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Skeleton Clock

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Skeleton Clock

Postby Rod » 05 Aug 2014, 16:11

I featured this in WH1 - bit of a hospital job as it's taken 9yrs so far!

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Re: Skeleton Clock

Postby Andyp » 05 Aug 2014, 16:27

You mean it is still not finished?
I do not think therefore I do not am.

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Re: Skeleton Clock

Postby fred » 05 Aug 2014, 16:42

I keep finding myself saying "wow", "amazing", "beautiful" when looking at peoples work on this forum.

And I like that little lathe of yours Rod. Wouldn't mind one like that for making parts for my motorbikes.
What make and model is it, and how much are they?

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Skeleton Clock

Postby Rod » 05 Aug 2014, 16:51

It's an Emco Unimat 3 which was made in Austria - still see them on the bay for about £300 up depending on accessories.
The modern version Emco 4 is made in China and not as well made, though their accessories fit the 3.

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Re: Skeleton Clock

Postby 9fingers » 05 Aug 2014, 17:00

fred wrote:I keep finding myself saying "wow", "amazing", "beautiful" when looking at peoples work on this forum.

And I like that little lathe of yours Rod. Wouldn't mind one like that for making parts for my motorbikes.
What make and model is it, and how much are they?

cheers
fred


Fred, Those little Unimat lathes are great for clock making and other small jobs but I'd always advise getting something as big as you can fit in. When the distance between centres is quoted, that is without chucks at either end as well as the workpiece.

Mentally I always imagine drilling a 1/2" hole in a piece of metal on the lathe.
Headstock chuck possibly cost 50mm, the drill chuck in the tailstock about 75mm. Then the drill projection - about 150mm so there goes 275mm before you get the job chucked.

My Myford ML7R has 19" between centres and sometimes even that can be tight.

Also beware metal turning is a whole new slippery slope that heads off in a different direction!

Certain not trying to dissuade you - we have a couple of metal turners here at least who would be happy to advise.

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Re: Skeleton Clock

Postby fred » 05 Aug 2014, 17:20

Cheers Bob and Roc(?!),
If I did get a small lathe, it would be for small parts on bikes, like odd shaped spacers, washers and bushings. The kind of things you can't buy at hardware stores, and are no longer available to buy new because they are discontinued (most of my bike are 30+ years old). And my garage/workshop is small (single garage).

So any recommendations for that sort of thing would be welcome.

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Skeleton Clock

Postby Rod » 05 Aug 2014, 17:22

Yes the Unimat is very tiny and driven by rubber belts so only really for small stuff.
It will turn about 90mm diam and 125mm between chucks though if using the collet and thin sections much longer lengths can be worked as the headstock is "hollow ".

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Re: Skeleton Clock

Postby Rod » 05 Aug 2014, 17:28

Sieg make a wide range of lathes which come in various guises from the likes of Axy, Warco , Arceurotrade and others.

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Re: Skeleton Clock

Postby 9fingers » 05 Aug 2014, 17:31

The unimat would probably be fine for most bushes & spacer work.

Making washers is a horrible job and involves parting off to to a good finish and dimensional accuracy and once parted off, you cant remount the washer to finish size.
Rod can probably comment on the ease or otherwise of parting off on the unimat as it is a key test of the rigidity of the whole machine.

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Re: Skeleton Clock

Postby Rod » 06 Aug 2014, 09:17

I've never made any washers but once the Unimat is "locked down" things are very rigid. The Clock Spring Barrel Arbor was formed using my home-made parting cutter (see photo) and it came out well.
I was very lucky with my purchase as the vendor didn't list all the accessories just a few blurred photos, but as I'd been looking for a while I could recognise them.
I bought it for about £350 - a similar one with similar accessories a week later went for £1600! It included the milling head complete with its own motor and just about every Unimat accessory sold?
Not only that it was a local pick up and the previous owner (deceased) had made clocks and it included 4 gear wheel cutter each worth £65.
My lucky day and which lead me into clock making?

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Re: Skeleton Clock

Postby RogerS » 06 Aug 2014, 15:16

Rod

You might be interested in this

Image

Case
Modern fully glazed case in solid Pippy Oak, Zebrano or London Plane

Dial
Skeletonized Solid brass, engraved, silvered and hand waxed in traditional regulator format.

Movement
Hand-made skeletonized weight driven movement with 4 legged gravity escapement of 8 days duration.

Skeletonized plates with seven screwed pillars, wheels of 6 crossings and high count pinions.
4 legged gravity escapement with the gravity arms running in PTFE bushes.
Hand-blued steel screws, and hybrid ceramic bearings throughout the train.
Super Invar pendulum rod with fine adjustment together with weight tray, beating against a hand waxed and silvered beat scale.


I made the cases

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Re: Skeleton Clock

Postby Rod » 06 Aug 2014, 15:47

Very nice Roger - a bit big for my lathe?

This is photo of a clock I saw at a MEX, full of intricate scroll work - I forget how long it took but hundreds of hours?

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Re: Skeleton Clock

Postby Rod » 27 Nov 2014, 00:09

I managed a couple of hours on my lathe this afternoon making the (silver) Crutch - the bit with the 10BA screw.
It's part of the Pallet which control the (tick tock) Escapement
Very fiddly and quite small - drilling a hole for the 2mm silver steel rod and a 1.45mm tapping hole for the 10BA tap.

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And assembled:

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Re: Skeleton Clock

Postby kirkpoore1 » 27 Nov 2014, 04:43

Damn, that's cool, Rod. I presume "skeleton" means you can see the works?

By the way, what do you call the bottom tool in this picture?
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It looks like a babbitt scraper to me, but clearly you're not using it for that.

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Re: Skeleton Clock

Postby StevieB » 27 Nov 2014, 11:09

I really like this thread and the work involved - bravo!

Out of interest, how do you get hold of plans for this type of work? A google search shows nothing like the range of plans that are available for woodworking.

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Re: Skeleton Clock

Postby bugbear » 27 Nov 2014, 11:17

RogerS wrote:Rod

You might be interested in this

Image

Case
Modern fully glazed case in solid Pippy Oak, Zebrano or London Plane

Dial
Skeletonized Solid brass, engraved, silvered and hand waxed in traditional regulator format.

Movement
Hand-made skeletonized weight driven movement with 4 legged gravity escapement of 8 days duration.

Skeletonized plates with seven screwed pillars, wheels of 6 crossings and high count pinions.
4 legged gravity escapement with the gravity arms running in PTFE bushes.
Hand-blued steel screws, and hybrid ceramic bearings throughout the train.
Super Invar pendulum rod with fine adjustment together with weight tray, beating against a hand waxed and silvered beat scale.


I made the cases



Who supplied the movement?

It looks very nice.

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Re: Skeleton Clock

Postby bugbear » 27 Nov 2014, 11:19

While I'm on;

Rod - very nice work, and equally nice photography of the work.

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Re: Skeleton Clock

Postby Rod » 27 Nov 2014, 12:00

Yes the parts are exposed and usually covered by a glass case or dome.
This is a completed one I photographed at a Show:

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The bottom tool is a scraper, used with the burnisher above, to polish the inside of the gear wheel spokes.


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Re: Skeleton Clock

Postby Commander » 03 Dec 2015, 06:15

Very very impressive Rod! Can't wait to see the finished item! And for your next project perhaps a miniature steam engine?
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Re: Skeleton Clock

Postby Pinch » 03 Dec 2015, 09:06

I'm with Erich on that - very cool stuff indeed 8-)
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