I'm thinking about learning how to work with gears, like

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What you have said is like saying "I want to work with bolts, like a mechanic, as a small hobby". Ambiguous as fuck.

Do you want to learn to cut gears? Or be a watchmaker? DO you have an application in mind or are you just going to make like monkeys at keyboards and cut random gears till you expire?

DETAILS anon.

>>1089326
>Or be a watchmaker
This.
Really, I want to make small wind-up toys, but I might want to make watch some time, too.
And I don't want to actually apprentice as a watchmaker first.

What do you wish to achieve? Clockwork mechanisms, steam punk stuff? Kind of need to point us in the right direction anon and the we can help

>>1089331
>>1089330
Clockwork mechanisms.

>>1089330
>Really, I want to make small wind-up toys, but I might want to make watch some time, too.

Cool, so in my completely unqualified opinion you may as well invest in some proper gear cutting tools then. Yeah, you can cut gears from plate steel for wind up toys, but if you want to downscale to clock or watchmaking you will want to get used to using the tools of the trade. You'll have enough on your plate working out the precision of it all without unfamiliar tools getting in your way.

>>1089354
Yeah, I imagine it takes a lot of precision.

Any actual watchmakers here?

>>1089356
Im also interested, its actually an expensive hobby (tools) but if you live somewhere where there are actual watchmakers about and plenty of used lathes then not too expensive to start off with.
There are quite a few books out there, its just knowing what to look for, but a lot of them cost good money learn what you can for free first.
Youtube Stefan Pahlow, click spring
Web: (google watch making fourms) there are lots outthere, a nice project to look at; "adventures in watchmaking"
Watchmakers lathe: (ebay) used lorch or boley, new sincere clocks and vector lathes (they are the same).

Op, what do you mean "I want to work with gears"

Think of gears as a tool, what you said is like saying "I want to work with an angle grinder, how do I?"

>>1089356
There was someone in Europe who posted in a workstation thread a while ago. Don't know if he's still around

>>1089323
my google skills are strong

http://www.timezonewatchschool.com/WatchSchool/

http://www.nawcc-index.net/HowToMake.php

https://www.klockit.com/all-departments/clock-kits.html

>>1089370
Seconding clickspring
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkJJid3_bhg
He does a pretty good job. He even goes into making your own milling and turning tools occasionally which is an important thing to learn.

>>1089323
sdp-si.com has a good gear selection, but they may not go as small as you need for watchmaking.

Don't try and jig-saw out miniature gears, it will be extremely unsuccessful. First learn about designing the mechanisms, gear design / selection and purchase some pre-made hardware. Use these to experiment with.

>>1089326
Can u plasma cut brass? Casting should be hard but I guess machining wouldn't be too hard. I've considered casting larger ones for various pojects.

>>1089323
For anyone interested and young enough:

http://lititzwatchtechnicum.org

>>1089680
Plasma cutting brass should be alright, just deal with all the fumes properly. Brass machines really easily if you use the right cutting speed and tools.

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just take apart a rolex, its easy then you will be able to make watch,, cut gears out of tin foil with tin snips and heat treat them in ur toaster, use microscope, gears is small, goodluck

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well, you might aswell just start reading gear theory

>And I don't want to actually apprentice as a watchmaker first.

yikes, yeah, just start reading now, because gears is high up there as far as machineing goes

>>1089505

if memory serves me, if it was the guy im thinking of, has a sick fucking setup and with a sick as fuck horological milling machine like in pic related

>>1090031
brass will machine with just about any tooling you have, for drilling dull bits work better so they don't grab and auto feed. you also don't need lubricant for brass. lubricant just lubricates the chip/curl as it moves on the tooling so it doesn't dull it as fast. coolant wouldn't hurt if your really hogging and want accurate results.

plasma cutting anything you want plenty of ventilation zinc fumes or not.


>>1089323
are you also going to buy a lapidary machine so you can make your own sapphire jeweled bearings?

>>1089356
watchmaker here
dont try to make your own gears. shit is fucking annoying. I'm currently developing my own watch and came down to use the gears of another movement.
I recommend getting old clocks, alarms and stuff. People give them to me all the time for free and I think you can find some too.
Clean the gears and then start doin your math. and calculate the distance between each gear and then you can drill the holes in any random plate in any order you want and you have some kind of movement. Whatever you have in mind you can achieve by that.
I hope you understand what I mean
good luck on that

>>1090500
ah and I forgot. there are not many books for watchmaking and most of them are outdated or very expensive. prob only in german and french too