Jump to content

Recommended Posts

I've just bought a small amount of the Horotec Episurf-Neo, which is advertised as a 'next gen' epilame treatment.

Directions for use say 30 second dip, 60 second dry at air temperature. So no heat required.

I too am looking for a cheap DIY alternative to the special dip bottle. I've been experimenting with the little filter baskets from the water inlets on washing machines! Haven't found the perfect solution yet, but I'm working on it!

 

 

IMG_1764.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

I was thinking about using Fixodrop but  have a hard time figuring out what parts to use it on. The fewer the better considering the abhorrent price for it. What I got so far.

* Pallet jewels

* Escape wheel

* Reversing wheel on automatic

* Balance End stones

 

What is your opinion on this ? Should the end stones be treated, and if so, does that include the chaton ? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

https://www.cousinsuk.com/category/moebius-fixodrop-fk    This link will give you ther page on Cousins site regarding fixodrop/Epilame  not only is it expensive, there are also hazzards in using it as explained in the following link  http://watchmakingblog.com/2011/07/29/one-hazard-of-epilame/.  I would suggest reading both and makining an informed descision         cheers

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

I myself never used such stuff, not sure if it was around in my days, besides I had a very steady hand.  

Yes it was, 1957 Omega literature explains it, in the 60s Greiner made a machine to apply it from bags of stearic acide, after ultrasonic cleaning.

I've neither used it so far, I think that today's quality of lubricatints helps doing without it, at the same time I don't have enough experience to recommend one way or the other.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
15 minutes ago, praezis said:

Don't forget to run the movement dry for some minutes, before oiling.

Frank 

You should never run a movement dry. It needs lube no matter for how long. More then likely you will need to add oil as you re assemble the movement as the more you add parts the more difficult to oil certain parts become. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In csse of runing movements, I take dial and disk plates off, wind full and drop the whole movement in avgas( absolutely friendly to shelac) , if it ran whilst submerged, I lets it run overnight to clean itself, then disassemble it for clean& service. 

 My late repairman frowned on this practice of mine but never explained the reason. 

This is a chance to put my question to vote, your thoughts please.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In csse of runing movements, I take dial and disk plates off, wind full and drop the whole movement in avgas( absolutely friendly to shelac) , if it ran whilst submerged, I lets it run overnight to clean itself, then disassemble it for clean& service. 
 My late repairman frowned on this practice of mine but never explained the reason. 
This is a chance to put my question to vote, your thoughts please.
By avgas you mean kerosene I guess? Why not, I don't think it will hurt anything, but getting all of that cleaned off would eat a lot of solvent or cleaning solution.
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Nucejoe said:

In csse of runing movements, I take dial and disk plates off, wind full and drop the whole movement in avgas( absolutely friendly to shelac) , if it ran whilst submerged, I lets it run overnight to clean itself, then disassemble it for clean& service. 

 My late repairman frowned on this practice of mine but never explained the reason. 

This is a chance to put my question to vote, your thoughts please.

 

giphy.gif

  • Thanks 1
  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, nickelsilver said:

By avgas you mean kerosene I guess? Why not, I don't think it will hurt anything, but getting all of that cleaned off would eat a lot of solvent or cleaning solution.

Aviation gas = avgas ,  I am not sure if this grade of avgas runs piston airplane or turbine engines( diferent I hear), but has no effect on shelac and no visible effect on base metals either. 

Some calibers wont run while submerged. 

Thanks for your response.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

It’s one way of causing extra wear on a movement, pivots could shear off, all sorts of damage could happen. 

Oh I mean submerged and running with oscilator, so runs at low speed, if thats your concern, amplitude also drops.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’ve done something similar to what Nucejoe describes when doing a “pre clean” on an utterly filthy movement with L&R cleaning solution. Personally, I don’t see any great risk of harm. The aviation fuel probably provides a reasonable amount of lubrication for the short amount of time that it is running. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Avgas has lead in it. Is it enough? No idea. It’s 100 (min) octane gasoline.  Turbines (jets) run on Jet-A which is essentially kerosene. 
 

I had also considered such action at times (with Ronsinol) but never did. Cleaning is always better when you have access to both sides of plates. 

Edited by Tudor
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/29/2020 at 3:44 PM, nickelsilver said:

Run the movement with the pallet jewels dry for some minutes, this allows the escape teeth to scrape off the epilame from them and that non-epilamed "track" holds the oil.

Thanks, nickelsilver!

I was referring to the epilame treated parts only, acording the topic.

Frank

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of the problems with watch repair is the age of the technical information. A problem with the age of the material is it's possible that things have changed like even fixodrop? Like for instance at the link below there is variations lots of them? Plus they've changed the solvent to something more environmentally supposedly friendly. Changing the solvent has had other interesting changes.

For instance 7061 This one's interesting wash resistant if you download the technical sheet it tells how to apply it. Then since I really enjoyed the answer "NO" up above I'm going to quote something "Fixodrop-treated anchor pallets should be lubricated only after running dry for 1 to 2 minutes" Unlike the answer "NO" up above it's okay because it's only the pallet stones. You need to remove the surface treatment so the oil will stick otherwise you're going to have issues.

Then they explain the drying procedure. This is interesting because the previous solvent they were using would evaporate so fast that if you weren't very very careful the cooling effect would cause moisture to condense out of the air eaving a microscopic coloring of moisture on your nice clean steel parts which leads to rust. This is why shops using this a lot of times I have a hot hairdryer radius and is a part came out that immediately put hot air on to hopefully avoid this. Now it's supposed to be better and not have that happen.

On 8/9/2020 at 10:12 AM, Flubber said:

Should the end stones be treated, and if so, does that include the chaton

 

Only the end stone should be treated not the setting.

 

 

 

http://www.moebius-lubricants.ch/en/products/epilames

  • Thanks 1
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.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

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.




  • Similar Content

  • Recently Browsing

  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Post some pictures , some good close ones of the parts you've described. 
    • Ive never used epilame H only information i have read and mentally stored about it mostly from Nicklesilver here and elsewhere ( the fork horns thing ), maybe the residue powder that is removed has some grinding effect ? So probably a good idea to limit its application areas to only the absolute necessary. Yes as far as i know epilame rubs off relatively easy, the technique of running the watch to make a groove through it first in the pallet stones where the lubrication is then placed. This i understand creates the barrier for the lube to sit up to. If i can find a good balance of pros and cons of its use then thats one process i can avoid by using a thixotropic lube on the stones. The epilame i would say allows for a more fluid lubrication to be used that would increase amplitude on low beat movements. The stearic acid powder is extremely cheap, the problem is the fuming process to coat parts, is not selective , the whole part has to treated in this method. If epilame residue can cause wear then thats not good, if I remember the conclusion was not proved entirely just a general assumption between watchmakers. The thread is out there somewhere, the same discussion is also old on a facebook group. Ive never used epilame H only information i have read and mentally stored about it mostly from Nicklesilver here and elsewhere ( the fork horns thing ), maybe the residue powder that is removed has some grinding effect ? So probably a good idea to limit its application areas to only the absolute necessary. Yes as far as i know epilame rubs off relatively easy, the technique of running the watch to make a groove through it first in the pallet stones where the lubrication is then placed. This i understand creates the barrier for the lube to sit up to. If i can find a good balance of pros and cons of its use then thats one process i can avoid by using a thixotropic lube on the stones. The epilame i would say allows for a more fluid lubrication to be used that would increase amplitude on low beat movements. The stearic acid powder is extremely cheap, the problem is the fuming process to coat parts, is not selective , the whole part has to treated in this method. If epilame residue can cause wear then thats not good, if I remember the conclusion was not proved entirely just a general assumption between watchmakers. The thread is out there somewhere, the same discussion is also old on a facebook group. If its a potential problem for amateurs to use then i would prefer not to take the risk .
    • Following on from my question about identifying screws in the AS2063 movement that basically fell out of the case in bits, I’m pleased to report that I’ve got it all back together, and the movement is running pretty well.    But… There’s something wrong with the keyless works and hand setting. It’s fine in winding and quickset date position - these work - but in hand setting position winding the crown turns the whole gear train.  I don’t really understand how it’s meant to work. It doesn’t have a traditional friction fit cannon pinion.  The second wheel is unusual with a pair of smaller pinions on it, which seem to interact with the barrel and the motion works.    Could this be the problem? I must admit I just cleaned it and popped it in place when reassembling the gear train. I’ve lubricated the pivots but didn’t do anything to the extra bits on the second wheel.    Does this make sense and is anyone able to figure out what I’m doing wrong? Thanks in advance, as always.    ETA - the parts list calls it the Great Wheel, not second wheel. 
    • You're thinking metal to jewel in general I guess. Maybe it would be a good idea to peg the pallet staff jewel hole on the main plate after the epilame treatment. I think that could work as it is my impression that the epilame doesn't sit very hard, but I could be wrong about that so feel free to educate me. I didn't remember that 9501 was thixotropic (thanks for the link). That would mean it's even runnier during impact (lower viscosity) so perhaps it's time I get some fresh grease as mine seems a bit too runny. What I have seen is a whitish surface after washing but it goes away if I scrub the surface with a brush in a degreaser (Horosolv). I don't think it embeds itself in the metal but sticks very hard to the metal. I don't worry too much about the cleaning solution. I just want perfectly clean parts and my solution can be replaced for little money (ELMA RED 1:9). Anyway, I quite often need "to strip back and rebuild" and scrubbing parts by hand isn't exactly the most stimulating part of a service. Just got confirmation that Moebius 9501 has a lower viscosity (68 cSt at 20° C) than 9504 (305 cSt at 20°). The viscosity of Molykote DX is 285-315 cSt at -25° to +125° C. I was surprised to see that the viscosity of Moebius 9010 (thin oil!) is higher (150 cSt at 20°) than my 9501 grease!
    • I’ve had a couple movements where it is clear the previous watchmaker was diligent with lubrication but the old epilam had turned to a fine white powder covering the pallet fork and keyless parts, which can’t be good for parts. I’m spare with epi since I don’t know how long it takes to degrade to that state…
×
×
  • Create New...