Elma Watch Cleaning Machine

[SSTEEL]

24 hours+

[Paul78]

Does it not evaporate?

[SSTEEL]

Yes, but slowly, I put a cover over mine.  Which part are you soaking?

[Paul78]

At the moment I have everything in there other than the base.

[SSTEEL]

If the paint fails to lift after 24 hours, then remove all parts, and dry them, then etch them paint with co**BLEEP** sandpaper, and try again, its possible that the acetone is unable to currently soak into your paint.

[Paul78]

So I gave up with the acetone in the end, I had soaked it for around 30 hours, and I don't know if it was the type of acetone I used or wether the paint was just impenetrable, but it just wouldn't work, so I used a dremel tool and sanded the paint off, very messy and time consuming but I got there in the end.

I've opted to stay with the blue colour and have gone for the Brush on hammered blue hammerite. So caribe done 2 coats and it's looking quite good. I like the hammered effect.

[SSTEEL]

Looking great paul, I was tempted with the same, still got the tin of hammerite here unused.

[Geo]

I like it Paul, and loom forward to seeing the finished result. :)

[Rob]

Yes that blue colour looks really nice. Good job.

[bobm12]

Good job Paul, it's coming along!

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

[Geo]

My machine arrived from Germany today and everything is working perfectly. All I'm going to do is give it a light clean and polish and start using it. The only thing that had me puzzled was the colour of the old continental mains cable, Red is earth, Black is live and Grey is neutral. I did a lot of double checking before wiring the plug. The cable and electrical controls are all in excellent condition. :)

[SSTEEL]

Got any photos of your Geo?

[Geo]

Here you go Micky, it's quite unique it was made in 1966 and even the Elma museum doesn't have one.

It came with quite a few accessories. :)

[SSTEEL]

Cool, looks great condition considering its age.  Nice accessories too.

[Paul78]

Very jealous of all the accessories George! finally finished my restoration. ( or paint job if you like!)

So i repainted the whole case, and renewed the cork and some jar lids, all switches were in good condition so re-used and the original timer put back on.

 

What do you think?

 

 

 

[clockboy]

Nice find Geo & fantastic professional restoration Paul. Them watch bits will never have been cleaner.

 

As a side note: I have changed my cleaning solution today from Elma to L&R.

Just interested to see if there is any noticeable difference.

Edited February 3, 2015 by clockboy

[Geo]

Well done Paul, it really looks the business! :)

I'm interested to here how you get on with the L&R cleaner Clockboy. I'm working on a brew for mine, I'll post up what it is and how I get on with it in the next week or so. One thing, it will be a fraction of the cost of Elma and L&R, so fingers crossed it does the job.

[Mark]

Paul, you didn't polish the screws!!! :D

 

Just kidding - brilliant job. Makes my old machine look real tired.

[Geo]

Paul, you didn't polish the screws!!! :D

 

I was going to tell him to remove the paint from the screws, but didn't want to be a rat! Oh I just have been. ;)

[Paul78]

Paul, you didn't polish the screws!!! :D

Just kidding - brilliant job. Makes my old machine look real tired.

I was going to replace them all, but in the end I just couldn't be bothered and wanted to put it back together! lol

[SSTEEL]

Congrats Paul on completing the restoration, I bet you are proud.  You certainly didn't hang around in getting it all done, fair play :)

[bobm12]

Nice job Paul, looks like new...better than new!

[RicardoG]

Hi for all.

I read almost of the posts and I only can congratulate for a nice job in the restoration of these machines. Just a comment, may be to help understanding the work of the motor. This kind of motor is called induction motor or inductive motor. The speed is a directly proportion to the frequency of the source that supply it. In this case, 50 Hz. The tension applied to it's terminals only give the power to turn. The number of the coils of the motor fix the speed and less coils more speed. Normally in this application the motor have two or four coils (two will turn faster than four). This kind of motor was used in vinil record players because as the source frequency is very stable, the speed of the turntable will be too. With a reostat in series with the motor supply you only change the power making the motor strong or weak. O course if you have some obstacles to fight like the fluid resistence of the cleanning liquid, reducing the power, indirectly you will reduce the speed. That's why when you turn it on outside the liquid the speed raise to the top limit. You can lower the speed outside the liquid using a reostat with high resistece value, and the motor will lower the speer against the atrit between the axis and the supports, that it is not perfect. However, if you do this, when the basket is inside the liquid, the reostat will only increase the speed at the end of his cursor, and the speed will have a fast icrease with a small turn of the reostat.

One more tip. The energy that is not used by the motor (in the lower speed) will be burned by the reostat. So, when you adjust for lower speeds, it is normal to the reostat to heat.

I hope this can be helpfull in future jobs.

[Geo]

Excellent information Ricardo, it good to know how things operate. :)

[SSTEEL]

Great insight into the motor, thanks for that :)