On the bench. Baumgartner 866.

RevZMan123

I think I used the presto puller once or twice but never really successfully. Lol Once I used the hand levers as Al recommended, all right right in the universe. I needed them to pull the minute gear off anyway.

sheepdoll

A simple cleaning solution can be made from Murphy's oil soap (oxolic acid) acetone, alcohol and distilled water. The recipie is online. Most people do not know that the oxolic acid is the oil soap and find that the raw stuff is sold in large quantities.
IMO a cleaning machine is a must. All the people who taught me back in the 1990s seemed have had strong opinions on this. There are two types of cleaning machines. Spin and ultrasonic. I see most of the modern you tubers using spin machines. Ultrasonics are more used for jewelry. The cleaning solutions are different formulas. I have used simple green in the Ultrasonic.
One dip was something called benzene, which is different than benzine. Basically this is a light weight petroleum distillate that evaporates quickly displacing any residual moisture, Naptha, Acetone, Xylene and Tuoliine are other solvents. The one I like is Heptain, which is rubber cement solvent. This however no longer seems to be in the HW store. Goo gone, dry-cleaning fluid, is Naptha, usually strongly scented. I forget what lighter fluid is. There was also something called Vm&p which was paint stripper.
Between working for the computer retailer and working for Apple, I worked for a company (running plotters which made pert charts and other graphs) which got a Superfund cleanup contract. They would measure these substances in the parts per billion or trillion in water and wastewater. I could never figure out if they were actually bad, or if some graduate student invented the machine and was looking for a commercial use for it.
Using the wrong solvent can dissolve the shellac which holds the roller jewel and pallet stones. One of the landerons I have has a stone at about 30 degrees out of plane ( would never hit an escape tooth.) When I was active in the 1990s there was a lot of talks and opinion on setting the pallet stone angles. I find I have a tool for using this. Requires an alcohol lamp. (alcohol unlike kerosene/paraffin alchol burns with low soot.) Over the counter pure alcohol ( even denatured) is no longer allowed in this state. One can not even purchase everclear. 'Kitchen solvents,' on the other hand can be ordered online.
Pure alcohol is also used to dissolve shellac, which is why commercial solutions are recommended. The downside is these are sold in bulk and have to be sent ground (slow.)
Kerosene/paraffin aka 'jet fuel.' is an oil, so probably not recommended. Octain/petrol called 'gas' in the US, is highly volatile (as are other solvents mentioned above.) Back when I was a kid, 'white gas' was used to wash out small engine parts by friends. Sometimes it is amazing we made it this far.

Of course, I could be wrong about this. I am often wrong. But such is what I have used for years.
-j

RevZMan123

I might get an ultrasonic as they seem fairly useful for most parts. I was just brushing and shaking to clean and rinse. I'll keep on eye out on the stones though and keep them away from the alcohol.

RevZMan123

Yes I see the spin machines used often. I do have a place over in Trenton where I can get a used machine but it's about a 3 hour roundtrip. Soon! That will certainly save on shipping.

I'm at Walmart right now getting myself some distilled water for just what your are saying, no impurities.

So just the case and bracelets in the ultrasonic? No little parts? Check.

Dan S

I don't recommend using most of the solvents mentioned above in the absence of a fume hood. Definitely not on a regular basis. If you have a question about safety and exposure to a particular chemical compound, search for the MSDS (material safety data sheet) associated with that compound, and google will find it for you on various free sites, including OSHA, university safety offices, and some of the major chemical suppliers.

RevZMan123

I used to work in my dad's print shop when I was younger. Touline and 99% were very common and cleaned everything there.

After looking on some of the other watch repair forums, yes lighter fluid is naphtha and has been recommended but doesn't really strike me as something I want to use. My local watchmaker told me to use onedip and I've seen Archer's setup.

I might get an ultrasonic as they seem fairly useful for most parts. I was just brushing and shaking to clean and rinse. I'll keep on eye out on the stones though and keep them away from the alcohol.

Archer

Personally, I would not use one-dip as a main cleaner. A solvent containing ammonia is best for removing dried oils and dirt, with at least two rinses in a non-ammoniated solution.

I don't use on-dip at all...ever...

Archer

I use L&R Extra Fine watch cleaning solution for cleaning, and then #3 rinse in subsequent jars.

Canuck

One Dip! 🤦

Archer

Personally, I would not use one-dip as a main cleaner. A solvent containing ammonia is best for removing dried oils and dirt, with at least two rinses in a non-ammoniated solution.

I don't use on-dip at all...ever...

sheepdoll

I guess I was not clear. I am not a fan of one dip, which probably contains one or more of the solvents I was speculating about. Back in the day of the regular watch and clock club meetings, some of the members who worked for the national labs where rather suspicious of one dip that it was a fairly nasty chemical. Could be that at one point one dip was one of the tri-clorine de-greasing solvents. (which are now banned.) Also note that spelling is not one of my strong points. I do not have time to be pedantic about it.

I also left the ammonia out of the homemade cleaner. The ammonia is what gives it the distinct odor. L&R would be my recommendation as well, apart from that one has to get so much of it, then most of it goes bad after a while. The only reason I use home made is that I only need to mix up as much as I need to for small jobs. There is plenty written about cleaning solutions online and in the old trade publications.

It was not my intention to get into a discussion about chemicals. My point was to recommend using the spin cycle machine.
-j

RevZMan123

Are there any less harsh cleaners you would recommend for someone doing it at their kitchen table for now? Do you think simple green is a bad idea?