VHS AND DVD VIDEOS BY W. R. SMITH

TOOLING THE WORKSHOP FOR CLOCKMAKERS & MODELMAKERS
By W. R. Smith

This 2-hour video is extremely detailed and offers many things: See how a bench lathe can be configured to do horizontal milling work by the use of an inexpensive mill drill spindle. See how a simple riser block can allow vertical milling on the same lathe. Learn to use the dividing plate and mill/drill spindle for cutting gears and pinions. Watch the free hand grinding of sheet metal drills, which cut a truly circular hole in extremely thin metal. Examine a simple motor mount for driving mill/drill spindles on three axes. Learn how simple it is to make an index plate from scratch and without the need for another dividing plate or index head. Watch how slide locks can be added to a Sherline lathe. See the hand turning of hardened and tempered steel in a Sherline lathe using the W. R. Smith T-rest, now being offered by Sherline. See how to make a saw table for the T-rest.  Learn how to make a filing rest and index a Sherline lathe for filing triangles, squares, hexes, etc. Learn the free-hand grinding of fly cutters and the hardening of them by the disappearing shadow method. Then watch the tempering of these cutters by the heat/color method. See how easily carbon steel parts can be blued with heat for a nice finish.

Comments by Jerry Kenney (www.clocktools.com) – Bill has reached back to remember what he went through developing the shop he has now, and has made a video directed to practical ways for mechanics to make clock and other parts before they have every tool or machine on their wish list. This video is invaluable to anyone just starting to equip a shop, to anyone with a space problem, or to anyone unable to justify the cost of an extensively equipped machine shop. Bills new video is an unlocked box of tricks and secrets collected over a lifetime of finding a way to get any job done. I received an advanced copy of the video and, on second viewing, I began to make a list of specific items which I though were separate techniques or subjects. These are in addition to basic turning, and can be performed with a conventional bench lathe such as a Myford or South Bend, or a micro-lathe such as the Sherline. I noted twenty ideas before I lost count (some got past me) as well as a few other little tricks and ideas supplementing the main theme of the video. I learned several things, especially practical shortcuts, and I am not going to give them away. Bill Smith has placed a lot of emphasis on the use of Sherline products. He is not connected with the company, and I asked him why he emphasized Sherline products. His answer is in line with the objective of the video: "They are available at an affordable price." I have to say that I would much rather have my Waltham-Nashua # 3 toolmaker's lathe (which are almost totally unavailable) or my 9" South Bend (good used ones now sell for more than the original purchase price). I was not an advocate of early Sherline products, but the company is continually improving its line, so I have to back off in the face of reality. Furthermore, Bill has included some improvements to these lathes that can be made by their owners. Sherline has even adopted some of his suggestions. Getting to specifics, Bill has shown how to make gears and pinions on a lathe, how to do both horizontal and vertical milling on the same lathe, making and using dividing plates for wheel cutting, the former with just the use of a steel tape measure! There are numerous ideas for drilling, making, and special grinding of drills, drilling lantern pinions, steps for making fly-cutters for wheels and pinions, and much valuable information about forming, hardening, and tempering tool steel. Want to know how to use your lathe for a metal cutting table saw, or a filing device? It's all here, including how to make the attachments. There is a section of this video on spinning metal. This is the technique used to make pendulum bobs, bezels, and a lot of decorative hardware on clocks. I said I would not reveal any of Bill's secrets, but I learned about a lubricant that will certainly improve the finish of my spinnings; and that's as much as I am willing to reveal. In fairness, I have to say that this is not a video directed to craftsmen with well-equipped machine shops. Having said that, I do know that even the most advanced workmen are likely to learn a thing or two or three from this video. It prompts thought and ideas extending beyond the scope of the video. The video is certainly directed to anyone trying to expand his proficiency without waiting to get a fully equipped machine shop. I wish I had experienced the benefits of information like this forty years ago. Bill Smith is very emphatic that he makes his tapes, and writes his books, in order to pass on a lifetime of experience in horology and engineering. I understand his motives because I share them. Here we are, two old men trying to make our experience eaningful. (Bill is 78, and will get mad at me for telling.) I won't speak for myself, but Bill's information is worth hearing, seeing and reading.

This video is offered in both VHS tape and the standard DVD-R format at $60 postpaid in the US and Canada by the author/publisher.  (See purchasing details below.)

WORKSHOP PROCEDURES FOR CLOCKMAKERS & MODELMAKERS 
By W. R. Smith
 

This 2-hour video is filled with unusual workshop tooling & techniques. Learn eight ways to index a lathe, including CNC. Learn how to make index plates from scratch. See the cutting of internal and external teeth on a ring gear of 4.5 " ID and 5.5 " OD. Watch concave and convex turning on a standard non-CNC bench lathe. See how easily a damascene pattern can be created on a surface with the simplest of tooling. Watch how a lathe can be used to remove and replace in-barrel, heavy duty mainsprings. Learn a simple way to remove lantern pinion pins and replace them without the purchase of special tools. Watch the use of a complete Sherline headstock assembly mounted at lathe center height for radial drilling See it being used as a vertical mill, or being used for cutting gear teeth. Watch a 19.1" OD Masonite disk being machined on a 7" Myford Super 7B lathe! Learn a simple method for the end to end transfer of circumferential spacing on cylinders. See how easily the direction of rotation of a sewing machine motor can be reversed. Watch the replacing of a broken pivot. See three mainspring length gages, each of which can indicate the correct length of an in-barrel spring without measurements or calculations. Watch the use of the ingenious McDuffIe drive system being used for powering live spindles on the bench lathe. This extremely detailed video is a remarkable source of information for the serious craftsman—clockmaker, modelmaker or machinist

GRAVER MAKING AND HAND TURNING FOR CLOCKMAKERS 
By W. R. Smith
 

Click HERE for larger image.

Gravers for hand turning operations are among the most useful of all cutting  tools available. Because they are used freehand, considerable time can be saved by avoiding the need for form tools. And they are fast. Thus, this 2-hour video is a must for clockmakers and modelmakers. For example, a 1/16” OD pivot 3/16” long can be cut on a 1/8” OD tempered steel rod, the end of the pivot rounded and the shoulder chamfered in less than 1-minute.

It shows how to make gravers from the finest available steel and develop the skills required for using them. A unique and rapid technique for shaping gravers on a bench grinder and honing them with only four or five strokes on an India stone is demonstrated. This method is the fastest of all hand sharpening methods and has never before been offered in the literature. An enlarged model is used for demonstrating the basic hand turning techniques. A method for making the handles is also demonstrated.

These gravers will cut almost every metal encountered in the clock shop without the need to resort to the use of tungsten carbide tools, which chip far too easily to be useful for most work. This video can teach you more in two hours than you would learn on your own in most of a lifetime.

WHEEL CUTTING, PINION MAKING
AND DEPTHING FOR CLOCKMAKERS 
By W. R. Smith
 

This 2-hour video, made in the W. R. Smith workshop, explains in details the methods for calculating clock wheels and pinions using the wheel cutter module, M. These yield the circular pitch, the wheel blank OD, the lantern pinion pitch circle diameter and the pinion pin diameters.

Various ways for mounting wheel blanks are discussed, leading to the choice of the W. R. Smith super glue arbor, which allows more work to be done on the mounted wheel blank than any other type arbor. After the blank has been mounted, details are shown for determining the proper depth for the wheel cutter, and the proper techniques for cutting the wheel teeth.

The design for a depthing tool is offered and detailed instructions of its use for finding the correct center distance between the wheel and pinion pivot holes is demonstrated.

This is the video needed by those wishing to learn how to cut clock wheels and make lantern pinions from scratch. It will help avoid the many “boat anchors” bought by people in their efforts to learn the proper way to make clock wheels and lantern pinions.

This video is available from the author/publisher at $60 postpaid in the US and Canada. (See purchasing information below.)

W. R. Smith
8049 Camberley Drive
Powell, TN 37849-4218
Phone: 865-947-9671
E-mail: WRSmith2@AOL.COM.

Credit cards cannot be accepted but a personal check, a postal
money order, or cash is OK. Check for shipping cost outside the U.S.
(For those who wish to order online with a credit card or PayPal,
you may visit my dealer, Jerry Kenney, at www.clocktools.com.)