So I finally made a couple of explorer dials

[praetor]

It took me two whole days to get to this point. what you see in the case is a prototype dial whose print is smudged out because I screwed up luming. The paint job was [censored] up to begin with anywyas

So here's the story. Out of 9 blanks I've made from the emulsion:

2 were drilled misserably

2 were drilled slightly off centre (unacceptable)

5 were drilled perfectly, but severely scratched 1 dial

Out of the remaining four blanks:

1 was painted perfectly

2 were painted satisfactorily

1 was painted miserably.

Out of the three painted blanks:

1 was printed perfectly

2 was re-printed until it's almost good. I used alcohol to wipe the previous prints, which ruins vintagizes the finish of the paint.

so it's an 11% success rate. but at least I have one good one =D

[jmb]

I will have to say that the pad-printing process seems to be an order of magnitude more PITA than making decals! You are making steady progress, though, and once you get the process down your method will be far superior to anything I can crank out on a printer...

[rosamannen]

Once you perfect this method, I'll stand in line wanting to buy a purple (yes, purple!) dial for either my gen Datejust or my incoming rep Noobmariner.

Keep practicing. I wish I had your patience, skill, equipment and free time.

[krpster]

Great work! I love following along when a member is breaking new ground. Very exciting! Give us some close ups of the good one

[praetor]

jmb- yea, these are a pain in the ass to make. That's because I make the blanks myself from the printing plates that I used to print. I'd have to waste 1 plate, drill a hole very accurately, paint it with a can of spray paint (which I found to be very hard to do, I'd have to strip it 7 times already).

As for the printing, I've perfected the printing process except for one thing: printing location. I don't have any dial holder of any sort so I rely on marks made on the plate. Ideally, I would have to have a dial holder and know exactly where I would print next time, but I'm cutting corners. I kept my printing project under $500 dollars XD. And yea, you can never get the process perfect, especially with different size fonts like lume plot + marks for example.

If anyone wants me to do a full write up on the process I'd be glad to do it.

Right now I just wanna chill and relax

Edited September 30, 2011 by praetor

[40232]

I'd would be interested in a full write up with pics, if you were up for it.

[redwatch]

+1 That is some amazing work. Perhaps J could help you with some method of holding the dial blanks?

[Ephry73]

If you're selling, I'm buying. It will be nice to put an explorer from some spares I have.

E

[ebzen02]

wow!!!! Just in time for my 1016 build!

[praetor]

I'm not really happy with the paint job either. Krylon is terrible. I'm trying to source better spray paint (graffiti quality, i.e. montana or molotow). Making the blanks is truly a laborious process, I have to file them individually to 27.9mm. Plus I'm really busy for the next 2 months. I screwed up another blank while trying to strip the paint >.<. So... maybe 3-4 months from now if it's not snowing outside =(. I'll try to do a write up next week. This was sort of a last ditch effort before I get really busy.

Edited October 5, 2011 by praetor