A week of turning

The master at work

After the students learned how to setup the lathe, they have been turning non-stop.  They have been practicing the different shapes of pivots, for example, square shoulders, convex cones, concave cones, and rounded tips and many others. At the end of the week the students also learned how to disassemble the lathes and service them, as should be done regularly.

Theren working on the lathe

Tomas servicing the lathe 

The square shoulder with a conical tip

On the weekend Costya perfected his skills in burnishing.  He had a lot of fun as you can see in the picture below.

Costya happily burnishing

The students have received their last micromechanics' tool, the micrometer.  These micrometers are accurate to the micron, and these lucky students even got them on discount!

Unpacking the micrometer

Extracurricular activities

The students had a debate over whether diamonds would burn.  One student saw on youtube that diamonds could be burned over a stream of liquid oxygen, but one other student wouldn't believe it.  Being the scientist that they are the students decided to find out Myth Buster style!  We just happened to have a piece of broken low quality diamond lying around.
In conclusion, we proved that diamonds aren't forever!

The setup

The diamond was burned for 10min straight with a torch

The diamond before and after under a microscope

This week the students learned how to hand turn on the 8mm lathe.  They had to hand sharpen their gravers and modify them to specific angles designed for better cuts.  Now the students need to practice making perfect cylinders and shoulders, along with cones and rounded pivots.

Tomas and Theren setting up their 8mm lathes

Last weekend we had the special opportunity to visit the AHCI (Academie Horlogere Des Createurs Independants) 30th Anniversary at the Musee d'horlogerie International in La-Chaux-de-fonds.  It was a great opportunity to see the superstars in the watch industry.

The opening ceremony of the AHCI 30th anniversary exhibit

Just another "Boring" week

Last week the students learned how to center the boring cutter to a premade hole.  To give you a better understanding of how a Jig Borer cuts, one of our students took a slow motion video of the jig borer doing its business.

http://replayapp.com/v/WX9Xr5qAZO/

Using a dial gauge to center hole

Tomas measuring length of the piece using the microscope

Theren and Simone tried a different set up with the milling machine to accomplish special designs to their tools.

Simone making a trapezoid with the milling machine 

Theren making side slots on his piece

Fondue and Exams, the perfect menu

Everyone stuffing themselves with cheese fondue

On Monday the school hosted this years first Fondue party! All our students were invited along with some friends of the school.  It was the first time many of our students had cheese fondue.     They had a lot of fun and are looking forward to the next school event.

Tomas and Theren taking a practice exam

It is also exams week!  Our students have been working hard preparing for the exams all week.  The first exam consists of filing two pieces of brass into specific dimensions within the tolerance of 0.05mm.

Screw for the graver handle, made by Simone

Simone made a shuriken-shaped screw with the lathe and milling head attachment.  

Jig Boring on a snowy May day

This week our students learned how to use the Jig Borer.  They did a small exercise scribing and milling out holes on a brass plate. It is the most precise machine we have in the school, accurate to 3 microns! 

Theren setting up the Jig Borer

The students are almost finished with the tools.  In a couple weeks they will start with actual watch parts, winding stems!

 

We also had a visitor who brought a Ulysse Nardin Royal Blue.  It is a watch with a movement made mostly out of sapphire. It is a beautiful watch with only 99 pieces made in the world.

The Royal Blue

The second surprise today was that it snowed!

Snow in May

Milling with the lathe and Bench tests

This week we had our first Mongolian female bench tester, her name is Darima.
She currently works in the watch industry but came to Switzerland to get a better understanding of how a watch is made.

Darima doing the taster course

We had a new student, Simone, who joined us last week for the fullskill program.  He has some catching up to do!

Simone having fun filing

For the fullskill course, our students have been working on the Schaublin 70 Lathe.  Aside from turning with the lathe our students also learned how to drill and mill using the same machine.

Henrik showing the students how to set up the milling head

Darima also brought a Minute repeater pocket watch from Mongolia hoping to have it repaired and serviced.  Although in the end it wasn't repaired, it was a great movement for the students to see.  It is not everyday that we have a super complication in the school!

The pocket watch with the case closed

The dial of the pocket watch

The minute repeater super complication up close

Turning,milling and a visit

In the last few weeks the students tried out the Aciera F1 manual mill for the first time, they will later use this machine to make tools and watch parts. We also went on  a visit to the museum in le Sentier, Valle de Joux Espace Horloger where they had a demonstration on forgotten watch restoration techniques, although it’s a bit early for the students to comprehend fully what was demonstrated they still  got a good impression on how watchmakers restoring watches may work. The students will later in the course learn similar techniques.

Tomas practicing manual milling on the Aciera F1

Theren practicing turning on the Schaublin 70

Nicholas a new taster course student practicing polishing

Entry to the museum.

The local watchmaker demonstrating how to fit and vibrate a steel hairspring to an antique watch.

New hairspring fitted to the collet and balance.

Vibrating the hairspring to obtain the correct length.

And finally the hairspring with balance fitted in the movement.

Nice information boards in 3 languages.