Disassembly Memory Loss

[david pierce]

Watches have a lot of little parts that look alike. I have found that when taking a watch apart it is easier to remember what goes with what if I keep the parts in groups. For small ladies watches a small inexpensive plastic part dish works well. They have 11 pie shaped sections and a rotating clear plastic lid. As I remove the parts I can group them together in the sections along with their screws. For the train gears, I stick them into pith buttons in the same configuration as they were in the watch. For larger wrist watches I stole an idea from Bunn Special and started using plastic milk bottle caps.The difference is I use a lot of caps to organize the groups of parts. This allows me to keep the parts in their functional groups. When I watch a professional disassemble a watch on YOUTUBE they simply take the entire watch apart and spread everything all over the bench. Then they randomly toss the parts into a basket and put them into the ultrasonic cleaner. They never have any problem knowing where every part goes. That isn't me. I can easily spend 15 minutes rotating a setting spring around the pilar plate trying to figure out where it went. Organizing the parts into their functional groups helps me when I reassemble the watch.
david

[gerene]

I use the same technique of grouping parts by subsystem in small trays, but it is not easy to keep them grouped whilst in the ultrasonic cleaner. Furthermore I take pictures while disassembling, which helps me to remember where a piece goes and how it was mounted. For that I use one of these usb-microscopes which allow to take photographs of a complete watch movement. It does not take long to take the picture since the usb-microscope is always on my desk.

Jan

[david pierce]

Jan,
I cannot remember the supplier but I purchased a bunch or small stainless steel baskets with snap on lids. They are a little larger than sewing thimbles. I may have purchased them from FINDING KING or ROOSTERUK but in any event I bought them off of EBAY. They were not very expensive and allow me to keep the parts seperated in the ultrasonic cleaner.
david

[david pierce]

Jan,
I said ROOSTERUK it is actually REDROOSTERUK. I just saw it on another post. Talk about memory loss.
david

[tmac1956]

All:

I use large plastic bead containers that has seperate compartments (some will hold a size 18 case) into which I group parts - and I use photos (I learned that the hard way!). I mark each with a sharpy identifying the contents. They can be stack very easily as well. The sharpy can be removed with denatured alcohol or the like and re-used.

I'm going to look into the other methods here too. I don't lose track during the cleaning process right now because I'm currently using manual cleaning and glass jars. However, I'll one day get an ultrasonic cleaner and I'm sure that when I do, this will become a problem for me as well.

Great information guys!
Thanks,
Tom

[david pierce]

Tom,
The small ultrasonic cleaners are fairly inexpensive from Harbor Freight. I bought mine on sale for $25.00. They are the perfect size for small parts. I found that straight Naptha, that I can buy by the gallon from Home Depot, does a fantistic job on every watch part if put into it. I also wash the hairspring assembly and balance cock in the ultrasonic cleaner with Naptha and then dip the assembly in laquer thinner (not paint thinner) to rinse off any residual oil from the Naptha. I lay the parts on paper towels to air dry.
david

[david pierce]

I found the small wire balkets for sale on an Ebay site under item number 120952160896.

[gerene]

[david pierce]

Jan,
I typed in "balkets" instead of "baskets" and did not catch it before hitting the submit button. I believe that BERGEON is a distribution company and I don"t think they actually make the Bergeon products. I know that the Bergeon Lathes are made by a company called DIXE. Dixie is a major machine tool manufacturing company in Switzerland and is owned by a Japanese company calld MORI SEKI. I do know that when the Bergeon name goes on a product the price goes up.
david

[willofiam]

I just bought a 6 pak of the small screw together baskets from finding king, $18.78 they work great, William

[david pierce]

Finding King has a lot of neat items usually at a good price. I bought a lot of stuff from them and they always had free shipping. A few years ago I bought some tweezers from them. They were a little unfinished but were easy to put into good working order with a stone. Their brand was called MOON. The STELLA tweezers I bought from REDROOSTERUK were perfect out of the package.
david

[Bob Tascione]

Yeah Jan I always thought Bergeon prices for those baskets seem ridiculously high too.
I've never purchased new baskets before. Do you guys find that the lower priced baskets equal Bergeon in quality?

Bob

[david pierce]

I have seen many Bergeon tools that looked exactly like many Chinese tools yet cost a lot more. I suspect that it is because they are the exact same tools. Some that come to mind are the plastic movement holders, the plastic bracelet fixtures, the hand pushing fixtures and many other items. As far as the baskets go, I am sure that they are the same as well. A parts basket will either work or it will not. I have bought baskets from Finding King and they work great. The parts don't fall out and the lids don't come off. Best of all, they are inexpensive. I would guess that Bergeon buys the same baskets from the same manufacturing company and puts their name on them. For me, I have bought many inexpensive tools and they have worked out great. The AMSCOPE microscope is a good example of this. The HARBOR FREIGHT mini mill and the SINCERE lathe are other examples. There is good stuff out there but I have to look for it.
david

[Arutha]

Dont get me started on Bergeon!
Check these vices out;

vice.jpeg (48.71 KiB) Viewed 41599 times

The "Bergeon" vice is £200
the "other" vice is £50, If you want to pay an extra £150 for a sticker and a nice yellow cardboard box then be my guest, I am sure it will help you do better work

[willofiam]

Hey Paul, did you accidentally photo my Christmas present? I would like the one that has a yellow box with it. William

[Arutha]

You wouldn't want one of these William, I have the non Bergeon one, it is a lovely looking thing but i prefer my slightly bigger vice I bought at a bootsale for £1.00, much more useful, jaws line up well, clamps evenly all along the jaws and once I had cleaned the rust off of it even looks nice
The grey one in the picture is fixed to my bench and i keep forgetting to take it off and bang my elbow on it.

[Randy]

I use baby food jars for One-Dip, small glass jars w/stainless baskets/twist on caps that I got on ebay for my cleaning chemicals (L&R) . I bought a new ultrasonic a few months back with a heater built in it, and it cleans much better than my $39 "dental" cleaner, and the final rinse comes out much nicer.
I have noticed that some of the cheaper baskets can lose their finish depending on the solution you are using, which means it's going back on your just cleaned parts !

I use old-school round plastic watch trays, and I just group the parts in the sections so that I don't get it mixed up.
I clean them in groups as well, for the same reason.
The more I've done it though, the less I worry, as I'm getting used to knowing what fits where more and more.

I also have two of the long green trays that Otto Frei sells, as you can stack them, and can fit larger movements ( PW's ) in them

Randy

[david pierce]

William,
I noticed those stud dog poses in your pictures. I hope you don't post one wearing a Speedo.
david

[ewinrow]

Memory loss, yup that's me all the way. Thankfully before the course I went out and brought several, no bunch's of old broken ladies watches pocket watches, men's watches and I already had a dozen or more wall clocks. Yup as I had anticipated, I'm breaking them down very well and yea, their all sitting around unassembled. But their all separated and in safe places. As time goes on I'm sure Bob and other big hands on here will be willing to help a new second hand achieve my goal of watch repair. Hey, as a disabled "VET", all I have is time now. Any who, glad to be a part of the course even as a cherry Got to go now, no TIME for chat got to be on my learning way. SGT Viper, 82nd AIRBORNE DIV, Disabled. (Hello Bob, doing well now, thanks.)

[Arutha]

Just get yourself a digital camera and take pictures as you tear the clock/watch down. I still use one from time to time, it helps stop a large build up of unfinished clocks because I cant remember how or where things went