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Handmade Watch Screws
RobWilson:
Nice job Dean :thumbup:
M1 screw :jaw:
Rob
DeanDK:
Thank you everyone for your comments :beer:
speedibee - maybe I should have included a photo at the end, instead of just the thumbnail where it shows 2 blue screws.
So after the screws are hardened and tempered. They are polished, and then heated to around 290 degree Celsius. This forms a deep rich blue oxidation layer which not only looks great, but also provides some protection against further oxidization (rust).
Cheers,
Dean
Will_D:
Watching this amazing hand/eye skill reminds me of a story I heard when I worked for AVRO/Hawker Siddelley/BAE in Chadderton, Manchester, in the 70s:
"
So, it was England's darkest hour, WWII was not going well and the USA had offered to help out.
So it was Pratt & Wittney and Rolls Royce as the 2 main precision companies.
After a bit of banter (see below*) P&W sent the "Worlds Smallest Bolt" to RR.
What did RR do? Took the "Worlds Smallest Bolt", drilled and tapped a hole in it and sent it back to P&W
No Comment!!
* Bit of banter:
P&W offered to build the RR Merlin engine for Spits/Lans/Mustangs.
RR sent them the drawings and specs.
"No way can we build to these tolerances says P&W"
So what did RR do?
Crated up an engine from a Spit with about 1000 hours on the clock, shipped to P&W, quote was "Check this out, its STILL in tolerancer after being in combat"
P&W then found they could build Merlins
Now I refuse to get into the Comet vis a vee the 707 debate
RussellT:
Thanks for reminding me of these Will. I've heard both before in slightly different forms.
The second one I've heard more than once and the version I've heard most often is that Ford were asked to make Merlin engines, and as you say they were unable to work to Rolls Royce tolerances. The explanation that goes with the story is that Rolls Royce built engines with skilled fitters and there was a lot of hand fitting. Ford wanted much tighter tolerances so that the engine builders could just pick up a part and it would fit.
Russell
mattinker:
The documentary that I saw showed that Pratt & Whitney produced the Merlin engines to high tolerances using industrial methods that didn't require Rolls Royces man hours scraping and fitting! This lead to much higher numbers produced and a bigger war effort. Hand fitting is great for one offs, but mass production allows more!
Regards, Matthew
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