The last machining operation on the 3/4 plate is to cut out the recess for the sliding and winding pinions. I disliked the lathe mill setup for this work because it was clunky and obstructed view of the work. In living up to my own personal motto of 'doing what I can with what I got where I am' I turned one of the precision drill presses into a mill by securing the slide rest from the Levin lathe to the drilling platform.
Then the only remaining hurdle was to find a way to affix the watch plate to the slide rest. I accomplished this by fashioning a brass clamp out of scrap metal which can be fitted into a tool holder. This all worked much better than expected.
UPDATE: After attempting on the actual plate, there was just too much drift due to the flexing of the plate. It rendered the part functional, but not to a standard I wished to achieve. I am not giving up on this method however, next time the plate just needs to be reinforced by sandwiching it with another piece of metal to prevent the flexing.
Then the only remaining hurdle was to find a way to affix the watch plate to the slide rest. I accomplished this by fashioning a brass clamp out of scrap metal which can be fitted into a tool holder. This all worked much better than expected.
UPDATE: After attempting on the actual plate, there was just too much drift due to the flexing of the plate. It rendered the part functional, but not to a standard I wished to achieve. I am not giving up on this method however, next time the plate just needs to be reinforced by sandwiching it with another piece of metal to prevent the flexing.
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