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Circlip material?


24h

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A while back I made my own circlips/c-clips for some chronograph pushers out of music wire.
The results were OK, but now I'm needing some clips for a different watch with a much smaller groove for the clips.

I don't think I'll be able to make them by hand, and I haven't found anything small enough other than some M1.0 clips. These seem to be plated with something or have a black oxide coating. Probably not meant for watchmaking, but would this be OK to use?

 

a.jpg

Edited by 24h
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7 hours ago, Marc said:

Thanks for the reply. I did see those, but I'm unsure about how much wiggle room I have between the cutout in the case and the O.D. of the clip (it retracts back into a small hole). 

I suppose I could just order a full set or a few different sizes to test. 

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  • 1 month later...
On 9/28/2020 at 12:55 PM, Marc said:

Any other ideas? 1.00mm ID fits into the groove, but the 2.0mm OD is too large and it does not allow the pusher to fully extend back out. 
 

Needs something more like 1.5mm OD

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Put the clip on a small enough screw and chuck it in the dremel. Spin it against a Swiss pattern file, checking the OD as you go. 

You should be able to take a bit off. Give it a light smear with some silicone O ring lube (Molykote 111) to keep corrosion at bay. 

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5 hours ago, Tudor said:

Put the clip on a small enough screw and chuck it in the dremel. Spin it against a Swiss pattern file, checking the OD as you go. 

You should be able to take a bit off. Give it a light smear with some silicone O ring lube (Molykote 111) to keep corrosion at bay. 

Thanks, I will try that method when I have some time next week!

On the other watch, I documented this method to make the clips: https://www.watchuseek.com/threads/creating-a-chronograph-pusher-c-clip-how-did-i-do.5165357/

I thought it might be too small, but now I'm up for two challenges. ?
Just ordered some 0.008" music wire (0.2mm) to fit the smaller groove of this watch, so in reality it will be 1.40mm x 1.0mm x 0.2 mm 

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