lathe is really made by a company called DIXI which is owned by Mori Seki, a Japanese company. It is also a great ultra precision watchmaker lathe. The thing that makes your WW style lathe so good is that it is capable of being used to make small (watch size) and large (clock size) parts. It offers extreme precision as well as strength and rigidity.
david

david:
Once I get my Levin set up and obtain all of the attachements, it’s my goal to eventually buy one of the Chinese watchmaker lathes with all of the bells and whistles. Of course, I have a to learn a lot more before I get to that point. Clearly, you are helping TREMENDOUSLY!!!
Thanks!
tmac

[david pierce]

Tmac,
If you have not already done so go to Otto Frei and look at the BERGEON lathe with all of the attachments. It goes for $39,000.00. You can get the same setup from Sincere for about $2000.00. Both of them are excellent, ultra precision watchmaker lathes; but so is your Levin.
david

[tmac1956]

@david pierce wrote:

Tmac,
If you have not already done so go to Otto Frei and look at the BERGEON lathe with all of the attachments. It goes for $39,000.00. You can get the same setup from Sincere for about $2000.00. Both of them are excellent, ultra precision watchmaker lathes; but so is your Levin.
david

david:

Have you ever though of making these cross slides for sale? It sure looks like you could make some bucks doing it.

tmac

[david pierce]

Tmac,
Yes, not only have I thought about it I am working on the design. I also want to make a lot of the pivot polishing tooling that is no longer available. Last week I purchased some special cutters to make these things. With me the issue I have is lack of time.
I want to make a cross slide that positions with dial indicators. My experience is that the dials on the handwheels are virtually useless. After many years working with many lathes, the only lathe that had a handwheel dial that was accurate was the Hardinge HLV Super Precision Toolroom Lathe. With that lathe when you dialed in .0001 on the dial, the digital readout would read exactly the same thing and the cut would be exactly that. The spindle runout was guranteed to be no more than 25 millionths of an inch. Pull up a picture of one of these incredible machines on the internet and take a look. The only other lathe I would put in that class is the Derbyshire Instrument lathe. It is a small 10 mm lathe but is larger than an 8mm WW lathe. Tale a look at that as well at F.W. DERBYSHIRE.

[arutha]

If you ever get around to producing the pivoting attachments for the 6mm lathe I will be your first customer
Paul.

[tmac1956]

@david pierce wrote:

Tmac,
If you have not already done so go to Otto Frei and look at the BERGEON lathe with all of the attachments. It goes for $39,000.00. You can get the same setup from Sincere for about $2000.00. Both of them are excellent, ultra precision watchmaker lathes; but so is your Levin.
david

david, et. al.:

I just wanted to touch base with you on my lathe equipment. Per various recommendations, I have obtained the following items:

collets #5 – #42
3-way cross slide
4 jaw chuck
face plate
drill head chuck
2 Levin pivot collets MIB (1 pocket watch/1 wrist watch)
quick change tool post
various gravers

Is there any other tools that I need to get for beginning lathe work?

Thanks!
tmac

[david pierce]

Tmac,
If you do not already have them you will need some tool bits. Look in the ENCO catalog (you should be able to pull it up online) and look at part number 383-5208 and 383-5212. These are 1/8 and 3/16 square 10% cobalt tool bits. You will need a bench grinder to sharpen them but you can pick up a good grinder from Harbor Freight for a small amount of money. The basic idea in sharpening tool bits is to have clearance angles where the cutter contacts the part being turned. The angles will be on the face, side and top of the cutter and are generally 5 to 10 degrees. Bob shows some cutters in his learn to turn video. There are probably numerous Youtube videos on sharpening lathe tool bits but I have not checked yet. In general, the steeper the angle, the sharper the cutter and less cutting force is required. Unfortunately, this makes the cutter weaker and more likely to wear and or break. The goal is to reach a comprimise of sharpness and strength. Make sure you have a cup of water next to the grinder to cool the tool bit off when you are grinding it. Grinding the bit will also heat up your fingers so dunk the bit into the water often.
Once the bit is sharpened, the tip of the cutter must be put on center. This is easy with the quick change holder as the cutter can be raised and lowered with the adjusting screw to line the tip of the cutter with a center in the headstock or tailstock.
david

[tmac1956]

@david pierce wrote:

Tmac,
If you do not already have them you will need some tool bits. Look in the ENCO catalog (you should be able to pull it up online) and look at part number 383-5208 and 383-5212. These are 1/8 and 3/16 square 10% cobalt tool bits. You will need a bench grinder to sharpen them but you can pick up a good grinder from Harbor Freight for a small amount of money. The basic idea in sharpening tool bits is to have clearance angles where the cutter contacts the part being turned. The angles will be on the face, side and top of the cutter and are generally 5 to 10 degrees. Bob shows some cutters in his learn to turn video. There are probably numerous Youtube videos on sharpening lathe tool bits but I have not checked yet. In general, the steeper the angle, the sharper the cutter and less cutting force is required. Unfortunately, this makes the cutter weaker and more likely to wear and or break. The goal is to reach a comprimise of sharpness and strength. Make sure you have a cup of water next to the grinder to cool the tool bit off when you are grinding it. Grinding the bit will also heat up your fingers so dunk the bit into the water often.
Once the bit is sharpened, the tip of the cutter must be put on center. This is easy with the quick change holder as the cutter can be raised and lowered with the adjusting screw to line the tip of the cutter with a center in the headstock or tailstock.
david

david:

I just bought an 8″ variable speed grinder with a wet sharpening attachement. I found the graver material and some handles, so I’ll be getting them soon.

Thanks again!
tmac

[david pierce]

Tmac,
You should be able to use your grinder on regular lathe tool bits as well. Regular lathe tool bits come in a large variety of sizes and steels to suit different applications.
david

[tmac1956]

@david pierce wrote:

Tmac,
You should be able to use your grinder on regular lathe tool bits as well. Regular lathe tool bits come in a large variety of sizes and steels to suit different applications.
david

Yes… I found some HSS tool material here:

http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT2?PMPXNO=2044385&PMTERM=71093082

Later,
tmac

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