Losing parts

[Kappa505]

I am constantly losing parts. Last night I successfully fabricated a new click spring as a replacement for one I lost during disassembly. Today I decided to re design the spring and lost the damn click itself during re assembly. Are wooden tipped forceps better for not having parts ping out of the tips? It seems like I spend more time searching for lost parts than I do servicing the watch itself. Do I need a magnetic floor mat or do I need to work inside a sandblasting cabinet? I need some strategies please. 

[Shane]

Unfortunately you learn how not to loose parts from loosing parts.

I picked up a great tip the other day from Neverenoughwatches.  I haven't gotten one yet but he said that back in the day, watch makers wore aprons and pinned them under the beach, draping it down in front of themselves so "most" of the parts that shot out towards them would land in the apron and not on the floor.

Don't get discouraged and remember they really don't just disappear...  With patience they can be found.

Good luck.

Edited July 23, 2022 by Shane

[GuyMontag]

Chronoglide has a couple of videos on handling small parts:
 

 

 

 

[grsnovi]

Your tweezers need to be properly "dressed" and you need a light "touch". Plus, you need practice...   

 

[dadistic]

Pinging parts often happens because you are gripping the parts too hard - The chronoglide video demonstrates what happens when you do that. 

Now that I have a light touch, every time my tremor acts up I'm dropping parts all over the place

At least the parts just fall down, much better than flying off into the unknown.

 

[Neverenoughwatches]

4 hours ago, Kappa505 said:

Do I need a magnetic floor mat or do I need to work inside a sandblasting cabinet? I need some strategies please. 

Ideally Magneto's dna, or Jacko's polythene bubble. . All of the suggestions made are good. A magnetic strip would be great for finding parts in carpet. A good idea was made a couple of days ago regarding the strip from a shower. Or as another idea the magnet tool holding strips that you screw to the back of your garage workbench. On top of this a bright torch can often spot the glint of a gilt coloured watch part in carpet. Think of it as gold treasure hunting it may take away the frustration lol

[Paul80]

You need one of those plastic cabinets scientists work in

[Nucejoe]

Here I am unlocking an incab spring, jewels can't fly out of the bag neither do other parts.

https://cdn.watchrepairtalk.com/monthly_2019_01/IMG-20190103-WA0005.jpg.7f5f509d2e25dce1359d4ab130ec8ea3.jpg

 

[Kalanag]

I sometimes form a tiny little ball out of Rodico and stick it to the part I don‘t want to fly off. The additional weight prevents the part from flying. It just drops.

Edited July 23, 2022 by Kalanag

[Kappa505]

7 hours ago, Paul80 said:

You need one of those plastic cabinets scientists work in

I actually think I do. 

[Neverenoughwatches]

26 minutes ago, Kappa505 said:

I actually think I do. 

Haha. A homemade cloche with hand holes 

[Kappa505]

This is what I settled on. It would be nice to have found something that had a 5x magnification built into the box. 

[dadistic]

Interesting!

Looks like it has a filtered fan on it. 

I think I'd find it a bit awkward, though.

Let us know how it works out!

[HectorLooi]

10 hours ago, Kappa505 said:

This is what I settled on. It would be nice to have found something that had a 5x magnification built into the box. 

That is what is used in a dental lab for sandblasting. There is a fan to suck away any dust and sand particles. 

If you are using this at the moment, I suggest you get plenty of practice and master tweezering skills quickly and wean yourself off the blasting cabinet. It looks really uncomfortable to work in that manner.

[GuyMontag]

1 hour ago, HectorLooi said:

That is what is used in a dental lab for sandblasting. There is a fan to suck away any dust and sand particles. 

 

That one is a lot nicer than the one I had in my office

For the OP, I don't think there is a need to put a movement inside of a plastic bag. You can get the same benefit by just laying a thin piece of plastic on top of the movement and working through it like the below. It works for all the movement springs like this click spring, shock springs, etc. Same when putting the springs back:

 

Edited July 25, 2022 by GuyMontag

[Kappa505]

1 hour ago, HectorLooi said:

hat is what is used in a dental lab for sandblasting. There is a fan to suck away any dust and sand particles. 

I know, that's how I knew to look for one. It may or may not be comfortable to work in I will let everyone know my thoughts. I don't want to spend any time on my hands and knees looking for parts, especially since I am working on watches that don't have replacement parts readily available or detailed information about the movements. 

32 minutes ago, GuyMontag said:

That one is a lot nicer than the one I had in my office

Are you a dentist also? If this turns out to be a bad idea I can just take it to work. Plastic sheet might be the ticket if I do. 

[HectorLooi]

Goldsmiths and dental labs also use a cabinet like this when trimming gold. It will catch all the gold dust and can come to quite significant amount in a few years.

[GuyMontag]

1 hour ago, Kappa505 said:

Are you a dentist also? If this turns out to be a bad idea I can just take it to work. Plastic sheet might be the ticket if I do. 

I'm an orthodontist. I honestly don't think this is a workable solution, or rather I should say that I don't think it would work for me but that doesn't mean it won't work for others. You can always give it a try and if it works for you then that's all that matters. For me, my concern would be that by forcing your hands to fit into the cabinet in a very specific (and limiting?) angle, it may be difficult to get the angle that you want for your arms/hands. But the bigger issue will be that high plastic dome on the unit will for sure limit how close you can get with a loupe. I don't see how it would be possible to use a 10X loupe when oiling or inspecting as your head would be bumping into the plastic dome of the cabinet.

Edited July 25, 2022 by GuyMontag

[HectorLooi]

5 hours ago, GuyMontag said:

I'm an orthodontist. I honestly don't think this is a workable solution, or rather I should say that I don't think it would work for me but that doesn't mean it won't work for others. You can always give it a try and if it works for you then that's all that matters. For me, my concern would be that by forcing your hands to fit into the cabinet in a very specific (and limiting?) angle, it may be difficult to get the angle that you want for your arms/hands. But the bigger issue will be that high plastic dome on the unit will for sure limit how close you can get with a loupe. I don't see how it would be possible to use a 10X loupe when oiling or inspecting as your head would be bumping into the plastic dome of the cabinet.

Exactly. You won't be able to work in a comfortable position. And when your body is strained, you'll tire easily and will soon lose focus and stability.

Someone posted a while back about using a photo-tent to contain escaped parts. That might work better than a blasting cabinet.

[Kappa505]

On 7/24/2022 at 10:06 PM, GuyMontag said:

You can always give it a try and if it works for you then that's all that matters

Yes there are many unknowns about if it will work for me or not. My main concern with it is if there is going to be glare from my headlamp reflecting off of the plastic dome. What I know for certain is that I can't be spending time looking for parts on the ground or trying to find replacements for these lost parts online. 

[watchweasol]

I think the main job is to cultivate the skills where loosing parts is cut to a minimum, I tidy bench, clean work space and pars handling with tweezers  also fit a bench apron to catch any fliers. My bench is enclosed on three sides with glass panels and when i am of a mind I will make the bench apron as well.

[Kappa505]

1 hour ago, watchweasol said:

I think the main job is to cultivate the skills where loosing parts is cut to a minimum, I tidy bench, clean work space and pars handling with tweezers  also fit a bench apron to catch any fliers. My bench is enclosed on three sides with glass panels and when i am of a mind I will make the bench apron as well.

This won't be a replacement for best practices in parts handling. Hopefully it will just minimize the downside when a part is inadvertently mishandled. 

[Nibbler]

When I started parts were flying all over.

For me it just took time. I occasionally get a flyer but I will try to figure out why and adjust.

Matt

[Neverenoughwatches]

6 hours ago, Kappa505 said:

Yes there are many unknowns about if it will work for me or not. My main concern with it is if there is going to be glare from my headlamp reflecting off of the plastic dome. What I know for certain is that I can't be spending time looking for parts on the ground or trying to find replacements for these lost parts online. 

Tbh Kappa. No offence but you may be overkilling this. Every beginner experiences this, it is just a matter of practice,  patience and gathering old school tips and tricks to achieve better skills in handling. The part searching is all part of the process and becomes less frequent in time. 

[Kappa505]

3 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Tbh Kappa. No offence but you may be overkilling this.

It's definitely overkill but there is essentially zero downside in trying.