Working on watch parts

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WarrenP

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Hi Everyone, I am trying to repair a pocket watch gear but the part is so small my chuck in the lathe wont hold the part. I was thinking I could get a something like a drill press chuck with a small closing hole and a bar that would come out of the back to tighten in my lathe chuck then use the smaller drill press chuck to hold the part. Does anyone know where I can get something like that? Thanks for any help. Warren
 
My 1/4"keyless chucks will go as low as a .008" diameter. A straight shank adapter will allow it to be mounted in your lathe chuck. Runout will be the issue though. It would be best to use a four jaw chuck on the lathe and dial the smaller chuck in for zero runout.

An ER20 collet chuck can mount a .020" diameter.
 
A search for “micro chuck” should yield quite a few choices, but as has already been said, runout will likely be a problem. I have a few of these and they work for small things but really the precision isn’t what I’d put up for working on watch or even clock parts. But they’re not expensive so you could always try one.

-frank

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I have an Albrecht 0-3/8" chuck that is very nice. I just saw one on evil bay for $75.
 
I have a Unimat lathe as well for small parts. That or a Taig would serve you well.
 
I would think that a Morse taper collet would be your best option. It would probably be the most accurate way to hold your parts by minimizing interfaces.
 
Could you use round bar that will fit in your lathe and bore/counterbore it to hold your part? A custom collet of sorts. Slit or set screw the side to clamp. runout should go to near zero I would think
 
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