8mm ww watchmakers lathe

[salpal48]

Over the weekend I was at The Penn cartridge Collectors show in Morgantown PA. . A gentleman came to my Tables and saw my sign "Wanted Reloading Equipment". He said he had stuff in His car. I was surprised what he had. He said it was his father to reload with. It turned out to be an old watchmaker lathe with a 16mm box chuck to turn cases . i guess he used it to turn rims, neck and bases.
It has the motor and foot control. all the other chucks don't apply only the one in the machine. The chuck is not self centering but it works. i tried it on a 45/70 and with a little practice will works. he used a leather strip as the belt. I found belts on line but I am unable to take apart the gear housing to fit it. I guess he had the same problem. I posted pictures . Do anyone have one similar and knows how to take it apart
there are several on line but no instructions
796327963379634

[john hayslip]

Someone makes a v-belt that comes in links so you can assemble one of any length. I can't tell from the picture what width you'd need but if you're interested PM me and I'll measure width of mine and see if I can't find Manufacturer's name

[bangerjim]

These are standard watch lathes. Not really a gun smith lathe.

They come part very easy. The brass caps on the ends of the spindles unscrew allowing you to slide the spindle out of the bushings (not ball bearings). There will be at least one set screw in the step pulley you need to loosen.

I have 4 of these things and rarely use them. Watch work is just too fine for me. I use my 5 larger lathes for clock and instrument and general turning work in collets and set-true chucks.

WW collets are for model makers and such.

A big oring will work for a belt. Not much power needed or transfered, so there are no fancy belts needed. They always used round (not V) belts.

Check out a search for watchmaker lathes. Also www.timesavers.com and www.merritts.com may have belt material. Those are two of the places I get my clock supplies.

bangerjim

[Mk42gunner]

The pictures did not open for me; but if they use a round belt as bangerjim said, you can get a leather one meant for a pedal type Singer sewing machine. They are held together by a staple looking connector, at least the one Mom got for Grandma's machine is.

Robert

[W.R.Buchanan]

This is a relatively common machine. It is an old one. Search Boley Jewelers lathe .

The spindle bearings on these machines are NOT bushings. They are Bronze "cone bearings" and they are the most accurate bearing type known to man. One end of the spindle will unscrew (probably the end away from the spindle nose) and the spindle will come out after removing the set screw that holds the pulley in place on the spindle.

When reinstalling the spindle you will adjust the bearing up until they stop turning then back off until the spindle turns freely. Then lock.

While a apart I would suggest going after the parts with some chrome cleaner and 0000 steel wool. Pretty much all of the jewelers lathes were Nickel Plated and all of that brown goo should come off. Just watch what you do and don't overdo it.

Look closely at the collets. Sometimes they are WW collets, other times they are Boley "tulip collets." The Boley collets are curved thru the closing taper. The WW collets just have a tapered section which engages the spindle taper.

After you get it cleaned up you can probably sell it for $200-300. They are virtually useless for anything other than watch work and marginal for that as well. They are used like a wood turning lathe, and making small parts on one is true art work. What you have is what normally comes with one. There is lots of tooling available however anything different than what you already have is very expensive. The one thing that would make the machine considerably more useful is a compound cross slide. With that you can actually turn diameters accurately.

I had one for many years and eventually sold it because it was not very useful in my shop. At the time I was making small turned parts
mostly and I couldn't really even use it for that without a compound and they were too expensive to buy so I sold it for $150.

They are very specialized tool.

Randy

[salpal48]

I don't plan on spending any cash on this . I only paid $40.00 for it. I.v already tried it on 45/70 case locking it up in the box chuck . a little difficult to center @ first but it thins a rim nicely. I also locked up a 30/06 . this was a little more difficult due to the neck. . there is a centering hole in the middle of the chuck and a lyman or a forester trimmer piolet fits in . this is what I used to center the case. the gentleman I got this from said his father used it for that purpose
The other collets are useless for me but I'l keep them anyway
Sal