Making Small Components – Part 2

Duration: 5 Days
Location: Upton Hall

Building on the skills developed in Making Small Components Part 1, this five-day practical course develops greater precision, accuracy and confidence in small-component machining, preparing students for the more advanced work covered in Part 3.

Students will manufacture a four-pot watchmaker’s oil pot to take home and use on their bench. The project introduces precision turning and boring, four-jaw chuck work, accurate centre-finding and setting up, precision measurement, controlled finishing cuts and the fitting of mating components.

Emphasis is placed on working to close tolerances, developing measurement skills and the feel required to approach a finished dimension accurately. Students will also consider order of operations, machining sequences, datums and repeatable set-ups, developing their ability to plan component manufacture.

Syllabus

• Review of precision lathe work and four-jaw chucking
• Accurate centre-finding, indicating and establishing datums
• Planning the order of operations and machining sequence
• Precision turning and boring
• Finishing cuts, spring passes and developing machining feel
• Fitting mating components
• Manufacture and completion of a four-pot watchmaker’s oil pot

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

• Plan a suitable order of operations for the manufacture of a small component
• Accurately set up a four-jaw chuck and establish reliable datums
• Turn and bore components to close tolerances
• Select and use appropriate precision measuring equipment
• Recognise and correct common errors in machining and measurement
• Fit mating components to achieve the required fit
• Carry out final machining operations on an assembled component

Students will take home their completed four-pot watchmaker’s oil pot, ready for use on their own bench.