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Elmadry Heater for watch parts? Too Hot??

sstakoff
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sstakoff WRT Addict

sstakoff

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Hi. I have an old Bulova Watchmaster ultrasonic cleaning machine that I have used for years. One thing that has always bothered me is the drying unit. While drying, the rinsing fluids drip into the guts of the machine. Very messy and I am always wary of potential ignition. 


Was looking for a dedicated dryer and came across the Elmadry series. A unit like the Elmadry TD30. Cousins has there here: https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/hot-cold-air-dryer-elma 

When the heat is on, these units dry at 70°C (158°F). That feels pretty hot to me. Looking for opinions or experience with this as a solution.

Regards,

Stu

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watchweasol Distinguished Member

watchweasol

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Hi The essential thing is to get the parts dry safely and without loss. A dedicated drier (as Shown) is just an expensive piece of kit with a few bells/whistles and flashing lights.  The common hair dryer can do the same job with no fuss. Either keep the parts in the basket or decant them to a mesh container and gently blow dry with the dryer and save £350 for somthing you really do need.

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sstakoff WRT Addict

sstakoff

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48 minutes ago, praezis said:

Doesn't your machine spin-dry in the jar before going to the heater, like Elmas do?

No - not the watchmaster. The tanks are standalone - you manually move from US Wash to pre-rinse to US-Rinse. After the US Rinse I manually shake the basket to release some fluid and then it goes to the dryer, which does spin and heat (but the drips go into the machine).

I guess my question is really around the heating temp (is 70°C reasonable) - I agree the Elmadry is expensive but I can likely find something much cheaper. Also in terms of productivity and consistency I'm trying to avoid the manual blowdrying method (although I agree it would work). I have a workflow that I try to stick to - and I have tasks that I like to do while the dryer is running...

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rehajm Super WRT Addict

rehajm

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59 minutes ago, sstakoff said:

No - not the watchmaster. The tanks are standalone - you manually move from US Wash to pre-rinse to US-Rinse. After the US Rinse I manually shake the basket to release some fluid and then it goes to the dryer, which does spin and heat (but the drips go into the machine).

I guess my question is really around the heating temp (is 70°C reasonable) - I agree the Elmadry is expensive but I can likely find something much cheaper. Also in terms of productivity and consistency I'm trying to avoid the manual blowdrying method (although I agree it would work). I have a workflow that I try to stick to - and I have tasks that I like to do while the dryer is running...

70 degrees does seem a bit hot though I use an old Pearl machine and the metal basket is too hot to handle after a cycle of a few minutes so it's probably doing a similar temperature. I will say I've run those plastic levers from Rego movements through the dryer without incident if that means anything. I expect if you go with the ElmaDry machine and you're concerned about the temperature you're going to have to plan to add some time for the added attention, and if you are then perhaps just go with something cheaper- the hair dryer, the warm oven. A food dehydrator runs in the 35 degree range...

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  • 5 months later...
Karon Member

Karon

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The Elmadry series, especially the Elmadry TD30, are dedicated dryers for watch parts. These devices use hot air drying at a temperature of 70°C (158°F). This temperature feels hot, but is acceptable for effective drying. However, it is important to be careful when using heat-generating devices and ensure proper ventilation to minimize the risk of igniting or damaging sensitive watch components. We would love to hear opinions and experiences from others who have used the Elmadry series as a drying solution for watch parts.

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Waggy Distinguished Member

Waggy

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Just to put things into context:

STODDARD SOLVENT (AKA White spirit) is a principal component of most non-aqueous watch cleaning/rinsing products (+/- 60%-70%) and has an autoignition temperature of 230-240°C ie the temperature at which it will ignite without an external source of ignition (eg spark). However, the flashpoint is only 21°C i.e. the temperature at which it will ignite if it sees an external source of ignition.

Naptha is another component of these fluids (+/- 20%-30%) with an auto-ignition temperature of 255-270°C and a flash point: 40-62°C

Some people use IPA which has an auto-ignition temperature of 399°C and a flash point of 11.667°C

So the take away is that if your heating system is functioning correctly and your fluids are not exposed to an ignition source you are OK up to 230°C (worst case). If however your drying system does have an exposed ignition source then you don't need any heat at all as all of the components of your  non-aqueous watch cleaning/rinsing products will easily ignite at room temperature.

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JohnR725 Distinguished Member

JohnR725

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9 hours ago, Waggy said:

230°C (worst case)

 

one little problem perhaps what about the shellac? let me quoted something off the website below and tell me if this is going to be a problem or not

in watchmaking, due to its low melting temperature (about 80–100 °C (176–212 °F)), shellac is used in most mechanical movements to adjust and adhere pallet stones to the pallet fork and secure the roller jewel to the roller table of the balance wheel. Also for securing small parts to a 'wax chuck' ( faceplate ) in a watchmakers' lathe.

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellac

 

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DrHWO Watch Enthusiast

DrHWO

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In my benchtop experiments, I can get shellac to melt at 80C and if you give your chosen heat method a 10% accuracy window, then a drying temperature of 70C is uncomfortably close. I use the hair dryer technique, supplemented by a Extech 42529 Wide Range IR Thermometer. Parts in Elma baskets in an Elma frame.

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