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Showing content with the highest reputation on 01/09/23 in all areas

  1. I use one of those microphones and Watch-o-Scope software, and have been very impressed with both. The microphone does exactly what it's supposed to. You can put it on its sides to get all 6 positions. I use my casing cushion to isolate it from the wood desk, but if you're less lazy you can put rubber feetsies on it. Watch-o-Scope is super versatile, and the free version is completely functional. The paid version is just nice-to-haves, IMO. You can calibrate it to your specific setup using a quartz watch (mine needed a 1.5 second/day adjustment), and every parameter is completely variable, which came in handy when I had a watch that ran at 21,306 BPH. I also really like the fact that you can see the raw waveform of what the microphone is hearing in real time.
    2 points
  2. The Chinese microphones to be used with a timegrapher software or app get better and cheaper! Here is what I got today. I used the free tg timegrapher software (tg-timer 0.5.0)
    2 points
  3. One of the minor problems with ultrasonic is typically the fluid will warm up when it's running. It warms up and you of a sealed jar you might end up with exploding jar or a broken jar because it cracks under pressure. Usually lighter fluid and other fluids tend to have a really low evaporation and it's best not the sealed jar. Are you suggesting proper cleaning machines do not have ultrasonic? I've worked in the shops that use a small ultrasonic take with the beaker and the cleaning fluid. Then the current machine where I work has all sorts of ultrasonic energy in varying frequencies. Complete with the final rinse of isopropyl alcohol and we have no problem with the shellac. But vintage watches you always have to be careful because sometimes it might not be shellac somebody may have gotten creative with glue or the shellac is just really old and bad so on a vintage always want to check your jewels and look at the shellac to make sure it still good. And yes at home I use an ultrasonic tank used for years and never had a problem other than finally wearing out the tiny tank and having to move to a bigger machine still never had a problem.
    2 points
  4. There's just a novelty to being able to do this that is so cool. Plus i think ti's gorgeous. All oem seiko parts i got for practically nothing here and there when I saw them. Movement is another 7s26 from parts from a handful of my donor/junk movements. Slightly used dial, new case i got for 25 dollars and some beat up old hands i had to do a little work on.
    1 point
  5. Hello there, I'd like to gauge interest for a project idea of mine. I'm a web developer by trade and for the moment I'm stuck at home with the good ol' rona, so it got me thinking. What I'd like to do is fairly simple. Just a new online database for watch calibers. I know how hard it can be to find information on new and old watch movements. And the existing resources albeit great are also showing their age. So here is what I propose: I would build an open source web app based on Ruby on Rails and SQL (mariaDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL). Each caliber would have its own page with the following information: brand, model, pictures, year of production, width, height, mainspring reference, lift angle, hand sizes, dial feet position... Since all the data will be relational, you could browse by brand or by size or width or whatever. Obviously I cannot gather all this data by myself, I have a bit of experience, but I am an amateur watchmaker at best. I would therefore create formular pages where everyone will be able to upload his/her own caliber information via his/her personal account. Of course, I would add a basic search engine support. Currently the online resources I know of: Ranfft Watchguy.co.uk: lift angles and mainsprings https://17jewels.info https://calibercorner.com/ To bootstrap the database, I would ask those respective website if I'm allowed to scrap their data and of course reference them. The project would be developed in an open source fashion and published on Github What do y'all think, would there a need for such or am I just wasting my time. Is there some things I'm overlooking, functionalities you'd like to have? Thank you
    1 point
  6. I see you beat me to the answer. I was Going to suggest even if the part number was sanded off you can just look in the configuration file and probably figure it out. Then for my amplifier upgrade I was switching USB devices and the one I was switching to that is the chip so it should be a good ship about the only concern I could have is it would be nice if it was in a shielded box. But if that becomes an issue I can deal with that.
    1 point
  7. CM108 is a USB Audio I/O controller. CM108 spec The second chip is a LM386 audio amplifyer. LM386 spec
    1 point
  8. I say if it works for you then go for it. I don't really know the details of the hydrogen embrittlement, just enough that it makes me wary. I mechanically remove rust; for complex shapes like pinion leaves I would use a fiberglass brush. For flat parts I use micron graded abrasive paper, typically 12 micron or finer. To get at the sides and in grooves I might use a piece of the paper stuck on a small flat piece of metal, used as one would use a file, or I might use a fine diamond burr- these are 15mm or so long tapered diamond coated bits run in a hand motor (Dremel/Proxonn type tool). It's tedious, but it does work and often you can restore the original look to the part, not counting some pitting that might require too much metal removal to eliminate.
    1 point
  9. Just what I've been waiting for. Can you report back when you have some more experience with it, and the software ?
    1 point
  10. I just looked at my ranfft folder. It has over 34,000 entries. Each watch has (as a minimum) a text file and one image file. The majority of watches have two image files. Some (a few) watches have as many as four (perhaps more...did not review the whole list).
    1 point
  11. For home cleaning I was discovering that the l&r rinse never seem to dry the parts would always be wet little bit even though I was blowing hot air across the parts. So one of my friends recommended alcohol. This is the alcohol that dissolves shellac but I don't care because I'm only in it long enough to remove the final rinse and leave something that dries really fast. Strangely enough the machine At work has the exact same problem so that's why we use alcohol in this case isopropyl alcohol as recommended by the manufacturer. Yes I know there's a persistent rumor that ultrasonic is evil and bad but nobody told professional watchmakers that nor did anyone ever tell the companies that make the machines. So for instance here's a video of a very interesting machine. So when you look at the video you'll see that it does use ultrasonic two separate frequencies and basically everything in this machine is programmable. It's also an interesting machine when it's running because it kinda sounds like Darth Vader As it's using the vacuum to move the fluids around. Otherwise for the most part the machine is relatively quiet and it's a nice conversation piece with customers come into the store.
    1 point
  12. That is precisely why I'm trying to build that new platform. So that watchmakers and hobbyist can upload their own data or correct the existing one. In order to make this possible, I want to stress that all the data will be freely available and reusable (open data). That means for instance, that all pictures should be updated under creative commons license (like in wikipedia). As for scraping, I'm not super keen on doing it, unless I have the explicit authorization of the owner.
    1 point
  13. I had my son (who is adept at such things) scrape the ranfft database, so what I have is the raw data page for each movement along with the images for each movement. I did it just in case ranfft went dark. One of the nice things about rafft is the advanced search feature. Did not scrape that code. One of the ideas in the back of my head was to update all of the pictures in that database with more images and higher resolution. Alas...a big project
    1 point
  14. Hello William and welcome to the forum. Enjoy
    1 point
  15. Thank you for your introduction and welcome to this friendly forum. We all look forward to your contributions and continued involvement.
    1 point
  16. Simply getting the data wouldn't be too much of a hassle. But without direct database access to their site, you could only scrape available web pages and output the results to a CSV or into your own database if you already know all the fields you need. In regards to setting up relationships and outputting into a usable format, i.e. X part number is also used on Y and Z movements, that's where the real work is.
    1 point
  17. Wow, great project and sorry I missed this thread until now. I'm also a developer by trade, mostly relational database driven stuff. I work for a web development agency and get all the complex custom jobs, mainly PHP and SQL. Seems you're well into it now, but if you need any help with anything, setting up storage/AWS, anything like that feel free to reach out. Don't know much about Rails unfortunately though.
    1 point
  18. I've never in 25 years used or wanted one of these tools, but I do remember the "old school" ones had ridges and sort of caught the ridges of the crown. These newer more universal ones use friction, and rely on the user pushing in quite firmly to wind the watch. I don't think my base in mechanics really likes this. I've seen plenty of watches where the "seat" for the end of the stem is worn like hell, and pushing the stem like a mofo for engagement with a rubber thingie seems weird. So back to 25 years as a pro watchmaker, and never having a need for such a thing, and thinking all those years it was a Bergeon "weirdo thing" (not unlike a specialized tool for regrinding alarm clock pallets, haha), is something folks are hungry for? Or is it a thing where if it was never presented you would never think of it?
    1 point
  19. Have a look on the likes of AliExpress There are quite a few sets of these on those sites with for example an 8 peace set costing a lot less than the single Bergeon tool. The manufacturer is not rocket science so the Chinese sets are just as good as the Swiss offerings. And you get 8 different sizes to cater for any future needs.
    1 point
  20. No free lunch. Many of the old books mention using xyz acid to remove the blue from tempering (after heat treatment), but how long to leave the part? Acid, in numerous forms has been used for rust removal over the years, Naval Jelly being a big one, which for all of Evaporust's efforts to hide their formula, is essentially what it is. It doesn't reallly hit the steel, it really hits the iron oxide, but, as Einstein would attest, time is a factor. Not too long ago I put some hands in a 12 percent solution of sulphuric acid, bolstered by something I read in Gazeley or DeCarle, and forgot about them until the morning. There was an outline of the hands in the jar, but no more hands. There's another issue using acids to remove rust on springs and things, which is hydrogen embrittlement. I remember reading about a BMX racer, who took a rusty vintage frame and soaked in muriatic acid for a few hours to remove the rust (I did the same on rusty gas tanks from cars when I was a young mechanic), he did a simple jump and the frame disintegrated on him. On something like a massive 20kg 4 jaw chuck evaporust is probably the bees' knees. For little, critical stuff, no.
    1 point
  21. If the balance is mounted and jewels removed for cleaning, the pivots are protected and can come to no harm due to impact damage. Lighter fluid (naphtha) is not a solvent for shellac. That's not the cause of the problem. I too did an experiment with shellac in an ultrasonic, and found that as long as the shellac is 'aged', there is no significant damage using small ultrasonic cleaners for a few minutes. (I clean 3-5mins, rinse 1-3 mins) L&R and Elma cleaning fluids are advertised as 'ultrasonic' cleaners. The user guides make no mention of not using it for shellaced parts. I always clean the balance and forks in the ultrasonic. The key question is, how powerful is the ultrasonic? You use a hammer to fit a balance staff, but not a sledgehammer. If you use a big powerful, industrial ultrasonic you can cause all sorts of damage - removing shellac, pitting surfaces etc. I use a small 60W ultrasonic and have seen no damage or loss of shellac. I know that the "proper" cleaning machines are preferable to ultrasonics. But as I'm only a home hobbyist with limited space, they do the job.
    1 point
  22. About time did a good video on this. He actually recommended against an ultrasonic machine use on shellaced parts. With good experimentation.
    1 point
  23. I never remove a hairspring unless I have to, especially for cleaning. You run the risk of damage (or collet breaking) every time you remove it. For shock protected balances, I leave the balance cock+balance mounted on the mainplate, and remove the shock jewels. Then in the ultrasonic for cleaning. If it's not shock protected, you have to remove the balance anyway to clean the jewels. So I put the balance (with hairspring still on!) in a very small glass container (so it can't dance around too much) in to the ultrasonic.
    1 point
  24. I'm with @JohnR725 on this one - I think "roller jewel" is more obvious and clear. It's a jewel on the roller! Fried refers to it as a roller jewel. You could argue that "impulse jewels" are the pallet jewels as they give an impulse. (Pity it isn't lubricated, or we could have a massive argument over this )
    1 point
  25. You do need to open them They have a slightly different cap than a standard barrel. Much the same as a valjoux 7750 barrel. The cap has a rim which extends right down to the barrel teeth tricky to open without damaging the barrel teeth. I find an extremely sharp razor blade is perfect for opening the cap. On these seikos the mainspring has to come out as they are usually in an awful mess. Also - note the orientation the mainspring is wound in. It will be the reverse of most Swiss watch barrels.
    1 point
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