Watch Makers Lathe questions.

[Mcgyver]

Come on Doozer, be all you can be - you can handle a cow!

[Joel]

I do MORE than most of the half whit hamster baits out there!
Way MORE ! I am a self sufficient man. I run circles around
these lazy lumps of garbage in modern society.-D

Clearly Mcgyver (and many others here) could say the exact same about you. Notice that he didn't.

There is a reason I don't use chop sticks,
also a pain in the azz.
Why suffer yourself through it? ? ?
Saying the challenge of it is some motivational
jazz that gets used on chumps. Keep it and
your needle dlck screws.-Doozer

Suffer through it? It took me 1 minute to figure out how to use chopsticks (no one 'helped') and a couple more to master them - hardly a challenge. But nobody really gives a rats ass if you can or can't.
He had a need for tiny screws, and effected an impressive and skillful solution. One that I admire, as it would doubtlessly have taken me 10 times as long for likely a poorer result. I am confident that he also built skills that are applicable elsewhere, but him simply feeling like doing it is more than 'reason' enough, and hardly makes him a chump.

[mattthemuppet]

haven't had to do this for a while, but here you go Doozer

[Doozer]

Ha ! ! ! ! Thanks ! ! ! I love you guys, you know that, right ???
There is a bar at the corner of my street where all the bar maids
are top heavy. Any of you are welcome to visit my shop and then
we well go for some suds at the corner.

---D

[John MacArthur]

the main activity of a beginning watchmaker...its called "find the part".

Over the years I have spent a fair amount of time on my knees searching on "the big bench".....
Johnny

[Stepside]

I was visiting a watch repair shop. The repairman had an apron that lower edge was fastened to the bottom edge of his workbench top. Any thing dropped would be caught in the apron and easy to find.

[J Tiers]

I was visiting a watch repair shop. The repairman had an apron that lower edge was fastened to the bottom edge of his workbench top. Any thing dropped would be caught in the apron and easy to find.

My bench for "small work" has a pull-out "drawer" that is actually a frame with a cloth "catcher" in it. The maker of the bench clearly thought about escaping parts.

The problem with benches and small parts is that the best material for the top is a reasonably hard material, wood, for instance. Some have harder tops, mine is wood covered with a Formica layer, which I have intended to take off for years. That's "good" from one point of view, since it provides a solid work surface.

Problem is that hard materials also make small parts bounce and "skitter", so that they find their way off the bench and to the floor. The Formica top is really bad in that way. Softer materials may not do that, but they often make work less convenient, not holding things steady which are put on them, etc.

In my case, if I take off the Formica, then I will have to sand or otherwise get the glue remains off the bench, and then figure out what I want on it instead of the Formica. I probably would not want the same material all over it, nor would I always want a non-bouncy material.

I compromise by laying a mat down. A flannel mat would be good because it would not let things bounce, but also could entangle parts. I've been using a rubber one, made of that ribbed drawer liner material. It is a little harder than I'd prefer.

[MSBriggs]

A friend stopped by and looked at the lathe. He says the name on the end is Marshall. Is that a possible builder?

I am still waiting for the friend to say yes or no on the lathe.

C & E Marshall was a watchmakers' and jeweler's supply company in Chicago. Some other company probably made the lathe for them.

[Illinoyance]

Back to the collets: Be warned that if you bet additional collets from the bay, flea market, or antique store the 8mm collets were made in two different lengths and some have metric threads. Mine are a mix. To be able to use all my collets I purchased a universal drawbar from the bay. It has inch threads in one end and metric in the other. The handwheel can be positioned wherever needed on the drawbar.

[Stepside]

Thanks to all that provided help with my questions. The lathe went to the new owner at 6:00AM today. He might be popping up in this forum in the near future.

Pete