My First Service: Raketa 2609 HA - Questions, questions

[plop]

This is my first ever attempt at servicing a movement, I bought a really cheap job lot of 4 watches with this same movement. I have a Raketa 2609 disassembled right now, I have cleaned everything in an ultrasonic using a 3-stage process of Essence of Renata, IPA, then more IPA. I did not put the pallet fork or balance in the IPA stages.

Things look okay but looking back I think I should have targeted some of the grimier parts with some physical effort prior to cleaning, but I will deal with these in due course. Right now I am looking at reassembling the barrel, this was one part which came out still with oil on it after cleaning, much of which I have scraped off with pegwood. The barrel lid however looks like this - I seem to have removed a fair amount of some kind of plating on the inside, revealing brass. There is also some unmovable tarnishing of some sort still on there.

My intuition is telling me this is very bad news and trying to use this would be a waste of time. This flaking of the plating seems to have occurred or at least exacerbated by the ultrasonic cleaning process. I would appreciate any wisdom about this part, where I have gone wrong potentially, and whether there is any possibility of salvaging a part that is in this condition... I'm sure I could keep poking at it and remove all of the plating ultimately, but presumably I'd need to remove it from both sides of the barrel lid (the other side is currently intact) and end up with a bare brass part, because otherwise there would always be an edge where the plating starts and that could flake off inside the running movement if left.

[VWatchie]

If you suspect the plating to loosen within the barrel I would refrain from using it or try to get the plating off completely. Inspect the lid from one of your other barrels and if you find one that looks better I suggest you use it instead.

I've been experimenting a fair bit with cleaning and have found that the most efficient way to clean "large parts" such as the barrel, the main plate, and the bridges (and sometimes the pallet cock) is to use a good washing-up liquid, a dense soft toothbrush and as warm water as you can endure. You will be amazed by the result! Before this I let the parts soak in naphtha over night. I only use IPA to get rid of naphtha and water. So, just a quick rinse in IPA (a minute or so) not to dissolve any shellac.

I just love Russian movements but haven't done any Raketa yet (just Vostok and Poljot), so please keep us updated on your progress.

[watchweasol]

Hi  As VWatchie says either remove all the flaking plate or dump the barrel for another. I either use carburettor cleaner or brake cleaner to de grease and clean then an IPA rinse works ok for me.

[luiazazrambo]

I have recently had the similar sort of result with the ultrasonic cleaner and a PUW60 movement: PUW60 The yellow section under and around the balance wheel where the ultrasonic clean removed the plating. That is really sad and I never thought that it could happen. I could see in the wash liquid (elma 1:9) the shiny metallic plating. Now I don't know how to avoid this as this is the first time when it happened and apart from this one occasion i was happy with the result. This was also the very first time when I used elma 1:9, but I dont think it was the reason for this. Probably the age the technology what was used for the plating, the washing time also played a role? Obviously one way to stop this happening is not to use ultrasonic cleaner with movements as some would advise.

[watchweasol]

Hi  I think Luiz is right regarding the age and technology used when plating, there   seems to be no copper plate base coat for the exterior plate.  It might be interesting to find out how the Russian watch Techs clean the movements and with what and how.

[plop]

Thanks to you all, I decided to use a barrel from another movement, this time cleaning thoroughly by hand and have managed to wind the mainspring back in by hand... I now have the barrel reassembled complete.

[VWatchie]

22 hours ago, plop said:

I now have the barrel reassembled complete.

Good job! Congrats!