Ultra sonic cleaners.

[Robbeaus]

When my daughter left home, she had a flourishing jewellery business. She left behind an ultrasonic cleaning device and fluid.

i have purchased some small baskets for watch parts with the intention of Using the machine to clean parts. So what should I not put in such a machine (it cost around £30 when purchased, so it’s a bit of a hobby job), my main worry is those parts with springs attached and unwound springs in general. If springs are ok, should I use my mainspring winder to coil the spring first or would I get away with simply putting the uncoiled spring in the machine? What about crystals, and particularly those that are made of glass rather than poly wot sit, and can plastic ones be safely cleaned?

The fluid I have is green in colour, and she used it for cleaning anything, from stones to metal work and did my glasses with it. Or should I use a dedicated watch fluid and if so which one?

[saswatch88]

Anything could be cleaned in an ultra sonic with correct solution, i have never cleaned glass crystals though unless i polished them and i want to remove rouge. Mainsprings should be uncoiled. I would assume the cleaner she is using for the jewelry would be specific for precious metals and stones and is not the best choice for a watch parts but will be good for cases and crystals. You should get your own solution which is fairly inexpensive. Naphtha from a hardware store for cleaning and 99% isopropyl alcohol for rinse can be hard to get, but 91% is just fine. Dont rinse pallets or balance wheels in the IPA. A quick dip and a quick dry with compressed air would suffice. You don’t want that shellac to come loose

 

 

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[JohnR725]

do a search on this discussion group we've covered cleaning watches before.

1 hour ago, Robbeaus said:

The fluid I have is green in colour, and she used it for cleaning anything, from stones to metal work and did my glasses with it. Or should I use a dedicated watch fluid and if so which one?

I wonder if we can assume that all green colored cleaning fluid is the same?  I will make the assumption it is even though I know it probably is not there should be no problem cleaning all of the band components including crystals. I will clean glass crystals in the same machine that they clean their watch bands and other stuff in. That shouldn't be a problem.

Cleaning of watch parts in the band cleaning machine with the green fluid?  you might want to do a test watch just to see what's going to happen. Like for instance does your green fluid have any ammonia in it. It's really nice for making watch parts bright shiny but if it's hot or basically used incorrectly bad things happen and this does include commercial fluids they're not supposed to be heated. I really personally don't think using the band cleaning machine for cleaning watch parts is a good idea.

I think a better solution would be to do what others do you get beakers or glass jars that you put into the ultrasonic. That way you can have your own fluids in the jars still have the ultrasonic machine. Normally and watch cleaning if you using commercial fluids is usually a cleaning bath followed by two or three rinsing baths before you dry. Typically these are not water-based I have a definite aversion to water-based watch cleaning fluids  for watches yes they really make water-based watch cleaning solutions. But you still have to do them properly. So you might want to run a test watch through your cleaning machine just to make sure everything works out before you commit to your Rolex or something you value.

 

[jdm]

1 hour ago, Robbeaus said:

.Or should I use a dedicated watch fluid and if so which one?

Have a read below