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MoT's Watch Deal Forum Watches

Discussion area for watches, clocks and all other timekeepers.
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Sporkboy
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Re: MoT's Watch Deal Forum Watches

Post by Sporkboy »

Sanding down to 0.4 mm layer height.

Now that I have 2 over-lumed dials, I need to make sure the layer is even and short enough to allow the watch hands to move. We have about .6mm of clearance, so I am shooting to use just 0.4 of that here. To do this, I created a jig that has a recess of 0.8mm. Given that the dial is 0.4mm thick, this will give us a layer height of about 0.4mm.

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Two dials ready to be sanded down. Note that I had to sand the dial edges a bit to allow them to pop into the jig without damaging the lume layer.

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100 and 400 grit sandpaper along with polywatch and a scrap of cotton fabric.

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I added an acorn nit as a handle to make it easier to grab. With the sandpaper wet and on a flat surface I applied medium pressure and worked in small circles.

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You can still see some unsanded section here (the shiny bit), so I keep going.

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That’s better. It measures between 0.8 and 0.88 or so, which should be close enough.

This was followed up with the 400 grit paper. I could have probably used 150 grit to start and followed up with 800 after the 400, but this process appears to work well enough.

Polywatch was used by applying some to the dial and rubbing it against the cotton cloth laying on a hard, flat surface.

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here is a comparison of before and after the poly watch step. This is quite stark and I was surprised it was so important to getting good results.

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Two dials, lumed and ready for water slide decals. I like that they look like eyes here.
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Re: MoT's Watch Deal Forum Watches

Post by MoT »

They do look like eyes...

...like Sporkboy eyes!
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MoT's Watch Deal Forum Watches

Post by Sporkboy »

Lumed dials in hand, it is time to apply the dial decal. Printing on the water slide sheets is another post, so I will assume that these have been designed and printed.
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A decal and lumed dial ready to go.

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The dial needs to be cleaned with rubbing alcohol.

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Meanwhile, the decal soaks in water for about a minute. When the alcohol is dry, it should be moistened with water to help the decal slide.

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The decal can be positioned over the dial.

ImageSlide the paper from under the decal.

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Line up the center hole and push out any air bubbles. Align the edge of the decal at the cardinal points.

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Fold the edges over nice and tight.

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Push, pull and nudge until you get tired of messing with it and are OK with allignment, air bubbles, etc.

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Set aside to dry for at least 3 hours.

The saga will continue with dial sealing, trimming off the excess decal and final dial sealing.

Edit: forgot to add a pic of what these look like in the dark.
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Re: MoT's Watch Deal Forum Watches

Post by Dub Rubb »

Sporkboy wrote:Lumed dials in hand, it is time to apply the dial decal. Printing on the water slide sheets is another post, so I will assume that these have been designed and printed.
Image
A decal and lumed dial ready to go.

Image
The dial needs to be cleaned with rubbing alcohol.

Image
Meanwhile, the decal soaks in water for about a minute. When the alcohol is dry, it should be moistened with water to help the decal slide.

Image
The decal can be positioned over the dial.

ImageSlide the paper from under the decal.

Image

Image
Line up the center hole and push out any air bubbles. Align the edge of the decal at the cardinal points.

Image
Fold the edges over nice and tight.

Image
Push, pull and nudge until you get tired of messing with it and are OK with allignment, air bubbles, etc.

Image

Set aside to dry for at least 3 hours.

The saga will continue with dial sealing, trimming off the excess decal and final dial sealing.

Edit: forgot to add a pic of what these look like in the dark.
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Awesome man! So cool to see the process, and as I have said before, well done bud! I was also surprised at the difference the polywatch made in the process.

Sent from my LG-M322 using Tapatalk

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Re: MoT's Watch Deal Forum Watches

Post by Sporkboy »

Mad at the decal process at the moment, so I am letting myself be distracted. Got a big bag of watch hands. Turns out they are quartz. That's OK, I mod quartz.
IMG_0177.jpg
And because I can:
IMG_0181.jpg
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Re: MoT's Watch Deal Forum Watches

Post by whoagorgeous »

Wow great job!

Sent from my SM-N975U1 using Tapatalk

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Re: MoT's Watch Deal Forum Watches

Post by Sporkboy »

Not perfect, but getting closer.
023E3722-4F42-4AEE-8643-819051D508B5.jpeg
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Re: MoT's Watch Deal Forum Watches

Post by Stretch44 »

Looks pretty darn good to me!
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Re: MoT's Watch Deal Forum Watches

Post by Sporkboy »

If you can’t see the flaws then who am I to point them out. While waiting for paint to dry, I started tinkering with some 5.5mm seconds disks. This is a super rough proof of concept. I may try a sterile dial and see how a central disk works.
B22A0548-7D77-4A2A-8C5B-73523E04DF15.jpeg
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Re: MoT's Watch Deal Forum Watches

Post by Sporkboy »

We've come a long way in this thread and I was going through my old dials and found some of 2 different generations and thought you guys would enjoy a side-by-side.
2019-10-25 10.26.11.jpg
2019-10-25 10.26.51.jpg
Both of the 2 on the right are pretty much the current design, but are in colors that I am not planning on making at the moment. Those are full green on the black dialed watch and full blue on the white dial.
2019-10-25 10.28.03.jpg
Since these are usable and work well, I thought it would be a shame to just keep these in a box or to strip them down to the brass and use them as blanks. If anyone is interested in either one of these, please send me a PM. I am going with a pay-what-you-want model on these, so you can support the project at a level that you are comfortable with. You can even wait until you get the dial and then decide what it is worth. Any money generated here will be used for other fun stuff on this or related projects. I hear that my lume supplier has a white lume powder is in the works, and I'm really looking forward to that one.
2019-10-25 10.35.22-1.jpg
The final dials are coming, but I don't have an ETA on them at the moment as I have to figure out a good way to remove the radium from dials. I've got one that I'm working on, but I am sure that the process can be refined to involve less cursing.

EDIT: I just noticed that I put the dials on the wrong tags. Thanks for not pointing that out guys. I'll fix that before they are sent out if there are any takers.

Please note that the black dialed variant here with the pure green lume will be the brightest that I can currently make. It just bothers me that it is so green in the daylight, otherwise it is quite functional.
Last edited by Sporkboy on Mon Oct 28, 2019 9:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: MoT's Watch Deal Forum Watches

Post by Split-Time »

Sporkboy, I have been so swamped that I haven't checked in on this thread since the first week of September. That is somewhat of an apology because what you are doing, and the others are contributing to, is just amazing to watch (no pun intended)! Keep up the great work!
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Re: MoT's Watch Deal Forum Watches

Post by Sporkboy »

Yinzburgher had some trouble with the dial I sent him. It looks like the thickness was an issue. I had seems something similar, but it was worse on his dial. I need to get the lume layer thinner and just as bright. I think that a gloss white coat over the primer and finishing with a gloss clear coat may improve the brightness, though I have to try it out.

At any rate, I am taking a break from this project so that I can knock out a few watches for my family for Christmas. We have had an antique shop for 25 years now, though it is in the process of shutting down. I figured that some custom commemorative watches were in order. I expect to pick this back up after those watches are complete. I am also getting into the cold season, so it may be difficult to spray paint the dials. I might need to set something up in my garage.

Thank you for your understanding regarding the project delay.
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Re: MoT's Watch Deal Forum Watches

Post by MoT »

[mention]Sporkboy[/mention], you've gone above and beyond with your enthusiasm for this site, and I am deeply honored. You deserve as much time off as you need, and I don't think anyone would disagree.
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Re: MoT's Watch Deal Forum Watches

Post by sobwanhoser »

I just found this thread today....I think this thread and the "Amateur Strap Making Progress" thread by tennesseean_87 are the 2 best "non-deal" threads I have read here! Awesome and inspirational stuff for the custom watch hobby 8-)

Laughed out loud at "Sporkboy Montana" posts... :lol:
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Re: MoT's Watch Deal Forum Watches

Post by Sporkboy »

sobwanhoser wrote:I just found this thread today....I think this thread and the "Amateur Strap Making Progress" thread by tennesseean_87 are the 2 best "non-deal" threads I have read here! Awesome and inspirational stuff for the custom watch hobby 8-)

Laughed out loud at "Sporkboy Montana" posts... :lol:
Well thank you sobwanhoser. According to your user name, we would have got along great in high school and college.

It has been a fun project and I have always enjoyed using the internet to share this kind of thing. If we are all trying stuff in silos and don’t share our experiences then we can only grow so quickly.

A thread at Watchuseek is one I find inspirational and I have nothing one the guys I’ve at Vostok Mod The Revival (Vostok Mod - the Revival https://forums.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?t=4188578). They are doing some really cool stuff like chemical chrome stripping, sending cases out for gun barrel coatings, 3D printing dials... in metal. I am small time compared to some of those guys, so you may want to check it out for some really cool ideas.
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