Making a watch case (part 18), putting on the strap

Making a watch case (part 18), putting on the strap

I've been a bit worried about how to put on the strap for some time. I don't want to drill a hole all the way through the lugs and it seems impossible to get a drill access to put in a blind hole on the inside of each lug.

But, as with nearly all of this project, I don't want to think about it too much! I'll just do what I can and, by experimenting and making mistakes, the solution should present itself. It's rather like thinking with my hands.

The first thing I need to do is open out the lugs a little bit. The strap I've got is just a little bit too wide for the where I've placed the lugs. So using a file I remove just a little bit of metal (see picture above). Then the strap fits very snugly:

The strap fits snugly.

With the other lug blocking the access for putting in a drill hole I can't use a centre drill to put in a blind hole for spring bars to sit as the centre drill is too rigid. At first I try to make the entire blind hole with a graver, I twist it around on the point to remove more material. My initial attempt results in this

blind hole made with a graver.

It's a bit messy and the hole is not really deep enough. I know with practice it could be made better but I wonder if there is a better way.

For my next idea, I use the graver to make a little notch, not trying to carve out the entire hole as before,

putting in a notch with the graver.

Now I put a long drill bit into the mill and hold the middle watch section carefully under the drill and bend the drill bit around the other lug, as in this photo:

bending the drill bit around the other lug.

The spindle speed is quite low so I feel quite in control and safe. The drill bit centres itself on the notch I cut with the graver and cuts a nice hole, so this method works very well, which I was very pleased about - it was quite a relief to be honest!

I put in the spring bars, to test they fit,

Spring bars in the middle watch section,

and apply reasonable pressure to see if I can tease them out - they're fine. But when I look at the bars I can see they're not quite parallel with each other. In future I'll need a better method of placing the hole rather than doing it just by eye.

When the straps are fit to the middle section it's looking like this:

straps connected to the middle watch section.

With the top and bottom watch sections attached and screwed in it's looking like this:

The underside of the watch with the straps connected,

The top side of the watch with the straps connected.

At last! It's looking like a watch!

 

 

Pingbacks are closed.

blog comments powered by Disqus