The making jewelry watch
Q.Since you seem to know something about clockmaking, can you recommend good sources that discuss hand-pump watchmakers / jewelers' lathes? I recently acquired a 7-inch antique one, http://www.historicgames.com/lathes/bowlathes.html and haven't been able to find information on the chucks/mandrels, or jigs used to hold the parts in these tiny lathes. It doesn't matter if it's not early enough for SCA-period, as long as it's pre- motorized lathes.
A.The term 'hand pump' could describe either a small lathe drived by a hand bow with the string looped around the workpiece or spindle, or it could refer to a lathe driven by a hand-cranked great wheel. From the description, I'll guess it's a bow lathe, and work from there. Watchmakers' lathes in general usually do not use an adjustable chuck. Most work is done using collets for greater accuracy. As each collet typically has a holding range of only a tenth of a millimeter, an assortment of collets are needed, though most watchmakers have only a few in the sizes they commonly use. I was fortunate when I bought my lathe from a watchmaker's estate that it came with some 60 collets, saving me the expense of assembling a set (the good collets run about $20-$40 bucks apiece). New watchmakers collets are not common in the tool market. Complicating the issue is that there are a couple of different types of collets. The most common is Webster/Whitcomb collets, usually listed as WW collets. Without seeing your lathe, I really couldn't tell you what kind collet it would take, if indeed it uses collets at all. Precision turning work is done between centers, where the workpiece is held either between a set of pointed centers, or if the workpiece is pointed, between female centers. I can suggest a couple of books on watchmaking in general that should help. The Watch Repairer's Manual by Henry Fried ISBN 0-918845-11-4 is sort of the industry standard in the United States. It shows up in a lot of libraries. Any edition should do -- the ISBN is for the 4th edition, which is what I was issued in watch school. Practical Watch Repairing by Donald de Carle ISBN 0-7198-0030-7 might actually be more useful because it's chapter on lathes makes specific references to hand-powered lathes. A more obscure text is Practical Benchwork for Horologists by Louis and Samuel Levin. Levin lathes are the Rolls Royce's of watchmakers lathes. Their original refernce book is out in reprint from Arlington Book Company, ISBN 0-930163-12-5. The Bulova School of Watchmaking Technical Training Manual (any edition, mine is the 9th) is superb, but difficult to find. It was printed specifically for the Bulova School in New York. The school is still around, but I don't know if they sell books to non-students. And, lastly, if you can find it, the War Department Technical Manual TM 9-1575 on ordinance maintenance of wrist watches, pocket watches, stop watches, and clocks (my copy is from 1945) is a real hoot. Assuming your lathe takes WW collets, Starret (the company that makes calipers, micrometers, etc) probably makes the best in the US. I've never seen their collets listed in any tool supply, so you'd probably have to contact them directly in Athol, Mass. Sherline Products in California sells both boxed sets and individual WW collets, both in English and metric sizes, for resonable prices, though I don't know how their collets shape up, accuracy-wise. I know the rest of their tools are quite well built. You can find them on the web
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