Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

Greetings everyone, I have a quick question. I'm having problems getting hold of 99.9% IPA - the joys of living where I do. Strangely, I can get 99.9% ethanol. Could I substitute ethanol for IPA in my normal watch cleaning activities? I know its a little more reactive with shellac (or so I read - please feel free to correct me if I am wrong), but I wouldn't intentionally use IPA anywhere around shellac anyway.

Thanks in advance.

Posted

Difficult question, from what I  have read, ethanol is hydrophilic and doesn't leave a residue but I  couldn't find anything clear cut. If it's your only choice, try it on some scrap parts and test for residue. 

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Posted

I would have to go and find the can but for the final rinse when I was cleaning watches at home this is what I used. I was using it as the final final rinse I think I usually spent about 30 seconds and they are just can a swirled around and pull it out and put it immediately in the dryer. You'll notice that says for cleaning glass and metal and  is a reference to shellac. In other words it dissolves shellac. Unlike isopropyl alcohol which may or may not dissolves shellac this definitely does but it still made a nice final rinse as I'm not leaving the watch parts in there all day and I wasn't using the ultrasonic at that stage just dipped it in swirled around so washed off the  rinse in the cleaning process and it works great

then when I search for Klean-Strip Gallon SLX Denatured Alcohol I keep coming up with the other product which clearly says fuel. The reason I bring this up is we had a small can of it at work and normally use isopropyl alcohol spray on things cleaned and water speed up the drying process and somebody swapped for the fuel alcohol. So the fuel alcohol is definitely a different product as it left the slimy feeling on my fingers and was actually floating on top of the water. So their new fuel alcohol is definitely different than whatever this is and I don't remember where but I heard this was being discontinued for I don't remember why which is sad I rather liked it. As sometimes there's a need to dissolves shellac.

 

image.thumb.png.53d7a6acf171016e631e5ec11d5c5e17.png

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Posted

I just conducted a test a few days ago on the solvents that I regularly use as a final rinse.

I put a drop of 9010 on a large cap jewel and dropped it into my test solvents and swirled it around for 15 seconds.

Benzine did not do a very job. Small droplets were still visible on the jewel.

Trichloroethylene faired better. It removed most of the 9010, leaving only a glistening, rainbow colored film.

Denatured alcohol was the overall winner, leaving not a trace of 9010.

But denatured alcohol dissolves shellac and from my tests, small blobs of shellac, like on pallet stones, can soften in as little as 30 seconds.

So, now I use denatured alcohol as my final rinse for everything except the pallet fork and balance. It is especially good when I mess up lubricating a cap jewel.

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Posted

the problem of purchasing alcohol can be a problem for all of us. Or the problem purchasing alcohol is a cleaning product and not for internal use is a problem. For instance here's a link where the talking about alcohol in the USA because of California doesn't everybody will follow. Which is why the alcohol that I was using I don't think is available anymore at least last night when I looked if you look for that exact whatever it just wasn't coming up because of California. Is not the first time a nifty solvent that I used disappeared because of them.

https://www.finewoodworking.com/2022/03/21/where-to-buy-denatured-alcohol

 

Posted
7 hours ago, Waggy said:

Greetings everyone, I have a quick question. I'm having problems getting hold of 99.9% IPA - the joys of living where I do. Strangely, I can get 99.9% ethanol. Could I substitute ethanol for IPA in my normal watch cleaning activities? I know its a little more reactive with shellac (or so I read - please feel free to correct me if I am wrong), but I wouldn't intentionally use IPA anywhere around shellac anyway.

Thanks in advance.

I used meths years ago for dissolving shellac to make french polish. Meths as we called it or methylated spirits comprises of mostly ethanol alcohol plus a small percentage of methanol ( hence the name meths ) plus some rather nasty tasting substances and the distinctive violet colour to warn of its toxicity . Just googlied and chemically methanol, ethanol and isopropylalcohol are different, carbon to hydrogen ratios vary .

Posted

Ethanol will start to remove the zinc(?) plating from brass parts, then attack the brass if you leave them to soak for a day or two. I'll not be doing that again in a hurry.

At a guess, methanol will do the same but faster, and IPA is more idiot proof, which makes it the best choice as a final rinse. 

  • Like 1
Posted
1 hour ago, Klassiker said:

Ethanol will start to remove the zinc(?) plating from brass parts, then attack the brass if you leave them to soak for a day or two. I'll not be doing that again in a hurry.

At a guess, methanol will do the same but faster, and IPA is more idiot proof, which makes it the best choice as a final rinse. 

Methanol seems to be more volatile, evaporates fast and more toxic and very corrosive compared to both ethanol and isopropylalcohol. A much simpler structure of only one carbon atom, less bonded to its hydrogen. It is obtainable as almost pure methanol, not that you would want to use it considering how toxic it is. Methylated spirits or just pure ethanol could well be a better option to isopropylalcohol. 

  • Thanks 1
Posted
19 hours ago, Waggy said:

Could I substitute ethanol for IPA in my normal watch cleaning activities?

As a final rinse, yes. Even a quick dip and swirl of a pallet fork will not harm the shellac, but use a puffer or heater to evaporate the ethanol quickly afterwards. Pure ethanol evaporates without a trace. As a final rinse it is great. As a cleaning fluid, probably not the most effective, but better than IPA. Not sure about meths, which is ethanol with additives, so only disadvantages as a cleaner or rinse as far as I can see. If you have been using IPA as a general cleaning fluid and you want to use ethanol instead, then keep the exposure times as short as possible. 

  • Thanks 1

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

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Well I spoke too soon. Here's where I am now with this issue. I replaced the date jumper and all seemed to function correctly. Fully wound and only in the movement holder, no dial or hands, I let it sit untouched for two days. Both nights it advanced the date. The second night it might have been just shy of fully advanced. Seemed as though I fixed it, so I reassembled the watch. Three nights in a row the date did not advance. Once I pull the crown it does. So you might think that it's the dial interfering, but here's the weird thing. If I advance the date during the day to 11:57p and watch it get to 12:00:30a the date flips with gusto. So here's what I'm thinking and could use your council. I installed a new Swiss mainspring. I used Moebius 8217 braking grease on the barrel walls. It seems to wind quite a bit before slipping, but does slip.  I've read that the 7750 really needs Kluber p125 as a braking grease.  Do you think it just doesn't have enough power after a few to several hours of sitting before the date change? Here are the TG numbers after service:  Rate +1s/d,    Amp 301,    BE 0.0ms   
    • I've managed with the ones I have but 1.8 mm would be better. 
    • Parts weren’t readily interchangeable when this watch was made, and almost every part was adjusted by hand to fit the rest of the parts in that specific watch. That said, it can save time to harvest a part from a donor movement so you can modify it to fit a similar movement, rather than try to make the part from scratch.  With that in mind, it is possible that the click from this watch was removed for use in another watch. I doubt that the other missing parts were taken for use as donor parts. The cannon pinion would be removed properly, rather than snapping it off with the centre wheel arbour and pin inside it.  The Maltese cross stop works were probably removed by a lazy or less knowledgeable watchmaker servicing the watch.  It is very common to encounter otherwise functional watches (including very high end pieces) that are missing their stop work because a previous watchmaker didn’t know how to set it up when reassembling the movement, or was too lazy to bother and knew that the customer would probably never notice.  It is possible that the stop work parts were taken to be fitted to a watch that was missing them.  Best Regards, Mark
    • I posted a link to another video where he takes it a step further and uses the pins to set and adjust rate as well as positional error.  Alex doesn’t manipulate the stud angle after he pushes it in but I find it makes a difference in the spring concentricity and bend.  Amex also doesn’t use the pin manipulation to adjust positional discrepancies.   
    • Brilliant! Very commendable! 🙂👍
×
×
  • Create New...