On
Sunday, six hours were spent behind the Schaublin turning the barrel.
The end result: about half done. I needed the grooving insert and boring
bar to continue further, and, quite frankly, after standing for six
hours my legs were just killing me. Josh quickly placed an order for
tools and on Thursday a small packet arrived from Sumitomo, Japan.
Sumitomo
was founded in 1907 and today is one of
the fine-tuned, multi-industry corporations which span from automotive
to energy, electronics, semi-conductors to toolmaking. The cutting
tools division was founded in 1927 with the development of cement
carbide inserts. To say that they know how to make an excellent cutter
would be an understatement. As expected, the small parcel on the bench
was every bit you would expect from the land of the rising sun: a piece
of art itself.
There
is no guesswork figuring out the cutting speed or misunderstanding the
other important parameters. Each insert is individually bar coded and
traceable - indicating that a tool like this is used to make components
that will later fit into devices of the most importance - think of
airplanes and
submarines, satellites and super fast trains - where mistake is not an
option. Certainly an overkill for a humble Australian handmade clock –
but, to be perfectly honest, being exposed to perfection is not a bad
thing.
One
thing is certain - if you can't turn a 17th century clock part on a
Swiss Schaublin using the most advanced Japanese cutter then you have
no-one to blame but yourself.
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