Services questions about Seiko 7s36(7s26)

[EatPeach]

Hey guys. I guess all of you know Seiko use plastic parts in calender works. I don't know what solution can be used to clean this parts. So far I've been using water based solution and rodico but the result is not quite satisfied.

Meanwhile, this is the bottle I use to clean the mainspring.( I don't have a winder so I open the barrel and clean it inside the barrel using solutions and ultrasonic)

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Honestly, I feel like I'm cleaning a fountain pen. I can not even see the barrel inside the bottle. Is this normal and is this mainspring need additional care?

Thanks guys.

[jdm]

5 minutes ago, EatPeach said:

Hey guys. I guess all of you know Seiko use plastic parts in calender works. I don't know what solution can be used to clean this parts. So far I've been using water based solution and rodico but the result is not quite satisfied.

Inspect the parts closely. If nothing is visible as often happens - remember that no oil goes to these - then no cleaning is needed. Otherwise IPA is fine, blow air as you take it out so less chances of dust or whatever to stick. I have found that dust is a big issue in general, but we would be digressing.

5 minutes ago, EatPeach said:

Meanwhile, this is the bottle I use to clean the mainspring.( I don't have a winder so I open the barrel and clean it inside the barrel using solutions and ultrasonic)
Honestly, I feel like I'm cleaning a fountain pen. I can not even see the barrel inside the bottle. Is this normal and is this mainspring need additional care?

Maybe someone had heavily lubricated it with graphite based grease. Or maybe it was from the factory. If you are not going to open it  to at least inspect then is better to leave it alone and re-install as it is. Ideally, and only when proven that the spring had become weak, the best approach is to replace barrel complete or at least the spring.

[watchweasol]

Hi   you have  a reaction with the barrel  Lubricant  or a graphite lubrication in the barrel has dissolved in the solution the latter being the most likely cause.   Regards cleaning plastic parts be careful which soloutions you use as some will dissolve plastics.  A quick clean and dry with IPAlchohol will suffice but do not soak the bits unless using a proper developed watch cleaning soloution

[jdm]

29 minutes ago, watchweasol said:

A quick clean and dry with IPAlchohol will suffice but do not soak the bits unless using a proper developed watch cleaning soloution

I don't know a watch cleaning solution that is recommended for plastic. Fortunately the material used by Seiko are sturdy and resist to pretty much anything but there is no point in using ammonia based or other traditional formulation on those either, so yes IPA is the best choice.

Edited March 17, 2020 by jdm

[EatPeach]

Thanks guys. I know that those plastic parts should not be oiled and they are self-lubricated to some extent. But the former watch maker might be careless and drop some oil onto those wheels. So I will use some IPA solution to quick clean the parts.

While the Mainspring I decided to leave it be until I brought my winder to give it throughout service.

Thank you guys.

[Jon]

You could 'walk it in' by hand wearing finger cots or nitrile gloves to keep your finger grease off it, although I would only do that as a last resort, as the spring can easily be misshapen or kinked doing it like that. If you've got a mainspring winder set on its way, I'd wait for that. I did fit a pair of Waltham 8 day car clock mainsprings by hand recently, only because they were too big to fit my biggest winder, which was 18 mm I think and the springs were about 20 mm in diameter. They went in a treat, which surprised me

[EatPeach]

1 minute ago, Jon said:

You could 'walk it in' by hand wearing finger cots or nitrile gloves to keep your finger grease off it, although I would only do that as a last resort, as the spring can easily be misshapen or kinked doing it like that. If you've got a mainspring winder set on its way, I'd wait for that. I did fit a pair of Waltham 8 day car clock mainsprings by hand recently, only because they were too big to fit my biggest winder, which was 18 mm I think and the springs were about 20 mm in diameter. They went in a treat, which surprised me

To be fair I really don't want to manual wind that stuff. It's too risky and tedious.

[jdm]

1 minute ago, Jon said:

If you've got a mainspring winder set on its way, I'd wait for that.

Problem is, none of the sizes in a normal Swiss winder set fits these Seiko satisfactorily.

[Jon]

9 minutes ago, jdm said:

Problem is, none of the sizes in a normal Swiss winder set fits these Seiko satisfactorily.

It's about 10 or 10.5 mm for the Seiko spring isn't it?

[jdm]

2 hours ago, Jon said:

It's about 10 or 10.5 mm for the Seiko spring isn't it?

Yes barrel ID is 10.5mm.

[aac58]

9 hours ago, EatPeach said:

...I open the barrel and clean it inside the barrel...

If you're not going to take the spring out of the barrel I think it's better not to clean it (I usually don't), because you probably cannot put braking grease with the spring in.

[jdm]

1 hour ago, aac58 said:

If you're not going to take the spring out of the barrel I think it's better not to clean it (I usually don't), because you probably cannot put braking grease with the spring in.

That is correct but be for the bridle geometry, or the materials used, a 7S26 MS doesn't slip even if fitted dry.

Edited March 17, 2020 by jdm

[yankeedog]

I like mineral  spirits for general  cleaning. No water ,it won't instantly rot your liver  and is generally  plastic friendly.

[EatPeach]

4 minutes ago, yankeedog said:

I like mineral  spirits for general  cleaning. No water ,it won't instantly rot your liver  and is generally  plastic friendly.

Never heard of such solution. Can you share some details?

[EatPeach]

4 minutes ago, yankeedog said:

I like mineral  spirits for general  cleaning. No water ,it won't instantly rot your liver  and is generally  plastic friendly.

Never heard of such solution. Can you share some details?

[yankeedog]

You can buy it by the gallon in any hardware store.it is a petroleum  product similar  to kerosene. But not very volatile and pretty  low on odor. You might not want to use it indoors..I usually  pour some in a bowl  and let my parts soak. Unlike  naphtha  it does not evaporate  right away. It might leave an oily film on certain  things as such I don't use it on hair springs.it tends to make the coils stick together.  For those I use naphtha. 

[anilv]

for plastic parts just cleam them with Rodico.

For the mainspring I would remove, clean, oil and reinstall. Installing by hand is not hard ... they dont have much power like alarm clocks, the hardest bit is starting the spring in the barrel. Just make sure you do it away from the workbench. ...and use gloves as mentioned above.

Anilv

[Hondadoug]

Seiko uses their own proprietary grease on mainsprings. It is graphite based and gets quite dry and sticky. It will cause amplitude issues if not addressed properly. You really must disassemble and clean and check the mainspring condition. Springs are available for most Seikos. Barrel assemblys are hard to find. Photograph as you take it apart and make certain as you put it in you orient everything correctly. Just hand walk it in. Not that hard.

[jdm]

2 hours ago, Hondadoug said:

 Just hand walk it in. Not that hard.

Which inevitably introduce either skin or nitrile parts into the assembly. 

A Seiko mainspring topic is like an hamster wheel, no matter how many times things have already been said elsewhere, the same round of arguments is taken again and again.