Small Mechanical Things of Interest

[Onomea]

Reading the sewing machine thread, I am reminded that I like sewing machines. I have never owned or used one, but I like 'em.

(My wife has a couple, and has occasionally upgraded over the years. She does not sew as much as she did when she was younger, but still does occasionally. I think she would no sooner be without a sewing machine than I would be without basic hand tools.)

I also like mechanical watches, and a few years ago dabbled in American Railroad pocket watches. Bought three, two Hamiltons from the 40s and 50s, and a 1921 Illinois Sangamo Special. I enjoy having them, caring for them, displaying them, handling them, but very rarely wear one.



And, of course, I like guns, especially handguns and especially revolvers.

Yesterday, motivated by the sewing machine thread, I was recalling a steam engine I had as a boy, and looking at eBay steam engines...

I was wondering what else small and mechanical of interest to forum members is out there?

 

[Fishinfool]

Yep, I find almost anything of a small and complicated mechanical construction to be interesting. I like, and have a small collection of 1960's - 1970's mechanical cameras that come to mind for complexity if you ever pull the case coverings off to have a see whats inside.

Larry

 

[bdGreen]

I, too, have been a railroad watch fan. I find it mesmerizing to view the lilliputian activity going on in the Hamilton's movements.

I have owned only three. And now I don't own any as I chose to move them on to new owners.

My whole career involved troubleshooting and repairing very intricate mechanisms employed to manufacture micro-electronic components. I was good at it and truly enjoyed each and every challenge.

bdGreen

Tap on image to enlarge.

 

[arjay]

I have a few pocket pocket watches and when my son was young I built him an ho train table in the laundry room. I pulled the trains out of storage awhile back,wandered over to eBay and started buying more. I have no layout,but I bet I have 30 locomotives and 100 cars displayed around here lol

 

[Bald1]

Mechanical things have become a thing of the past. Everything is micro chips now. I have a Ball Watch Co RR pocket watch that belonged to my dad. I have a couple mechanicals in my watch collection. I also enjoy working on old outboards. I have a special soft spot for old British Seagull outboards. A thing of beauty in it's simplicity.

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

When I was younger and didn't shake and could see, I operated a Levin jewelers turret lathe. It was no toy, and I machined diameters as small as .010 of an inch, and then drilled a .007 diameter hole through it. Nobody in our company, including me, knew how to drill such small diameters. I figured out how to do it on the Levin. It's a whole different process, but I really enjoyed doing something that nobody else was allowed to tackle. They just dumped the material and drawings on the table and walked away. The thought just popped into my little mind...... A .010 diameter with a .007 diameter hole drilled in it has a wall thickness of .0015, or 1/2 the thickness of a sheet of printer paper.

Now I can't see well enough to do interesting stuff like that. :-(

Have a blessed day,

Leon

 

[Grayfox]

My Grandfathers old Waltham. Unfortunately, it won't stay running. After just an hour so, it stops. I've tried to have it repaired, but so far efforts haven't held.
Now days it sits in a small dome on the mantle. A reminder of a man I loved.

 

[lihpster]

I've always kinda wanted a Stirling engine.

 

[Oldiron]

Spending part of my working life at IBM, adjusting mechanical stuff to 1/1000 was no biggie. My best time was adjusting the Auto flight control and the Flight director system circuits to null at less than 1/1,000,000 Volt on the Chopper systems. Ah yes, the good old days when my eyes could see and my fingers could feel Small stuff.
Larry

 

[Onomea]

I've always kinda wanted a Stirling engine.

I like that idea! $20 for a cheap one on Amazon. Would be a fun gizmo to have in the bookcase.

 

[ACORN]

I always wanted a model steam engine and one day I discovered Jensen's makes them about 5 miles from me.

Jensen Steam Engine's only concession to high technology!!!!

I've always been fascinated by mechanical devices. I must have torn hundreds of ball point pens as a kid trying to figure out how the point retracted.
Much to my fathers consternation.
I think that's why I like revolvers, the interaction of the internal parts with one another.

 

[DWalt]

My interest in mechanical devices is clocks rather than watches. I have around 20 of them at present, all sizes, the oldest I have being from around 1730. I used to buy, sell, and trade them, but haven't done much of that for the last 20 years. I still work on them to a limited extent, but nothing like I used to.

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

I had an older friend that built clocks for one of his many hobbies. He had one that he gave me, (pieces in a box),if I could put the pieces back together. I brought it back to him the next morning, assembled correctly.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

 

[Stevens]

A couple of days ago I was repairing a hinge anchor point, some of the wood holding the screws had stripped out, on this Hamilton Ship's Chronometer's wooden box. It is all back together now and the repairs don't show. This chronometer was built in 1906, still runs and keeps exact time. I don't run it all the time but once in a while wind it up, it will run out after two days.
A beautiful piece of machinery!
Steve W

 

[Skeet 028]

I've got a few pocket watches and also watches ladies wore on their blouses(bodice?). My wite hung them in an old window she made into a kinda shadow box...she also put my collection of straight razors into a shadow box. I was a barber for awhile in a galaxy far away. Only a few of the razors and a couple of hand clippers. Some of the razors are over a 100 years old. Wife collects old lamps 2 gas lamps from Grand Central Station..kerosene students lamp, she has my grandmothers Old Home treadle sewing machine(it works fine). She recently got a very unique floor lamp free at a yard sale. It is really different as it is a pre WWII fluorescent lamp with 3 16 inch bulbs. We took it to a fellow that rewires lamps and he was really impressed. We have since turned down 1200 dollars for it from an antique dealer...and it needs new cloth on the original shade. 2 bedroom lamps she has came from a Bordello in Cody

 

[Llance]

My collecting started with survey instruments, theodolites and contractors levels. Then i got into camping stoves, Coleman, then Primus, Optimus, Seva, and the like. My dad's level had broken cross hairs, so I replaced them with spider web. Works fine. I think I have mentioned before in this site how my stepfather taught me how to repair accordions. That's always fun to have the reeds of an accordion laid out on the work bench so you can fix a torn bellows. It makes fixing a gun almost childs play.