# My little lathe



## tmuir (Mar 7, 2009)

I finally got the drive belt for my BTM watchmakers lathe yesterday so today assembled it all.

Most parts I had previously stripped down, cleaned and unstuck so with the exception of the gravers needing rehoning it's ready to go.
I was going to strip and respray the crinkle paint on the base today but I couldn't find the paint. 

Here it is with one of the small bushes I need to make for Renown overflow plugs.

This lathe will make it much easier for me to finish this part.
It is set in a 4.8mm collet.







Close up





It's just a little smaller than my other lathe. :big:






Here it is set up to use the graver.





Here is all the other goodies I have to use with it.





After some 21 or 22 years of this thing lying dormant I've finally got it going again.
This BTM lathe was made in England during the second war to service Allied equipment and is basically a copy of the Bolley lathe and used to belong to my great grandfather who was a watchmaker.


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## chuck foster (Mar 7, 2009)

very interesting little lathe, looks like you have lots of tooling to go with it.
i also think great grampa would be happy knowing it is still being used.

chuck


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## Tin Falcon (Mar 7, 2009)

Great little lathe I have seen an asking price of several thousand USD for similar lathes in the states all that tooling make it a lot more usable and valuable clean er up restore her use her and when the time comes pass it on to your grand kids. 
Tin


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## tmuir (Mar 7, 2009)

Yes it's worth more than my 'big' lathe.

I watch ebay UK for parts for it but every time parts for my lathe come up they go for huge money.

I like modern equipment but there is something special about using older tools and equipment.


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## seagar (Mar 12, 2009)

I really like the lathe.I,m an old thing and like old things.

could you please tell me about the drive belt and where you got it.I have just purchased an old lathe and need a belt.

Ian.


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## cfellows (Mar 13, 2009)

Love those old Jeweller's lathes. Keep thinking I ought to have one, even if it's just to put it on display on a shelf in my study, you know, kind of like one of my engines!

Chuck


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## tmuir (Mar 14, 2009)

seagar  said:
			
		

> I really like the lathe.I,m an old thing and like old things.
> 
> could you please tell me about the drive belt and where you got it.I have just purchased an old lathe and need a belt.
> 
> Ian.



I got the belt from ebay from a seller in China.
I tried but couldn't find it locally and his preice wasn't too bad.
He also sells a lot of new stuff for watchmakers lathes although I don't know how good the quality of that stuff is but figured you can't go much wrong with the belt.
Bought it and I'm happy with it.
The seller posted quickly and sent me a Pm telling me when he had done that.
I always like it when sellers tell me when they have posted.

This is the guys ebay shop.
http://search.ebay.com.au/_W0QQsassZsmashwatch


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## raggle (Mar 14, 2009)

In UK Tony Griffiths sells appropriate belting

http://www.lathes.co.uk/page4.html

With the current state of £Sterling it may be a good deal for overseas.

I bought 5mm plastic belting same colour as seen on the lathe above for my Unimats.
I ordered by phone in the afternoon and received it next day. Wonderful.

Welding's a kitchen job with SWMBO heating up a table knife and you holding the ends of the belt butted up against it. She slowly withdraws the knife and you press the hot ends together and hold till cool-ish.

Particularly good for pulleys with fixed centres like the Unimat and it certainly transformed its performance. I was fed up of trying to find O-rings that would do the job.

An ongoing project is the restoration of my Super Adept - http://www.lathes.co.uk/adept/index.html - to be driven by a treadle (foot motor) that I have been storing/moving for years. I have used a leather belt for this in the past, but Tony's price for leather or plastic is the same. When it comes to it being presented to my grandson I'm sure his mother would rather not have a metal staple running past his leg. (Ok, he's only 3 months old at present, but ya gotta plan) I won't let on there are other sharp bits associated with it.



Ray


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