Antique Jewellers lathe

[Woodlee]

I picked this little gem up a couple of weeks ago .

Its a Taylor 6mm jewellers or watchmakers lathe .Made in Sydney Australia
Came in a nice wooden box ( cedar I think) with some collets and a carrier plate .
I'm going to power it with an old Singer sewing machine motor .

It has the cutest little ball handles on it I have ever seen.

Kev.

[wheelinround]

what took you so long Kev

Very nice I am not showing LOML she will want to swap sox for it

[Woodlee]

Hi Ray ,
I actually "lost" the draw bar for it , when I opened the box I took out the lathe and the base and put it together , I must have picked up the drawbar and placed it on the bench , Its been so hot here I have been leaving bits of rag around the shop at strategic places for wiping my sweaty head .I must have put a rag over the draw bar on the bench .
Ive been running around like a head less chook looking for a 5MMX .7 mm taps and die to make a draw bar.
And yesterday I was making some universal joints for my dial indicator thingy for my milling machine and was at the bench , I picked up the head rag to wipe the dripping perspiration from my head , and I heard this laughing drawbar .!#^&F@@K*#!.

Quick Email to the guy I bought it from apologising for having him running around looking for the "lost" bit.

Cute little ball handles ,, hey?

Heres the uni joints for my dial indicator

[Ashore]

what an absolute gem

[wheelinround]

So now you have it tethered to it Kev ...

The Uni joints look good might have to think about making a set.

[lightwood]

Kev,
I've only seen a couple of the AU made lathes, not common at all. Nice find!! ( including the draw bar!)
I sort of collect these....and use a couple of them occasionally.
A Lorch 6mm, and the fancy 6 jaw chuck, an 8mm Lorch, another Lorch with a milling attachment, and the one I use most often, another Lorch 8mm with a gold ring on which I'm cutting a bevel on the edge.
And an 8mm collet Bergeon drill, never seen another like it before. Got that one REAL CHEAP at the HTPAA sale in July.
Regards,
Peter

[AUSSIE]

I am turning into a hijacker now.I was a bounty hunter
This post has got me going abit.In a good way.
I am about to sell my little Toyo ML1 watchmakers lathe.
I have been told it is very rare
I have the orig receipt and manual from when I bought it(1984) some orig tooling,an unused face plate,some new belts,Live centre and a 6.4mm tailstock chuck.Very little use on whole lot.I am a bit attached to the little thing,but things chance and it must go.I have bought a C3 Seig chinese lathe.I know it isnt made as good as the little toy but it is the size I need now.I have very limited space plus can use the money.
Anyhow I will stop the carp,sorry.
I have been told by another forum member it could be worth more than I think.
Could some forum members please let me know how much I should sell it for or maybe a start price on ebay.I am not sure how to sell it.

[Woodlee]

All nice pieces Peter .Very nice collection .
I bought the one I got just because I liked the look of it .There was also a little press with a heap of punches in another box that came with the lathe It has a table on it that has different sized hole in it .The table can rotate .My limited knowledge of such tools tells me it's a staking press , I guess its for punching holes or something.I will get a picture of it and post .

I noticed in the inside of the main drive pulley on the lathe , a series of small holes in the face of the pulley and I see on one of those links you sent me , they have a Chinese watchmakers lathe that has an indexing pin set up which locates in the holes in the pulley .I also see them in the picture of your lathe with the 6 jaw chuck . I'm guessing these are for indexing the spindle for filing or making settings at regular intervals or cutting gears for clocks .
My knowledge of the use of these lathes is very limited , but I have seen a couple of vids on U tube of craftsmen using them.
I need to make up some gravers so I can try it out.
I will try to get a tap and die so I can make some more collets and other bits and pieces ,as I think the 6mm stuff is hard to get.


Aussie , I have no idea what your machine is worth , these machines are out of my realm ,maybe Peter will have a better idea. .
The new Chinese watchmakers lathe I saw on Ebay US was around $1500.00US IIRC

Kev.

[lightwood]

All nice pieces Peter .Very nice collection .
I bought the one I got just because I liked the look of it .There was also a little press with a heap of punches in another box that came with the lathe It has a table on it that has different sized hole in it .The table can rotate .My limited knowledge of such tools tells me it's a staking press , I guess its for punching holes or something.I will get a picture of it and post .

I noticed in the inside of the main drive pulley on the lathe , a series of small holes in the face of the pulley and I see on one of those links you sent me , they have a Chinese watchmakers lathe that has an indexing pin set up which locates in the holes in the pulley .I also see them in the picture of your lathe with the 6 jaw chuck . I'm guessing these are for indexing the spindle for filing or making settings at regular intervals or cutting gears for clocks .
My knowledge of the use of these lathes is very limited , but I have seen a couple of vids on U tube of craftsmen using them.
I need to make up some gravers so I can try it out.
I will try to get a tap and die so I can make some more collets and other bits and pieces ,as I think the 6mm stuff is hard to get.


Aussie , I have no idea what your machine is worth , these machines are out of my realm ,maybe Peter will have a better idea. .
The new Chinese watchmakers lathe I saw on Ebay US was around $1500.00US IIRC

Kev.

Kev,
the big brass disk on my larger Lorch lathe is also an indexing wheel. They are used for gear cutting etc.
Like you Kev, I have no idea about the Japanese lathe above. It looks like a great little lathe. I did a look around the www and it looks like it has change gears for screw cutting, that is nice!
The punch set is a probably a staking set, like a set of press tools to push wheels onto shafts, bushes into clock plates, and any other press type operation on a watch or clock movement.
I sold my largish collection of watch & clock tools about a year ago, but I kept the lathes.
Antique clock and watch tools

Regards,
Peter

[Woodlee]

Peter , here are pics of the press and the tools that came with the lathe .
The press has no makers name on it so I'm not sure of it was made by the same maker as the lathe.
The tools have a bit of surface rust on them but other wise look to be in good condition.
I tried to get some info regarding the lathe and tools from the fellow I bought it from , he said it was from a deceased estate so I didn't push the issue.

Kev.

[wheelinround]

I was watching this whole sale on epay glad I wasn't biding against you Kev

[Woodlee]

Ray ,
I thought I paid a very low price for such a rarity .
Are you accusing me of blowing my dough ?

I've had a brain fart , I was going to try and get the 5mm x.7 taps and dies to make some more collets , but I just thought , why not make another draw bar with the standard 5mm x.8 thread for which I have taps and dies for and make collets as needed using this thread .
Simple really don't now why I didn't think of it before, some thing about trees and forests


Kev.

[wheelinround]

Ray ,
I thought I paid a very low price for such a rarity .
Are you accusing me of blowing my dough ?

I've had a brain fart , I was going to try and get the 5mm x.7 taps and dies to make some more collets , but I just thought , why not make another draw bar with the standard 5mm x.8 thread for which I have taps and dies for and make collets as needed using this thread .
Simple really don't now why I didn't think of it before, some thing about trees and forests


Kev.

No Kev I thought when I saw what it went for "Luck bastwerd" to find out it was you great score. you could always use it to turn miniatures on Kev.

Its nice to know I can put in an order for parts made by Kev from micro to mega with the lathes you have

[Grahame Collins]

Hi Kev.
Your lathe is a dead ringer for one my dad owned as a watchmaker jeweler.He also ran it from a Singer sewing machine motor with the electric foot treadle control.

The other tools are staking tools as already noted.

The gear these days has only a curiousity value as watchmaker s don't do much on mechanical watches.

Theres only a few old fellas around that can fix the mechanical ones. Consequently theres not much call other than curiousity value for the tools.

Seeing the gear brings back memories as as regulary got into strife for touching the old mans gear.

Grahame

[Woodlee]

Well curiosity certainly got me ,I hope to be able to use it for making smaller items and to do some hand turning .In all the years I have used lathes I have only turned nylon bar by hand ( in the same fashion as a wood lathe.)I ground up an old 12"file and used that to make concave nylon rollers for a rock drill .
Probably won't get much use , and I still have to figure out to make the gravers using HSS . Or what shapes to make.
I have the foot pedal controlled Singer motor ,which came from my Grandmother's treadle machine ,which she converted to motor power.
My Sister inherited the machine and had it restored ,but decided to leave the motor off it.

Kev