slai Posted July 9, 2008 Report Posted July 9, 2008 I've managed to break a crown stem by allowing the crownguard to apply way too much pressure on the crown. I suspect there is no way to save this crown but thought I would get a few opinions. Yes, I'm a bonehead.
andreww Posted July 9, 2008 Report Posted July 9, 2008 It appears that the stem has broken inside the crown. I'm pretty sure Zig has the tools to fix it.
StormTooper4 Posted July 9, 2008 Report Posted July 9, 2008 YIKES I think she's a gonna! Unless you have the smallest of drills to get the rest of the stem out. A lesson to us all me thinks, I'm very close to doing this myself Best of Luck ST4
slai Posted July 9, 2008 Author Report Posted July 9, 2008 It appears that the stem has broken inside the crown. I'm pretty sure Zig has the tools to fix it. Oh, it doesn't just appear that way...I'm pretty sure it is. Just wanted to get opinions here before I bug The Zigmeister.
RWG Technical Posted July 9, 2008 Report Posted July 9, 2008 I think you can fix this yourself easily... Fill a small container with Vinegar, place the whole crown in the container, wait a week and if all goes as it should, the stem should dissolve and leave the crown in place. If not, and the crown disolves as well, it doesn't really matter as there is no other way to salvage this damage. RG
sssurfer Posted July 9, 2008 Report Posted July 9, 2008 I happened to do the same just a few days ago. The Zigmeister you are our hero. Unfortunately my crown was a gold plated one. I am afraid I am fu**ed.
slai Posted July 9, 2008 Author Report Posted July 9, 2008 I think you can fix this yourself easily... Fill a small container with Vinegar, place the whole crown in the container, wait a week and if all goes as it should, the stem should dissolve and leave the crown in place. Thanks RG! Will give it a shot.
slai Posted July 9, 2008 Author Report Posted July 9, 2008 I happened to do the same just a few days ago. The Zigmeister you are our hero. I need to electrify my caseback tools so I get shocked everytime I try to open up a caseback.
StormTooper4 Posted July 9, 2008 Report Posted July 9, 2008 Cool Tip Zig Look forward to seeing the results, will you post pic's Slai?
slai Posted July 9, 2008 Author Report Posted July 9, 2008 Cool Tip Zig Look forward to seeing the results, will you post pic's Slai? Sure thing. Especially if the crown dissolves as well!
sssurfer Posted July 9, 2008 Report Posted July 9, 2008 I need to electrify my caseback tools so I get shocked everytime I try to open up a caseback. That's a wonderful idea! I am coming to the same conclusion. Sure thing. Especially if the crown dissolves as well!
rodwc Posted July 11, 2008 Report Posted July 11, 2008 I think you can fix this yourself easily... Fill a small container with Vinegar, place the whole crown in the container, wait a week and if all goes as it should, the stem should dissolve and leave the crown in place. If not, and the crown disolves as well, it doesn't really matter as there is no other way to salvage this damage. RG Unless the stem and crown are of 2 different materials, ie brass and steel, you will end up doing more harm than good with this method. The acid in the vinegar is simply not strong enough by far to eat and bite into steel, let alone differentiate between the crown and the stem. The crown needs to be colleted in a lathe and the broken stem drilled , a size smaller than the actual thread size. The broken stem will then be able to be un-screwed leaving the original threads intact. Tungsten carbide micro drills are used at 500 rpm with plenty of cutting oil. I have drilled down to 0.3 mm dia. into hardened steel with no problems. ( no annealing or re-hardening required ).
DemonSlayer Posted July 11, 2008 Report Posted July 11, 2008 Thanks Rod, another valuable piece of information I've had this exact thing happen to me also, I've just left it and forgotten about it.
rodwc Posted July 11, 2008 Report Posted July 11, 2008 Thanks Rod, another valuable piece of information I've had this exact thing happen to me also, I've just left it and forgotten about it. Slai/ sssurfer/ demon slayer, send me the crowns , and I will drill the broken stems out, what have you to loose ? The crowns are allready rooted !!
sssurfer Posted July 14, 2008 Report Posted July 14, 2008 Sorry Rod, I missed your replies. I used to access this thread by "my last 10 posts" option in My Assistant, so when I posted 10+ more posts after it I just lost it out of sight and I forgot of it. I was just keeping the stem tube in vinager -- the tube only, not the whole crown. Your remarks make sense, but I have no clue on how to drill a stem at the needed precision level, and how to unscrew it after drilling it. Thanks for your kind offer, PM sent. I also read that someone solved it by carving a small line in the broken stem so to make it resembling like a screw head, then using a tiny screwdriver on it. I suppose it was a 1.20mm stem, so a 1mm screwdriver could work. My stem is/was 0.90mm.
rodwc Posted July 14, 2008 Report Posted July 14, 2008 I pull my head in here, with regards to The Zigmeisters suggestion for removing a broken crown, as I have been in contact with sssurfer. The vinegar method of dissolving the broken stem is actually working, now whether this is because the crown is gold plated and is not being attacked by the acid I don`t know, but it is actually disolving the broken stem. I mentioned to him to BOIL the crown in water, to remove all traces of the acid afterwards. Now we know that there are at least 2 methods of removing a broken stem from a crown. Great outcome.
sssurfer Posted July 25, 2008 Report Posted July 25, 2008 - UPDATE - The Zigmeister's vinegar method worked! And it did not even affect the rose gold plating of the crown! :yahoo: Actually, I even suspect that the RG plating actually protected the underlying metal. As a matter of fact, non-plated parts that were formerly chrome colored became black under the vinegar action. Fortunately, those parts are in out-of-sight places of the crown. But keep it in mind if you are going to try it on a non-plated crown. Thanks to The Zigmeister who helped on a problem that I believed hopeless. And thanks to rodwc who also offered his help.
FxrAndy Posted July 25, 2008 Report Posted July 25, 2008 Wow what a fix!!!!!!!!! Hat off to ziggy, where did you hear about this one?
mikellem Posted July 25, 2008 Report Posted July 25, 2008 The Zigmeister always comes to our rescue~' Thanks Rob... Without you..We would not have our watches properly repaired...And that's a fact!.. MM
sssurfer Posted July 25, 2008 Report Posted July 25, 2008 Excellent news, congrats. The one who deserves congrats is you, The Zigmeister. This used to be a black beast, a nightmare to all us hobbist modders... now it is less fearsome.
GenTLe Posted October 19, 2014 Report Posted October 19, 2014 Necro Bump. I'm gonna give my crown a try with vinegar Let's see!
kbh Posted October 19, 2014 Report Posted October 19, 2014 (edited) You can also use alum powder. it works great and pretty fast. Here's some old pictures from a tutorial I did on the other RWG years ago. Took about a week to totally dissolve the stem. Heating the water occasionally also supposedly helps speed up the reaction time. It comes as a white powder. You can buy it online or often at Spanish food markets. Edited October 19, 2014 by kbh 1
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