Pivot Gauges

From turning on a production lathe with a cross slide to turning on a desk lathe by hand. This project was a set of pivot gauges size 0.07mm - 0.20mm. For these, cutting the tip and shoulder was only the first step. To bring the final diameter of the tip to within 2 microns of the desired size, the steel was burnished: a process of compressing the metal rater than cutting it. This slowly reduces the size while also making the material harder and more resistant to friction and wear. The tip of the pivot was polished to a shallow dome in a similar manner, reflecting the process used to burnish pivots in a watch.