After seeing the A&E movie "Longitude" about the Harrison clocks, I got
to wondering what tools and methods old time clock makers and machinists
use. Does anybody do stuff like gear making by hand today?


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Tom,
Do a google for W.R. Smith. He is a master clockmaker and I'm sure his site
would answer some of your questions.
Bob Swinney
"Tom Del Rosso" wrote in message
...
After seeing the A&E movie "Longitude" about the Harrison clocks, I got
to wondering what tools and methods old time clock makers and machinists
use. Does anybody do stuff like gear making by hand today?


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-Reply in group, but if emailing add 2 more zeros-
-and remove the obvious-

Tom Del Rosso squeezed out:

After seeing the A&E movie "Longitude" about the Harrison clocks, I
got to wondering what tools and methods old time clock makers and
machinists
use. Does anybody do stuff like gear making by hand today?



"Old time" did not necessarily mean without tools.. There are many
good books on the subject of tools.

Check out this guys rather traditional approach. I had a great talk
with him recently at the Estevan Model Engineers show. His fusee
cutting engine is amazing. Very traditional skill set.. heh

http://www.angelfire.com/sd/rronnie/

http://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/Ronnie.htm

Jerry was a ton of fun as well. He was cutting balance staffs on a
Sherline lathe... or at least claiming to. He handed me a demo he had
done many of for Sherline events that was claimed to be a 3/4" shaft
cut in six passes down to .009" then drilled a .005" hole in the end..
All that struck me when I was looking at it was that he nailed the hole
dead centre.. eheh very nice workmanship.

http://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/Kieffer.htm

For the time being, all these links and more can be accessed via
http://clocker.hypermart.net

Cheers! Ian.

On my site I have a series of pics showing the process of making new wheels
and pinions.

http://www.historictimekeepers.com/Wheelsteps.htm

However, in the very early days, the wheel was divided with a slotting saw
and then the teeth were *filed* in a jig using a file with the tooth
profile. Kind of like the setup used in filing a chain saw.

From there it went to "rounding up" cutters. These cutters (still useful
today) work like a circular file. I still fine it hard to believe that they
were made. The wheel is profiled to the tooth shape. Also, the thickness
of the wheel starts thin and gradually comes to full thickness. The sides
of the wheel (on the profile) are milled to provide a filing action as the
rounding up cutter spins in the slot on the wheel blank. To top it off, the
cutters have an attachment to catch the next tooth and automatically index
it into position.

This was the process used to make many Swiss music box gears and watch gears
in the early 19th century. When I have an oddball wheel for which I don't
have a cutter, I use this method.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, this tool was used to reduce the
wheel diameter and putting a proper shape on the teeth. Hence the name
"topping tool". Some people think it can be used to correct a decentered
wheel. However, this is not true. When used on a decentered wheel, the
teeth thicknesses are not uniform. Rounding up refers to rounding the tooth
tips.

--
Regards,
Dewey Clark http://www.historictimekeepers.com
Ebay Sales:
http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAP...ems&userid=dsc
Restorations, Parts for Hamilton M21s, Products for Craftsmen
Makers of Historic Timekeepers Ultrasonic Clock Cleaning Solution

"Tom Del Rosso" wrote in message
...
After seeing the A&E movie "Longitude" about the Harrison clocks, I got
to wondering what tools and methods old time clock makers and machinists
use. Does anybody do stuff like gear making by hand today?


--
-Reply in group, but if emailing add 2 more zeros-
-and remove the obvious-

"dddd" wrote in message
...
On my site I have a series of pics showing the process of making new
wheels
and pinions.

http://www.historictimekeepers.com/Wheelsteps.htm


However, in the very early days, the wheel was divided with a slotting saw
and then the teeth were *filed* in a jig using a file with the tooth
profile. Kind of like the setup used in filing a chain saw.

From there it went to "rounding up" cutters. These cutters (still useful
today) work like a circular file. I still fine it hard to believe that
they
were made. The wheel is profiled to the tooth shape. Also, the thickness
of the wheel starts thin and gradually comes to full thickness. The sides
of the wheel (on the profile) are milled to provide a filing action as the
rounding up cutter spins in the slot on the wheel blank. To top it off,
the
cutters have an attachment to catch the next tooth and automatically index
it into position.

Wow, that's impressive, Dewey. Do you make the files or the rounding-up
cutters, or are those available commercially?

Ed Huntress





This was the process used to make many Swiss music box gears and watch
gears
in the early 19th century. When I have an oddball wheel for which I don't
have a cutter, I use this method.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, this tool was used to reduce the
wheel diameter and putting a proper shape on the teeth. Hence the name
"topping tool". Some people think it can be used to correct a decentered
wheel. However, this is not true. When used on a decentered wheel, the
teeth thicknesses are not uniform. Rounding up refers to rounding the
tooth
tips.

--
Regards,
Dewey Clark http://www.historictimekeepers.com
Ebay Sales:
http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAP...ems&userid=dsc
Restorations, Parts for Hamilton M21s, Products for Craftsmen
Makers of Historic Timekeepers Ultrasonic Clock Cleaning Solution

"Tom Del Rosso" wrote in message
...
After seeing the A&E movie "Longitude" about the Harrison clocks, I got
to wondering what tools and methods old time clock makers and machinists
use. Does anybody do stuff like gear making by hand today?


--
-Reply in group, but if emailing add 2 more zeros-
-and remove the obvious-

For some reason a reply to your post was not loading.
Ed,

If you know what you are looking for, the rounding up cutters and rounding
up tools can be found. Thank God I found mine before sellers found eBay.
The cutters are marked in 100ths of a module and I have a complete set
through 60 and some to 1.0. Its like everything else, when it is your
business you seek out what you need to have.

However, I don't think the cutters have been made since the 1940s. Luckily,
the vast majority of watchmakers who owned such tools knew what they were
and so did their families. So a number survive in good shape.

How in the world they made those cutters is a mystery to me. Was a lot more
work than making a modern mutitoothed profile gear cutter.




--
Regards,
Dewey Clark http://www.historictimekeepers.com
Ebay Sales:
http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAP...ems&userid=dsc
Restorations, Parts for Hamilton M21s, Products for Craftsmen
Makers of Historic Timekeepers Ultrasonic Clock Cleaning Solution

"dddd" wrote in message
...
For some reason a reply to your post was not loading.

I think the servers are rejecting my name because I've been posting so much
that they think I'm a spammer. g

Ed,

If you know what you are looking for, the rounding up cutters and rounding
up tools can be found. Thank God I found mine before sellers found eBay.
The cutters are marked in 100ths of a module and I have a complete set
through 60 and some to 1.0. Its like everything else, when it is your
business you seek out what you need to have.

However, I don't think the cutters have been made since the 1940s.
Luckily,
the vast majority of watchmakers who owned such tools knew what they were
and so did their families. So a number survive in good shape.

How in the world they made those cutters is a mystery to me. Was a lot
more
work than making a modern mutitoothed profile gear cutter.

They are some interesting tools, Dewey. One of my old co-editors, George
Schaffer, was a clock enthusiast and an amateur restorer. He always had some
interesting bit of history to tell about it.

Ed Huntress