Jump to content

Recommended Posts

8 minutes ago, dadistic said:

Granite? I've never tried to drill holes in granite myself, but I think it's possible with the right bits. 

That’ll certainly do the job as far as weight is concerned. I don’t have any tools for that though, but a mate of mine is a contractor so I’ll check with him. Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bought this piece to use as a base for leather work. About 30cm square, 4 cm thick. Got it from a leather working tool supplier of all places.

I used to have a thinner piece that was meant to be used as a 3D printer platform, and it had holes drilled in it, so I know it is possible to do. Unfortunately, I dropped it and broke it.  Oh well.

 

 

IMG_20221009_122636.thumb.jpg.bf6958d8af7c43b59f5cb2dddaa958cc.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi  Melamine is ok but its only a layer over chipboard, Unless you use resin bonded which is water proof the normal chip soaks up water and expands.  Granite is heavy but a total pratt to drill and cut without special tools.  Good and aged mahogany is no problem and virtually water proof due to the tight/dense grain.  I have some that was out side here in Scotland for 7 years still good. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, watchweasol said:

Hi  Melamine is ok but its only a layer over chipboard, Unless you use resin bonded which is water proof the normal chip soaks up water and expands.  Granite is heavy but a total pratt to drill and cut without special tools.  Good and aged mahogany is no problem and virtually water proof due to the tight/dense grain.  I have some that was out side here in Scotland for 7 years still good. 

You are quite right, although finding Mahogany in South Africa (it’s an imported wood for us) would be pricey. You did put me on a good path though, so I’m leaning in that direction.
 

At this point I’ve spent about what I would’ve if I went the Pearl machine route. I did it this way because there were things I wanted my machine to do, at a quality level better than I’d get by taking the easy route and getting a Pearl machine. Just that Elma basket and the adapter for it to attach to was 40% of a Pearl machine. I’m not trying to be a cheapskate but I don’t want to go too nuts - although I might have gone past sane already haha

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi  Those ELMA basket are way too pricey for what they are, its just the "watchmaker"tag that does it. the Inserts are just pressed out of S/s wire mesh. and the basket holder is an injection moulded casing the cost in that being the tool/die but once done you can bat out hundreds no problem.   I understand what you are trying to achieve as it would be bespoke tailored to your own spec.  stick at it, any more ideas come up I will post them  all the best.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, gbyleveldt said:

also need to give some thought to what I'm going to do for wavebreakers

Hi Gerty

think old fashioned "cookie cutters." you can find them just about anywhere. They're flexible, bendable and come in every shape and form known to man.  you can also find the wavebreakers on Ebay from time to time. and the third option which I think you could easily handle is, make em yourself. my jars on my old bulky cranky Good-All watch parts washer(I've posted pics of on here somewhere)are thick lead split T-plates. rare to find and less attractive to make. may I present exhibit 'A' below -a fast and dirty napkin drawing I just meticulousy scribbled out. cut two pieces of 4-5mm x 85cm long(or depending on what dimensions work for you. these would fit in my jars) of stainless steel or something heavy and either slot saw or pierce saw a slot half way thru the center of each piece then turn em 90Degs. perpendicular to each other in an 'X' pattern, slide them together, one slot through the other and you have your wavebreakers. you can add as many as you want with more slots. hope I explained that ok.

I like your DIY. I myself have been thinking about a homemade wash machine using air along with whatever cleaning agent. Ive even made another one of my famous napkin drawings of it. It's around here somewhere. I call it my "Bubbler." Just haven't started it yet. one of my many projects on the books. some of the commentors above have also spoke of air. in the machining/mechanic world, we've used air and chemicals for as long as I can remember to clean parts and had great results. One of my concerns tho, in a home shop setting, is fumes. I gotta work on that. keep us posted on your DIY washing maching.

wavebreaker.jpg

On 9/5/2022 at 1:48 PM, watchweasol said:

Hi  Step two was to have a mesh base with a trap at the bottom and a filter (coffee filter paper) on top of the mesh to collect the dirt, that way with a second filter the fluid could be re used. These are still in the thinking stage and not been drawn up even, just food for thought.

 

On 9/4/2022 at 10:28 PM, Gramham said:

@Mark,

I've seen you use manual air agitation in "one dip".

What's your opinion on aeration in a static cleaning machine?

1) Fill reservoir with cleaning fluid
2) Place air stone at bottom of basket
3) Put parts in basket
4) Insert basket in fluid reservoir
5) Aerate for X minutes

This might eliminate the need for a rotor...do you have any experience with aeration instead of agitation?

Sorry if this has been asked 100M times already - if need be, just point me to the appropriate discussion.

I have no "institutional memory" developed as yet.

🙂

g.
-----

yes used it quite a bit during my career. works great. i have an idea for a DIY Bubbler machine I just haven't moved on it yet. vapor control is one of my issues and the usual dirty cleaning agent, in this case lighter fluid. for now when it gets dirty enough, I then put in a marked "dirty" jar and let it sit. when the jar is full enough the dirt and oil settles to the bottom, I take a turkey baster and siphon the "clean stuff" into yet another jar, with two coffee filters at the top. still get a few cycles from it later on before it finds its way proper disposal or the occasional bonfire starter.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, watchweasol said:

Hi  Those ELMA basket are way too pricey for what they are, its just the "watchmaker"tag that does it. the Inserts are just pressed out of S/s wire mesh. and the basket holder is an injection moulded casing the cost in that being the tool/die but once done you can bat out hundreds no problem.   I understand what you are trying to achieve as it would be bespoke tailored to your own spec.  stick at it, any more ideas come up I will post them  all the best.

Those baskets are stupidly priced for what they are - I couldn’t agree more. But they are made to a high standard, where the Indian made alternative isn’t - just looking at the experiences over in the Pearl thread put me off cheap baskets. I have some of the cheaper small baskets here made in India and they appear to use a chrome plated steel as opposed to stainless. I’ve seen first hand where the chrome seems to be “dissolving” and where the mesh is welded poorly to solid areas. So yeah, £22 for a small lidded basket is stupid but here we are for lack of an alternative (I saw the cheaper Horotech mini baskets mentioned here, but I needed the complete package with basket holder and top adapter). I will certainly welcome more of your ideas as they come up!

31 minutes ago, MechanicMike said:

Hi Gerty

think old fashioned "cookie cutters." you can find them just about anywhere. They're flexible, bendable and come in every shape and form known to man.  you can also find the wavebreakers on Ebay from time to time. and the third option which I think you could easily handle is, make em yourself. my jars on my old bulky cranky Good-All watch parts washer(I've posted pics of on here somewhere)are thick lead split T-plates. rare to find and less attractive to make. may I present exhibit 'A' below -a fast and dirty napkin drawing I just meticulousy scribbled out. cut two pieces of 4-5mm x 85cm long(or depending on what dimensions work for you. these would fit in my jars) of stainless steel or something heavy and either slot saw or pierce saw a slot half way thru the center of each piece then turn em 90Degs. perpendicular to each other in an 'X' pattern, slide them together, one slot through the other and you have your wavebreakers. you can add as many as you want with more slots. hope I explained that ok.

I like your DIY. I myself have been thinking about a homemade wash machine using air along with whatever cleaning agent. Ive even made another one of my famous napkin drawings of it. It's around here somewhere. I call it my "Bubbler." Just haven't started it yet. one of my many projects on the books. some of the commentors above have also spoke of air. in the machining/mechanic world, we've used air and chemicals for as long as I can remember to clean parts and had great results. One of my concerns tho, in a home shop setting, is fumes. I gotta work on that. keep us posted on your DIY washing maching.

wavebreaker.jpg

Thank you Mike! I get exactly what you saying and that is certainly something I’ll try. Like a X placed at the bottom and if I feel like going over the top, I can make a grid of these interconnected pieces. But as you say, a bendable cookie cutter might also work (and I suspect that design is what they used on the older L&R machines).

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, gbyleveldt said:

Those baskets are stupidly priced for what they are - I couldn’t agree more. But they are made to a high standard, where the Indian made alternative isn’t - just looking at the experiences over in the Pearl thread put me off cheap baskets. I have some of the cheaper small baskets here made in India and they appear to use a chrome plated steel as opposed to stainless. I’ve seen first hand where the chrome seems to be “dissolving” and where the mesh is welded poorly to solid areas. So yeah, £22 for a small lidded basket is stupid but here we are for lack of an alternative (I saw the cheaper Horotech mini baskets mentioned here, but I needed the complete package with basket holder and top adapter). I will certainly welcome more of your ideas as they come up!

Thank you Mike! I get exactly what you saying and that is certainly something I’ll try. Like a X placed at the bottom and if I feel like going over the top, I can make a grid of these interconnected pieces. But as you say, a bendable cookie cutter might also work (and I suspect that design is what they used on the older L&R machines).

sure thing bud. yep you're onto it now.  just like a miniature egg crate at the bottom of your jars or as far as your imagination takes you. I should have mentioned that I only have one lead split T. so, i use one side of it in one jar, the other in the 2nd and the third is, yup you guessed it, a cookie cutter taken straight out of my wife's kitchen. She doesn't know it but she is short one six-pointed cookie cutter😉😎

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi   I had the idea of using a mini sprayer (air brush) to clean watch parts as used in large engine cleaning machines where the fluid filters down into a tank and is re used untill its no use. This recycles the fluid and when dirty is discarded. Abandonded it as it would be probably too large a construction and I have other things to do to devote the time to it.   Just keep moving the cookie cutters around Mike she wont notice untill stock take.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/8/2022 at 10:19 PM, ifibrin said:

However, for the mesh baskets, I was wondering if it would be a better idea to use a proper watchmakers one, to avoid small components slipping through the gaps, or pivots getting stuck in the mesh.

I've added some little mesh containers and they are excellent. The cheapest I found was on etsy. 5 is more than enough. The last watch I did I split the small parts up into 3 containers and put the large parts in my diy trays.

image.png.2fa2d101ad858044192296786847a0fd.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/9/2022 at 1:34 PM, gbyleveldt said:

Rome? Geesh you're a baller - lucky man! And congrats in advance of your anniversary!! How long have you guys been married now?

Well, this is how far I got the weekend. Still much to do as I'm designing it as I'm going (yeah, not a bright idea).

IMG_9142.thumb.jpg.58132a34d501cef83abdce0fdfab54c2.jpg

I was going to sorta stop there, but then I realized that I'm going to need a 2nd gantry to make it more rigid. At 300 rpm (wash cycle) it's ok, but when I go to 1k rpm (drying spin cycle) then things come a little unglued. Why did I pick those numbers you may ask? Well that's how the modern Elma machines work (according to their spec sheets) so I figured I'd copy that. Then I figured, while I'm making another gantry, why not give it a z axis so it can lift itself out of the solution and then ramp up to the spin cycle. Automagically. Then all I need to do is push a button and it takes care of washing and spinning, then I change the jar to a rinsing solution and repeat. I hate that "while you're in there" thoughts...

I also need to give some thought to what I'm going to do for wavebreakers. When it spins up even at low speeds the solution tends towards the outside of the jar, leaving the inner part of the basket with little solution. It may or may not be an issue though as I'm changing direction every 2 seconds in the wash cycle. On the older L&R machines there's a little 'star' bent plate that sits at the bottom, on the Elma machines it looks like they used a stretched weaved mesh that lines the inner walls of the jar. I'll have to experiment to see what works when I get to that point.

I'm also going to have to give it some sort of heavy base to keep it stable and to centre the jar properly. The obvious choice would be a thick slab of steel but getting that machined is out of my wheelhouse, so I'll have to think up something else. Maybe thick perspex sheet with lead weights. I dunno...

Thanks Gert, very kind of you. We've been together since we were 17 now 55, but was a while before we got married 16 years ago.  Rome is an amazing place, very busy like Paris,  you are taking your life in your hands just crossing the road, its a free for all. Your design is looking great, I build everything that way, a basic plan then make the rest up as you go along 😀

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, watchweasol said:

 I had the idea of using a mini sprayer (air brush)

interesting irony because with my little bubbler machine idea I was going to use an airbrush air compressor as my air source. they're small, and quiet. the airbrush idea is intriguing. how much air pressure would be enough? not enough?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/9/2022 at 7:23 PM, gbyleveldt said:

That’ll certainly do the job as far as weight is concerned. I don’t have any tools for that though, but a mate of mine is a contractor so I’ll check with him. Thanks!

How about a cast weight plate Gert. A 5 or 10 kilo, second hand plates are usally around a quid per kilo. Then adhere a timber , ply, mdf top so you can fix the apperatus on to that. Expanding foam sticks like shite to a blanket but cramp or weight the pieces together .Or better still build a sandwich base and put the plate inside it, or build a timber box, concrete fill it and pop a lid on it. Or even easier, if you don't mind the box being 5 inch thick then a 4 inch breeze block or two dending on your base dimensions  sandwiched between half inch ply. A standard medium density solid lightweight  block weighs 15 kilos. A 7 newton block weighs around 20 kilos.

Edited by Neverenoughwatches
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, gbyleveldt said:

Hey Rich, I was actually thinking of grabbing some lead bars and sandwich’ing it between two layers of kitchen countertop. I’ll still see how much is needed. I’ve get the rest of the parts coming today so I’ll get that done first and go from there.

Oooooh lead bars ! Don't know about your scrap prices over there but here they might even cover the cost of making the base. Concrete a really cheap weighted base material.  Sounds like my sort of project, love doing these jobs for mates over a few cuppas, burgers and good music blasting out.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a little time to work on the machine again and this is where I'm at. Very much still prototyping but key elements of the design is working. I've just shortened the cycles to 5 seconds each, as opposed to probably the 5 minutes that it should be - I'll have to go soil up a watch movement to get an idea how much time it needs in practice. It turns out that it's a lot more stable now at 900rpm than I initially thought it was going to be.

Now I just need to work on the wavebreakers and make things a little more permanent.

 

Edited by gbyleveldt
  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, LittleWatchShop said:

Nice work.  Will you post your code?

I don't mind sending you a PM with it when it's done. But I have to warn you it's not pretty - I clobbered it together just for this purpose and there's no comments. I also need to add an emergency stop feature to it and any other safety issues that may come up as I use it. I'm also considering adding a bit of a display to show a countdown of time, but this may or may not happen. Driving things like displays are time hogs. My initial attempts interfered with the smooth running of the stepper motors so I shelved that idea for now. Maybe if I use a beefier CPU it'll help but I'll see. For now it does what it needs to

Edited by gbyleveldt
Link to comment
Share on other sites

54 minutes ago, gbyleveldt said:

I had a little time to work on the machine again and this is where I'm at. Very much still prototyping but key elements of the design is working. I've just shortened the cycles to 5 seconds each, as opposed to probably the 5 minutes that it should be - I'll have to go soil up a watch movement to get an idea how much time it needs in practice. It turns out that it's a lot more stable now at 900rpm than I initially thought it was going to be.

Now I just need to work on the wavebreakers and make things a little more permanent.

 

Great work Gert and very stable. 🖒. Haha and you know who Heath Robinson is, so funny to hear that, are you half British? 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

58 minutes ago, LittleWatchShop said:

Are you using an Arduino...could not tell in the video?  I am in no hurry to see the code, so don't worry about it for now. This looks like a fun project to do even though I have an L&R cleaner.

Yeah, a little Pro Micro. I must admit that it being fun was half the reason I did it. Now I must just finish it properly lol.

32 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Great work Gert and very stable. 🖒. Haha and you know who Heath Robinson is, so funny to hear that, are you half British? 

Thanks bud. Haha it’s a common term used here, us being an ex Brit colony and all. But no, I’m 45% Dutch, 40% German and apparently there’s a Spanish Prostitute and a little Indian in the mix as well.

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, gbyleveldt said:

Ok, I think I'm about done with it. As promised, a little update video 

 

 

Hey Gert thats cool  . You know that we talk and discuss stuff and get on and i like you and you like me kinda. And i wouldnt mind something like this thats like fantastic and cool and well made and is the dog's nads of a watch cleaning machine. And that i know nothing about electronicy things and wouldnt know where to start at building such a well made ( i may have mentioned that already ) and well thought out incredible machine thats just fantastic and cool. Can you guess where this is going ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




×
×
  • Create New...