New(OLD) Tool Day 2! L&R Watch Cleaning Machine: The Varimatic-ing

For those who are familiar with my journey over the summer, I restored an L&R Console cleaning machine, having to remake the ultrasonic part: https://omegaforums.net/threads/new-old-tool-day-l-r-console-watch-cleaning-machine.185176/

WELCOME TO THE SEQUEL.

Well: Today I went to the Northwest NAWCC Clock & Watch show outside of Portland OR. I didn't end up getting what I was there to find, but saw a bunch of nice watches and clocks for sale, plus had quite a few nice chats! I was tempted to pick up a watchmaker's lathe, but talked myself out of getting THAT far into the hobby 😀

However, sitting off to the side was John from Accutron-Only sitting next to an L&R Vari-matic with ultrasonic cleaner (First I've ever seen one!). I chatted with him a bit and mentioned how much trouble I went through with the last project, and shared my interest, and he mentioned he just had this (plus a parts machine) that he never did anything with. Both seemed to otherwise work, but the parts machine has a seized motor.

I had ZERO intention of purchasing it, but was curious, so I asked what he was looking to get for it. And he mentioned a number... then mentioned that he'd include the parts machine for that price. Now, to tell you: The price he asked for was one that I'm both ashamed to say, but also one I'd be ashamed to offer. You know when you list something on FB Marketplace/ebay/etc, and you get those awful people who are like, "I'll give yout 3 pieces of used candy for it, but you have to deliver, because I'm a single cat owner!"? This price was one they'd be ashamed to offer.

SO, I foolishly accepted immediately. The parts machine is at his office in Portland (so I'll be making a quick road trip early this week to pick it up!).

Once I get the parts machine, I'll decide what to do with these. I would LOVE to end with 1 fully functional/awesome varimatic on my bench. IF I end up with 2 functional ones, even better (though I might find a way to pass it on, plus do the same with my Console).

I intend to tell the story here best I can!

Watching with interest.
Is that a vintage Taylor chair it's sitting on?

Yes, I believe it is! It has a castor that doesn't stay put and the wood it is mounted in is busted out from a previous owner's attempt to fix it. I meant to re-try to fix it up, but the 'socket' part for the castor never came available, and the cheap ones i found online don't do a good job. It was my watchbench chair for a while until the busted castor hit my frustration level 😀

Same here!
I had an identical problem with the original castor. Couldn't find a suitable replacement though.

Here in my watch room in 2017.



After the castor failed, I removed the remaining three, cleaned up the base and it's now the bedroom chair.

Got the parts machine too! Looks like it is a varimatic 3. The head feels bad, but otherwise it seems to be about an equally as complete machine (sans ultrasonic base!).

I really need to decide which I'm going to try to 'save', though i don't have a good feel of Varimatic vs Varimatic 3, or what the extra switches do! So I have some research in front of me 😀

I got both onto my bench today, and did a little triage.

The Varimatic 3:
-The head probably needs new bearings. It wouldn't run when I got it, but I tore the head apart and cleaned the commutator, and it sprung to life!
-Hydraulics are out of sync, so there is a sync procedure I haven't played with yet.
-The dials on the side are a bit crunchy, so they probably need a good clean.
-Cycle time seems long? ALmost wonder if the little valve/timer thingie is slow... kind of a cool mechanism here.

Otherwise it looks like it works pretty well. Internal limit switches could probably use a clean in a few places, or perhaps even replacement.

The Varimatic 1:
-The head auto-reverse feature doesn't seem to work, so I have to tear that apart. I wouldn't doubt it if the switches are in need of replacement.
-Dry spin-cycle doesn't work. I hopefully just need to adjust the speed.

Otherwise it too is pretty good!

I'm in a bit of an anaysis-paralysis. I have two machines within shooting distance of being at least functional,, so not sure which I want to keep, and which to pass on as needing help 😀 I like the style of the Varimatic 1, but the extra speed controls on the 3 seems nice too....

Side note: ANYONE in the PDX area need a cheap cleaning machine? I've got to pass on my Console once Ive got one of these working, and probably will pass on one of these too.

IF you find yourself in the Portland area, feel free to stop by and get a machine for 3 pieces of used candy😁

DID a little bit of work during the day. I tore down the Varimatic head, cleaned the switch/grease on the reverser switch and ressembled. So now the head on that one works great!

The Varimatic works right, but it is leaking a small amount of oil. I'm going to continue by taking it apart, I ordered some gaskets to re-seal it best I can. I'll have to make/fab up a bleeder cup though.

I ALSO tore down the Varimatic3 head, confirmed the bearings are toast, and ordered replacements. SO that is on the back burner for a while too 😀

Welp, a 1-step forward, 1-step backwards effort today 😁

I decided to finish tearing down the Varimatic 1. I tore down the body and cleaned it with some simple green, and it came out great! MUCh cleaner than it was. I also cleaned all the electronic switches/etc, so I'm happy to say it is working perfectly.

It DOES have a leak right down the center, so I'm going to do a gasket-kit on it,. do an oil-change, and call it good. SO, Varimatic on the back-burner for now.

SO, I decided to do the bearing replacement on the Varimatic-3 head. Bearing replacement worked well, but the shock I believe caused the epoxy (already was pretty bad, I should i have put new epoxy on before getting started...) to flake off, and snapped some of the wires while it was at it.

SO that will require a motor shop to fix. I'm pretty resigned to just selling the Varimatic 3 as a 'parts' machine anyway, so whoever gets this cheap parts machine is going to have to pay to have that fixed. Otherwise THAT machine is probably just a clean, bleed, and hydraulic sync away from being ready to go as well.

At one point I'll have to tear into the ultrasonic part of this. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with that. My options:
1- Run it as-is. Not sure if it works, andq quite a bit lower power than the one I made for the Console.
2- Rewire it like I did the Console (I have extra parts at least, so no cost outlay!), and make another transducer, so that i'm back where I was.
3- The above, but steal the transducer from the Console and make it 'future Erich''s problem to make another one if/when i pass the Console on.

Anyway, still thinking that one through 😀

SO, 2 things: FIRST: I started looking into jars. I'm probably just going to steal the ones from my old machine: THOUGH I found this:
https://www.mcmaster.com/4239T36/

Those jars are basically identical (within a 1/4" of these jars!) to the L&R ones, so I suspect that would work perfectly for anyone coming along later😀



I grew impatient, and decided to start looking into the ultrasonic unit. It was filthy (some Simple Green made short work of it!), but otherwise the inside is GREAT. Everything looks to be in fantastic shape, and there are some maintenance stickers on it, so it has seen some attention ni the past.

I fired it up with the transducer from the Varimatic 3, and it worked perfectly. SO, much to the chagrin of those of you hoping for another long thread, the ultrasonic part of this exercise is done 😁 I DID discover that the Varimatic-1 transducer did a 'less good', so I'm switching to teh Varimatic 3 one.

SO: I'm down to the 1 oil leak out of the center post. The Varimatic 3 doesn't seem to leak, so if a swap of the gaskets/etc doesn't "fix" it, I'll just swap those instead. I DO have to figure out a solution for the bleeder cup, but that should be simple enough since I have a lathe 😀

Otherwise, all thats left of this thread.... anyone in the PDX area want a Varimatic 3 project OR a fully-functional/upgraded L&R Console 😁 ?