L&R Cleaning Machines

[AndyHull]

The "catching on fire and blowing a" fuse, could well be down to the mains wiring, which I would suggest gets replaced with a modern piece of suitably safety rated mains cable.  The fuse in the mains plug must be of a suitable size (probably 3A or 5A, depending on the rated wattage of the machine). The body of this machine is metal and absolutely must be earthed.

When testing, use an RCD plug, and if available, an isolation transformer. This will cut down your risk of electric shock (but not eliminate it entirely). Never work on this stiff on your own, always have someone else keeping an eye on you in case you require things switching off in a hurry.

If anyone intends restoring anything vintage, and intends plugging it in to the mains, and they lack the experience to feel comfortable doing the work them selves,  I would also suggest they get things checked by an electrician, or someone with suitable experience before they plug it in.

Catching fire could also be down to those capacitors I mentioned previously. If they break down, they will probably release impressive amounts of "magic smoke". Looking for the smoke, is a tried and tested diagnostic method.
 

Edited March 1, 2019 by AndyHull

[clockboy]

Andy there is nothing wrong with my house wiring. My house fuse and wiring are sound but the Varimatic wiring is suspect. I do not under stand anything but the basic electrical circuitry therefore I recommend (as I did) when dealing with these vintage machines that a competent electrical engineer carry out the inspections and re-wiring. 

[oldhippy]

Andy there is nothing wrong with my house wiring.

[clockboy]

[AndyHull]

Quote

The "catching on fire and blowing a" fuse, could well be down to the mains wiring,

I of course meant the mains cable on the watch cleaning unit, though I did hear rumors that when you switch on your bathroom light, the toaster pops up. I'm sure that can't be true of course.

[rodabod]

On 2/28/2019 at 8:52 PM, AndyHull said:

The circuit is relatively safe in the sense that you can see all the bits that will bite you. 

BTW Colour TVs work on up to 30kV plus. Even monochrome CRTs use several kV

We used to work on CRTs regularly at work as we had literally hundreds of them. All replaced now, unsurprisingly. One guy managed to vapourise his gold ring he was wearing which lost him his finger, but it didn’t bleed as it was instantly cauterised! 

The main thing that I don’t like about these watch cleaning machines is the fact that they vibrate and have moving parts, plus you have to handle them quite a lot when using them. I use a Varimatic occasionally, but at least it doesn’t have a trailing cable which constantly gets twisted like it does on some other machines like a Brenray, etc. 

[AndyHull]

Interesingly when I worked with CRTs, PSUs and other mildly hazardous electrical stuff on a daily basis, my workshop safety ritual was to remove my watch, and pop it in my pocket, (I wasn't married at the time, so no wedding ring then), before I started anything that had even the faintest risk of electric shock.

Touching a metal banded watch, on your left arm to something live always struck me as a particularly dumb way of killing yourself.

I have had a couple of unscripted expletive laced incidents involving electrickery over the years, but I do tend to err on the side of paranoid, unlike an electrician I know who was known to swipe the back of his right hand over a mains cable if he wasn't sure if it was dead or not.

We did have one trainee engineer who cut through a big fat mains cable (under the instruction of the company boss I might add), while removing old computer data cables for one of our customers. He not only vapourised the jaws of his cutters, but also plunged a large industrial estate on the outskirts of Edinburgh in to darkness. He was uninjured (apart from his pride),  mainly because he was using cutters that were rated for mains rated operations, and thus well insulated. 

[Rexxus]

Hello,

im new to the forum and am considering getting into amateur tinkering. I local resident is selling watch cleaning machines for $100, I could probably get it for less as long as it works. It doesn’t appear to come with the baskets though. My question is are the baskets a universal size? I’ve posted a pic of the machines below 

 

 

[Nucejoe]

I use all cleaning instruments,  no single magic approach, especially on fifty years old dried oil. 

[wls1971]

No baskets are not a universal size and vary from maker to maker as do glass jars, I would walk away from those if they do not come with baskets or jars you could probably get a full set up of ebay at only slightly more than that purchasing every thing seperatley can soon add up.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-L-R-MASTER-WATCH-JEWELRY-PRECISION-CLEANING-MACHINE-JARS-BASKETS/273729671733?hash=item3fbb8f5235:g:ORoAAOSwJItcdFAu

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-L-amp-R-Master-Watch-Cleaning-Machine-/123667948632?hash=item1ccb2f2458%3Ag%3ASpMAAOSwdC5cdxac&nma=true&si=S8xUIy7ISRYEcR4YgSuN4Ith6kA%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

[jdm]

23 hours ago, Rexxus said:

im new to the forum and am considering getting into amateur tinkering. I local resident is selling watch cleaning machines for $100, I could probably get it for less as long as it works.

May I ask, how do you currently clean watch parts? Which advantages do you expect from an old machine, beside the fun spent on many days of refurbishing and parts searching?

[measuretwice]

agree with wls, its a walk away without baskets.  The baskets for those have little hooks that hang on the three pins on the agitator, if you had to make them it would be a pita.  As for jars, I think the the large straight neck paragon jars fit, but I haven't been able to get my hands on one .....you have to buy a case and shipping is more than the jars cost so haven't bothered (I only want them because they have screw on lids!).  If anyone has tried them...I'd be interested if they in fact work

Edited May 22, 2019 by measuretwice

[Rexxus]

May I ask, how do you currently clean watch parts? Which advantages do you expect from an old machine, beside the fun spent on many days of refurbishing and parts searching?

I want to be able to clean the parts correctly. I’ve researched cleaning by hand and it’s 100x more time consuming and probably ends up leaving the watch worse for ware


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[Rexxus]

A 90 year old watch maker gave me a watch cleaning machine for free!!!! It came with the glasses and lids but not the baskets. I’ll post a pic of the machine in a few weeks, hopefully someone can tell me what kind of baskets I’d need


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[jdm]

6 minutes ago, Rexxus said:

 

I want to be able to clean the parts correctly. I’ve researched cleaning by hand and it’s 100x more time consuming and probably ends up leaving the watch worse for ware

 

It is not so. The machine was invented simply to allow the repairer to do something else while another place was being cleaned. There is nothing done by an old machine can you can't do by hand, including heating and shaking. It is certainly not required for a beginner hobbyst. 

Progress was instead reached with the introduction of ultrasound cleaning, which in fact is the only type of machine produced nowadays. 

[Rexxus]

Good to know!


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[Nucejoe]

I agree with jdm 400%.  Excellent advice. 

 

[Rexxus]

Alrighty! I’ve posted some pics of the watch cleaning machine I have. I’m looking to confirm the basket size I’ll need. Let me know if you need any other pics and thanks again x 1M!!!!






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[Rexxus]

And how do I tell the size needed for the basket? Measure the grey wheel?


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[Rexxus]

The diameter of the wheel is 2.5inches


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[rodabod]

Hi,

This Varimatic is new to me. Checking it without the jars installed, it appears to be working, but I’m concerned the heights are a bit off compared to the jar heights. 
 

Has anyone else adjusted one of these and can comment on my videos of it operating? I’ve uploaded a video below. I start by holding the button down to advance to the first jar, and then do the same to advance to the second jar. 
 

Thanks. 
 

https://streamable.com/s/t33od/bzwz

 

Edited January 14, 2020 by rodabod

[jnash]

Hi, it looks like the machine is out of sync , instructions on how to fix will be on the manual if I recall which is online .

Have done this a few times , involves taking off the cover and changing the arm location to hit switches that lift and drop.

One thing to think about is how did it happen. This can happen if the arm doesn't high enough or got caught, this could mean it needs hydraulic fluid and could mean a leak..

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[rodabod]

Thank you. I did jam it accidentally by leaving the hydraulic fluid cup inserted (jams the rotating platform). I will look at re-syncing it as you suggest. 

[rodabod]

@jnash I moved the position of one of the metal arms inside to change the synchronisation and it now appears to be spot-on. Thanks!

[RogersWatchRepair]

On 2/9/2019 at 2:46 PM, jnash said:

I've actually got quite far, have managed to get hydraulics sorted and the synchronisation.

On to the ultrasonics.

Now the ultrasonics light did not come on, the fan kicks in so the switch is working that starts the ultrasonics.

The bulb light up for a few seconds and died.

I have found a replacement and am waiting for it. However the dial control looks to not being doing anything at all.

Does some one have a pic of the underneath with that bit in particular. I want to make sure nothing is missing as I do not see how it would do anything as it looks like a loose switch ( bit at the front)

Thanks in advance



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Hey man. How did you get the sequence fixed? Mine just spins for a second in the jar then pops right out and next one the same till the cycle is finished.