Polishing problem pivots

[dan a]

I just started cleaning a clock that has 3 out of 8 gears with press fit parts on one end that interfere with clamping them into a lathe for pivot polishing. See pic. I’m hesitant to try removing these press fit parts and my hunch is to leave the pivots alone rather than trying to polish them by hand.

Any suggestions?

Just to be clear, it’s the other end that I’m concerned about, not the end with the press fit parts.

• This topic was modified 3 years ago by Tamas Richard.

[Anonymous]

Hello Dan!
Those are doable pivots but you might need a little bit of custom tooling to make it happen.
If you have the Ultra Course and haven’t already viewed Bobs Lathe Learn to Turn lesson 2
videos then you might find what you need there. He shows how to make some simple tooling
to hold and drive arbors for pivoting and pivot polishing. Very helpful tooling and real easy
to make out of brass and wood dowels. You can make a simple dog to drive the wheel and
a runner? I think that’s what he calls them, out of wood to put in the tail stock and support the
pivot while polishing.
I made most of what I needed in a couple of evenings and I’m still fairly new at clock repair!
You can change the design to accommodate the job you are doing. I had to get a little creative
but it worked out perfectly.
Video 3 and 4 in Learn to turn lesson 2 cover the tooling.

Let me know if that works out for you. Good luck Dan, Howard ~ from the chat on LearnTimeOnline

[dan a]

Howard, thank you for your suggestion. I have only started to watch Bob’s Lathe Learn to Turn video #1 so I will make it a priority to watch the rest of the series, and it’s great to know there is a path forward for how to polish these pesky pivots.

[Author]

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