Taig lathe knurling tool conversion

I turned a larger, cheap $25 clamp-style 2" knurling tool into a rear mount knurler for my Taig Microlathe 2.

Cut the bottom of the "T" so it doesn't bang into the motor as the carriage approaches the headstock.

Mill or grind the bottom of the T's left/right cross bar so it slides farther into a Taig tool post. This also let's it fit more easily into the tool post.

Grind the end of the left side of the cross bar so it doesn't stick out farther than the bottom of the tool post.

Mount this behind the work piece, like you do with a rear cutoff tool. 

Mount the tool post so the little square nut just barely is in the t-slot of the carriage.

Tighten the 2 bolts that hold the fingers, this will reduce side wobble of the knurler wheels. 

Pinch the arms onto the work piece and tighten the top knob. Then tighten it some more.

Go slowest speed. 

 Watchmaking: First Screw Made

Taking a 3mm O1 (cool hardening) steel rod and making a very tiny screw from it. Here is what will be the threaded portion still on the lathe next to the screw die plate I threaded it with.

The plate can thread screws  down to 0.7mm up to 2.0mm.

Here is the screw (red arrow) held in a pin vise; the pin vise is in a larger vise.

The thin "string" is actually a jeweler's saw that I used to cut the slot on the screw's head for use with a flat bladed screwdriver.

A container of brass shavings used to even out the heat treatment. I heat blued this screw to give it a dark blue layer that protects and looks nice.

Here is the screw on a tiny USA 10 cent dime coin.

"I'm tiny too!" -Otto the Littlest Opossum.

Watchmaking Machinery Part 1

 

Watchmaking Machinery Part 1

Here is my new Taig Microlathe II with a binocular microscope attached to it. 

The microscope is a Swift 2x/4x mounted on an arm that I made out of plate steel and aluminum tubing. It has an LED illuminator and almost the entire microscope is made out of metal!

Taig lathes are still MADE IN AMERICA and are extremely high precision instruments.

View through the microscope at 2x:

Actual size view:

The microscope is removable for safe keeping. I mounted the lathe onto a filecabinet drawer type thing and filled it with the accessories: milling attachment, tools, measurement devices, etc.

The initial order to Taig was for:

1017#3 Starter Set #3 - Base + 5C Headstock       

1096 Unground tool bit 1/4" square       

1170 Extra Tool Post       6             

1171 Back Tool Post        2             

1110 Slitting saw arbor                 

1232 1/4" Diameter Milling Cutter           

1230A 1/16 dia Milling Cutter    

1230C 1/8 dia.Milling Cutter      

1111 Hi Speed Slitting Saw          

1152 Die Holder for Tailstock     

1224 Fly Cutter

1210 Radius Turner        

1038 4 inch swivel joint tool rest (wood turners)

1190 Steady Rest            

1225 Milling Vice             

1173 T Bar Cutoff Tool  

1200 Top Slide Mounts  1220 Milling attachment              

300-82 (T-Bar Cutoff Mount)      

Tons of other tools, bits, bit steel to grind my own cutters, calipers, dial indicators, raw metal stock, etc. are on their way too.

The first learning goal is to take an existing watch movement and replace it piece-by-piece with pieces that I manufacture. Replacing steel with brass, until I've made a complete movement. See you in a few years...

The chosen movement is an ETA 6498 M03 that was introduced in 1950. It's a pocket watch movement. ETA's website is awful and always down for service. If you need the tech specs for this movement do a search for "'CT_6498-2_FDE_482480_08" and there will be a few results.