Jump to content

Can extraction gassoline disolve shelac?

Przemek
 Share

Recommended Posts

oldhippy Distinguished Member

oldhippy

Posted
Posted

The safest thing to use is Ronsonol lighter fluid. Best to have a small screw top container as it evaporates very fast. You could leave watch parts that have shellac on them for days in the fluid and nothing will come to harm. That is what I always used. When the parts are clean put the part on a piece of wrapping tissue and use your bench air blower to remove any residue.

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
watchweasol Distinguished Member

watchweasol

Posted
Posted

Hi  as recommended  lighter fuel or Isopropyl alchohol, But there is no reason to leave parts soaking unless they are very dirty and even then it better to clean the part several times than leave it soaking.  Gasolene will clean parts but the fumes and its inflamability  are an inherent danger.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
jdm Distinguished Member

jdm

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Przemek said:

I'm amateur tinkerer and i wonder if it's safe to leave a pallet fork in gassoline?

There is a better choice than gasoline, or lighter fluid, as neither of these are horological products, are not recommended by any manufacture. That is "petroleum ether", it may have different names in different countires, and is available online, at pharmacies, or chemicals shops. please check wikipedia or search this forum to learn more about it.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
clockboy Distinguished Member

clockboy

Posted
Posted

In the UK I think is was named benzine. If so I would be careful. It was used a lot many years ago in the letterpress printing industry and it was banned because it was found to have carcinogenic properties. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
jdrichard Distinguished Member

jdrichard

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, clockboy said:

In the UK I think is was named benzine. If so I would be careful. It was used a lot many years ago in the letterpress printing industry and it was banned because it was found to have carcinogenic properties. 

Naptha???

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Przemek Member

Przemek

Posted
  • Author
Posted
4 hours ago, jdm said:

There is a better choice than gasoline, or lighter fluid, as neither of these are horological products, are not recommended by any manufacture. That is "petroleum ether", it may have different names in different countires, and is available online, at pharmacies, or chemicals shops. please check wikipedia or search this forum to learn more about it.

That's exactly what i was talking about, in Poland it is called Benzyna ekstrakcyjna and google translated it to "extraction gassoline", yet wikipedia says different name for "benzyna ekstrakcyjna" is "eter naftowy" which is "petroleum ether" you wrote about :)

 

Thank you all for your answers!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
vinn3 Distinguished Member

vinn3

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, jdm said:

There is a better choice than gasoline, or lighter fluid, as neither of these are horological products, are not recommended by any manufacture. That is "petroleum ether", it may have different names in different countires, and is available online, at pharmacies, or chemicals shops. please check wikipedia or search this forum to learn more about it.

    yes,  wikpedia.  that is what a graduate chemist would do.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
jdm Distinguished Member

jdm

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, clockboy said:

In the UK I think is was named benzine. If so I would be careful. It was used a lot many years ago in the letterpress printing industry and it was banned because it was found to have carcinogenic properties. 

We have had this discussion so many times but it still happens every time the word is mentioned. You are referring to benzene, that is  a common mistake for English speakers. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzene

Not to be confused with Benzine.

Edited by jdm
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
jdm Distinguished Member

jdm

Posted
Posted
19 hours ago, jdrichard said:

Again, what about naphtha?

That is just a less refined "petroleum ether" above. Leave a drop evaporate on a clean glass, if it leaves no residue then it will be fine.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
jdrichard Distinguished Member

jdrichard

Posted
Posted
That is just a less refined "petroleum ether" above. Leave a drop evaporate on a clean glass, if it leaves no residue then it will be fine.

Thanks jdm. I usually use lighter fluid, but I do have a full canister of naphtha


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Deggsie WRT Addict

Deggsie

Posted
Posted

The original question relates to use of gasoline (petrol) and whether or not it will dissolve/soften shellac. A good question.

Not mentioned is the use of stoddards, which is the lion share of some expensive proprietary watch and clock cleaning solutions. Stoddards is fine with shellac.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites
vinn3 Distinguished Member

vinn3

Posted
Posted

gasoline has no place for watch cleaning.  it can be used for paint thinner with enamel,   it can be used as a first clean on a clock mvt., (the clock will run when submerged in gasoline).  then wash it off with a garden hose. AND don't smoke around gasoline.    vin

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nickelsilver Distinguished Member

nickelsilver

Posted
Posted

I know some very old books mention using gasoline for cleaning, but these were written when gasoline was a very different animal regarding additives (and folks were a little more carefree about safety). I think something like Coleman fuel is close to old timey gasoline; camp stoves that are made to run Coleman fuel will have problems with gasoline (except models made for both), mainly due to clogging issues. When I needed Coleman fuel here for my old U.S. made stove the old man at the chemist shop said to use regular benzine, which I have on hand in the workshop for---- cleaning parts. Works great.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Deggsie WRT Addict

Deggsie

Posted
Posted
gasoline has no place for watch cleaning.  it can be used for paint thinner with enamel,   it can be used as a first clean on a clock mvt., (the clock will run when submerged in gasoline).  then wash it off with a garden hose. AND don't smoke around gasoline.    vin

Are you sure gasoline is water soluble? I don’t think it can be washed off, it’s a product of oil and therefore immiscible with water. Please tell me if I’m wrong.

Regards
Deggsie


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Link to comment
Share on other sites
jdm Distinguished Member

jdm

Posted
Posted
41 minutes ago, Deggsie said:


Are you sure gasoline is water soluble? I don’t think it can be washed off, it’s a product of oil and therefore immiscible with water. Please tell me if I’m wrong.

Our long time member vinn3, in its normal layman approach to anything, didn't say that gasoline is water solubile. He said that one can wash it off from objects spraying water. While that is true, the applicability of his statement in the horology I leave to anyone to judge. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
oldhippy Distinguished Member

oldhippy

Posted
Posted

Just got this from google. 

Gasoline is not soluble in water. Gasoline is a complex mixture of non-polar compounds such as long chained hydrocarbons etc. Water is a polar molecule. ... As a result, the gasoline molecules cannot enter water and form a solution.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Deggsie WRT Addict

Deggsie

Posted
Posted

Hi all. Sorry I didn’t mean to try and make anyone’s statement look wrong, I was merely curious, as to be honest I’d never personally tried it. I think what was meant is that the majority of the gasoline can be hosed off.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites
vinn3 Distinguished Member

vinn3

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Deggsie said:


Are you sure gasoline is water soluble? I don’t think it can be washed off, it’s a product of oil and therefore immiscible with water. Please tell me if I’m wrong.

Regards
Deggsie


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

     gasoline evaporates  from brass.   right?     vin

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Deggsie WRT Addict

Deggsie

Posted
Posted
a lot of things have changed since 1945.     espesally the formula for gasoline,   get a newer manule.   vin

I’m not a chemical engineer, but..... I would say what you say is True, however the fundamental hydrocarbon in gasoline (which provides the cleaning) has still not changed. You are correct that there will be changes such as additives and of course the octane rating will be higher nowadays (which I think means it ignites at a lower temperature).

If you can get hold of WF Pro, I bet it’s very close to the formula in the old book.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Link to comment
Share on other sites
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Gilles
      Help identifying GP calibre : Girard Perregaux 17 jewels

      By Gilles · Posted

      25.9mm Thank you, it looks like a match !
    • Neverenoughwatches
      Setting lever spring

      By Neverenoughwatches · Posted

      I'm not with you there Rich .
    • Disgrace
      Seiko 6309 intermittent stopping of the seconds hand at the same positions

      By Disgrace · Posted

      Hello everybody, sorry for the late reply. Thank you all so much for your help and your tips. I got lucky and found a replacement wheel bridge for cheap which actually ended up being in decent condition. I decided not to do anything about the mainspring barrel pivot since I didn't have the right tools and the barrel didn't have much endshake anyhow. I am happy to report that the watch now runs great, I have regulated it to about +-10/s day which is fine by my standards. The timegrapher result looks decent as well, although beat error is around 0.6ms which could be better I suppose. Amplitude reaches over 230 quite consistently which I'm happy with also. My lighter fluid has also been replaced by balance spring cleaning solution and now the springs don't stick to themselves anymore - who would have thought. I'm super happy with this watch, it might not be worth a whole lot but it's awesome that I could restore it and it makes me wear it with pride. To me it's a genuinely good lucking watch, it'll be my daily driver for a while. Thanks again to everybody for their input! I couldn't have done the repair without your help.   Here are some images for those interested, the bracelet isn't original but I don't really mind:    
    • nevenbekriev
      Is this a 'hack' ?

      By nevenbekriev · Posted

      Balance-hairspring system is oscillator with big Q-factor. When all in the movement is OK, the rate (frequency) is verry close to the own resonant frequency of the balance-hairspring. But in some cases, the movement (with foult) will force the resonator to work on pritty different frequency, sometimes faster, and sometimes slower. When this happens, the amplitude is always weak. So, the first thing to ask is what is the amplitude. If it is more than 180 and the hairspring doesn't touch itself and anything else, then for sure it is 'short'. If the amplitude is weak, then the first thing to do is to understand why and rectify the problem. At this time no point to check timekeeping. But, if one doubts that the hairspring is not correct, then He needs to calcullate the rate of the movement, then to 'vibrate' the balance-hairspring out of the movement and to measure the free oscillations frequency (period) with timer in order to ensure that they comply with the rate. If we have pictures, then it will be easier to tell something about that wheel.
    • Klassiker
      Landeron 248 setting eccentric studs

      By Klassiker · Posted

      So much work has gone into this! Thanks again @Jon. I will go back and check my adjustments from last weekend. A few questions for you, if you don't mind. In the reset position, I can understand the problem if the gap between the hammer and the minute counter heart is too big (slide 77) but what is bad about both hammers being in contact with the cams (slide 76)? I read somewhere that Landeron recommended grease on the runner cam, but the minute counter heart should be dry. Is that so, and why? How many tads in a ligne?
×
×
  • Create New...