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homemade cleaning machine ?

plevieil
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yankeedog
yankeedog

I have often wondered about laying one of my stereo speakers on its back , placing a large dish over the woofer,putting the cleaning solution and parts in a plastic jar and listening to Jethro Tull. 

RobertT
RobertT

Ultrasonic is the way to go. I use 5 small glass jars. Number them put cleaning solution in the first 2, and rinsing solution in the other 3. You can usually get small cleaning baskets from a supplier

luiazazrambo
luiazazrambo

Found another way, vintage butter churn.  

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PastorChris WRT Addict

PastorChris

Posted
Posted
On 3/5/2019 at 7:58 PM, RobertT said:

Ultrasonic is the way to go. I use 5 small glass jars. Number them put cleaning solution in the first 2, and rinsing solution in the other 3.
You can usually get small cleaning baskets from a supplier or off the bay. Put all the loose parts in the baskets. Put the balance cock and balance wheel back on the main plate to protect the balance staff during the cleaning. And get a small desk top type space heater for drying.


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A watch repair YouTube I follow uses the spherical stainless mesh tea ball tea infusers with his ultrasonic to separate and suspend the parts in. Seems like a good idea to me, but I'm not one to really know. 

clockboy Distinguished Member

clockboy

Posted
Posted

Personally I don’t like the screw lid baskets,I always worry about a small part getting caught in the thread. Also the to small pot lids can vary in size resulting in some being very loose. As an extra precaution with my Ultra sonic I have an inner  wire basket to catch any strays.

 

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  • 3 months later...
HectorLooi Distinguished Member

HectorLooi

Posted
Posted

I'm in the process of building another cleaning machine using parts available on AliExpress to build an ultrasonic cleaning  machine.

So far I've put together a low rpm motor, a small glass bottle and a retort stand. I plan to dip the bottle containing the cleaning fluid and parts into the ultrasonic bath and rotate the bottle to prevent cavitation damage to the parts.

It might end up totally different from this initial idea.... but let's see how it goes.

20210721_102012.thumb.jpg.6763e796680107e94bbffd6883f190b3.jpg20210721_115044.thumb.jpg.0c1ec82f7b437d476ad535ee0afb046f.jpg

  • 6 months later...
Jeimi New Member

Jeimi

Posted
Posted (edited)

so my question is would someone be able to help me figure out what parts to buy to build a homemade watch cleaning machine.

my idea is buying a dc motor that i could build a stand and attachment rod for so i could swap out jars manually but i'm not sure what parts would need to be bought to have a dial to raise and lower the speeds / maybe reverse then i could make my own mount to raise and lower the motor and stem with homemade basket attachment and if it works out really well maybe make a guide for everyone on youtube or something.

Also i think this is the right thread i'm new here

Edited by Jeimi
  • 1 month later...
Reloaded New Member

Reloaded

Posted
Posted (edited)

First post here, the diy watch machine builds have peaked my interest. I'm currently waiting on parts for a build, I'm using an overhead stirrer, there are 1000s on eBay cheap. Most also have forward, reverse, and rpm programming built into the controllers. They sometimes have a through shaft, so you can move the cleaning basket up and down from the top side. I picked up a used lab model for less then $45. My plan is to drill a 2 inch hole in a lazy Susan, mount a 1 inch pipe column for the overhead mixer on the bench, slide the lazy Susan over it before mounting the mixer head.

I'll then put the jars on the lazy Susan and turn them as needed, I have found a supplier that sells watch machine cleaning basket adapters that will mount to a small circular shaft. I'm still working on a drying solution. Here are stock photos to give you an idea, will post pictures when build is done. I think this can be built for less then $125 if you're thrifty.

BT1021-500x500.jpg

71hWyejpPDL._AC_SX466_.jpg

Edited by Reloaded
Grammar
jdm Distinguished Member

jdm

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, Reloaded said:

First post here

Just FYI, we have a dedicated section where it's considered polite for new members to introduce themselves. 

  • 7 months later...
thor447 WRT Addict

thor447

Posted
Posted (edited)

Well, this isn't really elegant, but I decided to just rig up something quick to attach to my drill press to see if it is a viable option as a cleaning method.  I fully intend on purchasing a proper machine in the future, but I just wanted to give this a shot.  Please forgive the mess in the background.  I currently have my drill press mounted up on my reloading bench (another hobby of mine).  I just cut up a piece of 1x4 and made a quick holder for the cleaning jar by clamping the wood to the drill press base, holding the jar in place.  I lowered the RPM on the motor to it's lowest setting (300 rpm), and am just giving it a shot.  I've a Reverie Sea Spirit with a Miyota 8218 movement that needs to be serviced.  If this doesn't work well, I'll still clean it the traditional way, but I thought I'd give this a shot.  

image.thumb.png.196fbaec2e915d2f23d180b30e000912.png

I've sold a few watches on eBay last week, and unfortunately my funds are currently being held for 2 weeks (apparently because I am not a regular seller).  Once they are released, hopefully I'll be able to pick up a dedicated machine soon.  I just thought I'd share my little contraption!

Edited by thor447
  • Like 2
LittleWatchShop Distinguished Member

LittleWatchShop

Posted
Posted (edited)
6 minutes ago, thor447 said:

Well, this isn't really elegant, but I decided to just rig up something quick to attach to my drill press to see if it is a viable option as a cleaning method.  I fully intend on purchasing a proper machine in the future, but I just wanted to give this a shot.  Please forgive the mess in the background.  I currently have my drill press mounted up on my reloading bench (another hobby of mine).  I just cut up a piece of 1x4 and made a quick holder for the cleaning jar. by clamping the wood to the drill press base, holding the jar in place.  I lowered the RPM on the motor to it's lowest setting (300 rpm), and am just giving it a shot.  I've a Reverie Sea Spirit with a Miyota 8218 movement that needs to be serviced.  If this doesn't work well, I'll still clean it the traditional way, but I thought I'd give this a shot.  

image.thumb.png.196fbaec2e915d2f23d180b30e000912.png

I've sold a few watches on eBay last week, and unfortunately my funds are currently being held for 2 weeks (apparently because I am not a regular seller).  Once they are released, hopefully I'll be able to pick up a dedicated machine soon.  I just thought I'd share my little contraption!

Geez...gimme another week and I will have one ready for you.

Two thumbs up for ingenuity though!!

Edited by LittleWatchShop
thor447 WRT Addict

thor447

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, LittleWatchShop said:

Geez...gimme another week and I will have one ready for you.

Two thumbs up for ingenuity though!!

Haha, I'm not in a rush.  I just thought it'd be interesting to try!

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