How I made a star wheel for the strike train of an old clock, when the old one had a tooth broken: First, drill a hole the right size in the mother material, then glue the old wheel on top of it with super glue, using a punch through the holes to align.
Saw out with a fine-tooth jewelers saw, using the old wheel as a pattern and a guide. Leave some extra material on the mother material at the location of the broken tooth. Break the glue with heat, then rotate the old wheel until a good tooth is aligned over the extra material, and saw out the new replacement. Blue to make it pretty. Maybe 20 minutes work.
Finished.
Bushing tip: When rebushing a worn pivot hole, it's important to center the new bushing in the center of the original pivot hole. Usually, you can use the oil sink as a visual guide when making a hole for a bushing. Sometimes, however, there's no oilsink. Here, I used a fine-tip marking pen to make a visual guide to the center of the hole.
I put a tapered smooth broach in the worn hole to locate its center; then I slid a bushing down it, next to the plate, and marked around it. The broach fits tightly in the center of the original hole, since it's larger than the worn area. (You can actually see the daylight showing through the wear on the right of the broach in the left photo.)
Next, I use a cutting broach to enlarge the hole until a small, round file will fit in, and file and broach until the hole is round and centered in the mark. Then ream and bush. Here, you can see the bushing installed in the center of the mark. I bushed the hole with the same bushing that I used to make the ink mark.
Another way to keep a center a hole in a plate is to use a preacher -- a three-legged device shown in two sizes on the left. Each leg ends in a point. (The larger one is shown upside-down.)
You set one point in a pivot hole, then give the other two a little rap with a hammer, which makes two small divots in the plate and thus indicates the center of the pivot hole. After inserting a blank bushing (without a center hole), reposition the preacher and use the point over the pivot hole location to remark the center in the blank bushing, then drill it.
The smaller one can be used on a large watch plate, as seen here. These things work, but never found much use in my shop. The name, it is said, comes from the idea that preachers always tell the truth, which shows how little cynical clockmakers are.
For more information on bushing watches, see here, the "Bushing Watches" article on this website.
Clock work requires good, small punches. You can't buy them, but it's easy to make them in any size you want from old drill bits. Use the bit to drill a blind hole in some brass rod, insert the drill (shank first) into the hole, securing it with Loctite. Cut the flutes off with a Dremel abrasive wheel. The punches should have ends which are ground sharp and flat. This can be done nicely using a 1" belt sander and a V-block.
I've put handles on some of my very small Allen wrenches. These make tiny wrenches and screws easier to use and harder to lose. One is for 0-80 setscrews and the other is for 2-56 set screws.
In the lathe, I drilled a deep hole slightly undersize the wrenches, then tapered the hole with a cutting broach. This permits driving the little Allens in with a friction fit. I ground the L off the end of the wrench.
Also, screwdrivers shortened to permit working in close quarters. On one of them, I restored the finger pad by using a center drill in the lathe tailstock to cut the pad off the old end. Then I cut a new spigot for the pad and rivetted it back on. Something to do with the cheap screwdrivers your mother-in-law gave you for Christmas.
I repair lots of American mantel clocks, but when it comes time to regulate them, it's always a struggle to find a key which fits the little square on the end of the regulator arbor. So I made a set of bench keys, with tips having squares which range from 1.6 mm to 1.9 mm. To save making a lot of separate keys, I made them double ended.
The shanks of these bench keys are made of 1/4" OD brass tubing, with a 3/16" recess milled in the end with a 3/16" reamer. The key tips are available from S. LaRose, their double-end key set tips. The tips have shanks which are about 3/16" in diameter which are soldered into the recesses in the ends of the tubing with soft solder.
These tips are often too fat to fit into the regulating holes in the dials of the mantel clocks, so I've also reduced their diameters in the lathe. They store in a nice cherry block.