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I don't know anything about watch making, I'm just wondering are the gears etc. these days mainly milled with a CNC machine? I assume there's a lot of skill in

I don't know anything about watch making, I'm just wondering are the gears etc. these days mainly milled with a CNC machine? I assume there's a lot of skill in assembling as well. I'm very curious how they made gears etc. say a 100 years ago too considering they're so tiny.

grp 9y ago
It depends of the quantity you need, but there is some that use stamping to make gears. But you can also saw the profile manually. Assembling is hard but doable, the hardest part is the adjustment!
- anfractuosity 9y ago
  Interesting! I'd not thought you could make them by stamping.
- zokier 9y ago
  > But you can also saw the profile manually. That is something I've wondered; until what scale is that really feasible? Because fancy indexing lathes, gear cutters and CNCs bring in kinda high barrier to entry, but a jewelers saw (presumably?) and a vise are far more approachable for a hobbyist.
Rapzid 9y ago
IIRC tools for making time pieces were the most precise of their time; custom ordered and very expensive. The history of the persuit of time keeping accuracy, and its important to much of modern civilization, is very interesting IMHO.
jacquesm 9y ago
There are many skills that come to play in watchmaking. Gears are typically made with a gearcutter, a precision indexing instrument that revolves a 'blank' through all the gear spur positions to cut the gear halves one-by-one from the blank until the whole gear is done. If you're going to use a high quality hardened steel bit for the cutter and a much more mild material (such as brass) for the gears then you should get a lot of stand time out of a cutting bit. Another technique you might try is etching, which can be used to make quite high precision parts. And if you want to do some minor automation it is fairly easy to see how a bit of knowledge about stepper drivers and basic machining might help you to create a reasonably accurate and quick automated gear cutter. An off-the-shelf CNC machine that will cut gears for you is possible but one that is precise enough for watchmaking will set you back a small fortune. Making your own tools and toolbits is a good part of the fun of a project like this.
- anfractuosity 9y ago
  Cheers I'd not heard of a gear cutter before. Also etching sounds an interesting approach too.
icantdrive55 9y ago
100 years ago they were made on a hand crank hobbing tool, or wheel engine. I don't know about these days.

grp 9y ago

It depends of the quantity you need, but there is some that use stamping to make gears. But you can also saw the profile manually. Assembling is hard but doable, the hardest part is the adjustment!

anfractuosity 9y ago
Interesting! I'd not thought you could make them by stamping.
zokier 9y ago
> But you can also saw the profile manually. That is something I've wondered; until what scale is that really feasible? Because fancy indexing lathes, gear cutters and CNCs bring in kinda high barrier to entry, but a jewelers saw (presumably?) and a vise are far more approachable for a hobbyist.

Rapzid 9y ago

IIRC tools for making time pieces were the most precise of their time; custom ordered and very expensive. The history of the persuit of time keeping accuracy, and its important to much of modern civilization, is very interesting IMHO.

jacquesm 9y ago

There are many skills that come to play in watchmaking. Gears are typically made with a gearcutter, a precision indexing instrument that revolves a 'blank' through all the gear spur positions to cut the gear halves one-by-one from the blank until the whole gear is done. If you're going to use a high quality hardened steel bit for the cutter and a much more mild material (such as brass) for the gears then you should get a lot of stand time out of a cutting bit. Another technique you might try is etching, which can be used to make quite high precision parts. And if you want to do some minor automation it is fairly easy to see how a bit of knowledge about stepper drivers and basic machining might help you to create a reasonably accurate and quick automated gear cutter. An off-the-shelf CNC machine that will cut gears for you is possible but one that is precise enough for watchmaking will set you back a small fortune. Making your own tools and toolbits is a good part of the fun of a project like this.

anfractuosity 9y ago
Cheers I'd not heard of a gear cutter before. Also etching sounds an interesting approach too.

icantdrive55 9y ago

100 years ago they were made on a hand crank hobbing tool, or wheel engine. I don't know about these days.