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Can you guys kindly look over my final checklist of tools to get started on a budget before I blow my wad?


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Geesh all this sciency stuff is making my poor brain hurt 🤣

At the risk of sounding flippant (which I promise I’m not), I just do what the instructions says on the bottles and it seems to work well. Deep diving into chemistry for a cheaper cleaning solution is what I consider another deeeeep rabbit hole - this hobby has enough of those already.

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1 hour ago, Kalanag said:

Right! And the number of linked carbon atoms in the molecule defines the flash point which indicates how quickly the solvent evaporates. So you can find out whether the solvent you use is light, intermediate or heavy naphta by just observing the evaporation speed. The „Benzinum“ = „petroleum ether 40/60“ I use is a light naphta from mainly hexane (C6) with a flash point between 40 and 60°C and evaporates very quickly (much faster than IPA). No matter which naphta you use it has to be very clean to be useful for watch cleaning.

„ELMA WF Pro“ is 90% naphta C9-C12 according to their data sheet.

Thats the cleaner that i use now ammoniated.  Tbh I'm not that impressed with it, it does make watch parts very shiney due to the ammonia but it is leaving a residue that i need to remove and  evaporates quite slowly. So this is the reason why, i had read the label but wouldnt have understood what it meant until now. Thanks for confirming this Kalanag,  we now know what specifically to look for in a cleaner. 👍

1 hour ago, gbyleveldt said:

Geesh all this sciency stuff is making my poor brain hurt 🤣

At the risk of sounding flippant (which I promise I’m not), I just do what the instructions says on the bottles and it seems to work well. Deep diving into chemistry for a cheaper cleaning solution is what I consider another deeeeep rabbit hole - this hobby has enough of those already.

Your choice of using hexane is a good one Gert, but from what i think i understand is that it is as much a cleaner as it is a rinse. The fact that it is labled as a rinse maybe because it evaporates so quickly. You may very well get the same results from just using the hexane on its own. Although the cleaner you use may actually clean better that the hexane. So in actuality you are deep cleaning and then second cleaning with great evaporation.  👍.  The ipa is only a better choice when a waterbased cleaner is used because of its water dispersion. The rabbit hole is now dug by a very clever rabbit that has learned to remotely operate a JCB. 🤣

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34 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

You may very well get the same results from just using the hexane on its own. Although the cleaner you use may actually clean better that the hexane. So in actuality you are deep cleaning and then second cleaning with great evaporation.  👍.  The ipa is only a better choice when a waterbased cleaner is used because of its water dispersion. The rabbit hole is now dug by a very clever rabbit that has learned to remotely operate a JCB. 🤣

I’m led to understand that the ammoniated cleaner does a better job of removing rust deposits than hexane would. And if you’ve seen the latest bundle of joy I did, I need all the help I can get!

So you probably right. A double clean and a rinse thrown in for free 😉

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1 hour ago, gbyleveldt said:

I’m led to understand that the ammoniated cleaner does a better job of removing rust deposits than hexane would.

Hexane or any petrol based fluid does not remove rust at all. Ammonia based neither do, but make brass shine. To remove rust use tea or vinegar.

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18 minutes ago, jdm said:

Hexane or any petrol based fluid does not remove rust at all. Ammonia based neither do, but make brass shine. To remove rust use tea or vinegar.

Tea is a new one on me Jdm. Might this be the tannins in the tea ? I know from my knowledge on diet and food substances that black tea has a higher tannic acid content than other teas. Interesting 👍

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