Recent Tool Purchases

Sometimes it seems that clock restoration is just an excuse to buy more tools. Here Steve shares some of his recent purchases!

Originally built to handle work connected with the timing fuses of large shells, this miniature precision milling machine has always excited the imagination of machine-tool enthusiasts. Although difficult to judge from the pictures, the Derbyshire Micromill was a tiny machine, about the size of a portable typewriter, with equally miniscule movements of its slides: the head could be moved vertically through just 1.73" (44 mm); the cross travel was 1.26" ( 32 mm) and the longitudinal feed 3.15" (80 mm). Because the table travel was so short, only 3.15" (85mm), a lever-operated cam was chosen as the easiest and cheapest way of providing a smooth, sensitive yet positive movement. The cam, in the shape of a sector and turning on the end of a block of metal screwed to left-hand face of the cross slide, carried a slot near its periphery formed in the shape of an arch; fitted closely into this was a lug that extended from the end of the table.

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Originally built to handle work connected with the timing fuses of large shells, this miniature precision milling machine has always excited the imagination of machine-tool enthusiasts. Although difficult to judge from the pictures, the Derbyshire Micromill was a tiny machine, about the size of a portable typewriter, with equally miniscule movements of its slides: the head could be moved vertically through just 1.73" (44 mm); the cross travel was 1.26" ( 32 mm) and the longitudinal feed 3.15" (80 mm). Because the table travel was so short, only 3.15" (85mm), a lever-operated cam was chosen as the easiest and cheapest way of providing a smooth, sensitive yet positive movement. The cam, in the shape of a sector and turning on the end of a block of metal screwed to left-hand face of the cross slide, carried a slot near its periphery formed in the shape of an arch; fitted closely into this was a lug that extended from the end of the table.

derbyshire micromill