Problem! SEL bracelet on bluesy has been fitted using 2mm springbars...

[5teve 112]

I would have just gone all the way through the spring bar,but away from the case.If I’m reading what your trying to do correctly your still hoping to remove it as a spring bar should be used,but your tube is still 20mm in a 20mm gap.I know you said the bracelet gap is 1.7mm but  if you went down with  a 2mm milling cutter more towards the gold centre link it wouldn’t affect your bracelet should you want to re fit it.Tis would then create 2mm of clearance to push the spring bar over,I bet you would only have to do one side on each bar.

[Popperini 17,778]

21 minutes ago, splke said:

Don't worry pal no one ever sees the underside of a watch 

With the exception of potential buyers 



There's two things here. 1. It doesn't matter if I can't see it - any sort of self-inflicted damage or cock-up haunts my waking and sleeping hours until it's sorted. This is yet another of my myriad OCD quirks... And 2. Although I've got no intention whatsoever of selling this, I'd still want to sort out the totally trapped bracelet before it passed to anyone else. And once I discovered the problem I felt compelled to deal with it. 

[Popperini 17,778]

2 minutes ago, 5teve said:

I would have just gone all the way through the spring bar,but away from the case.If I’m reading what your trying to do correctly your still hoping to remove it as a spring bar should be used,but your tube is still 20mm in a 20mm gap.I know you said the bracelet gap is 1.7mm but  if you went down with  a 2mm milling cutter more towards the gold centre link it wouldn’t affect your bracelet should you want to re fit it.Tis would then create 2mm of clearance to push the spring bar over,I bet you would only have to do one side on each bar.

I'm happy to destroy the spring bars - I don't care how much damage they sustain or how I get them to come out, I did intend to drill right through them, but I take your point about the fact the bars are 2mm and I'm not cutting them in half with a smaller bit.  However, if I use a 2mm bit, then it's going to create a 2mm hole in the SEL's springbar access slot, which is only about 1.7mm wide, and I wanted to avoid damaging to the SELs. But it's too late for that now anyway as drill creep has already nibbled into the edges. So I may indeed go all-in and use a 2mm cutting bit to get right through the bars.

I'll probably end up replacing the SELs or rebuilding them with new outer sections.

[GingerApple 7,272]

3 minutes ago, Popperini said:

or rebuilding them with new outer sections.

Kindly tag me in the 'rebuilding thread' too - I'd hate to miss more comedy,

[5teve 112]

0.3mm bigger you wouldn’t even notice,it’s only 0.15 a side as I said more towards the gold centre links centered up nicely would look fine.If you do go this route I would try to clamp the bracelet up just in case the cutter grabs as it breaks through the spring bar tube.

Edited April 28, 2021 by 5teve

[Waspy 306]

10 hours ago, TheGingerFerret said:

Kindly tag me in the 'rebuilding thread' too - I'd hate to miss more comedy,

[GenTLe 1,490]

22 hours ago, Glaude said:

Isn't there some general rule that you can't befriend a dentist or something like that ?  

It depends.

Let me introduce you Nicole Minetti, former "dental hygienist" () of Mr. Berlusconi...

 

This one, together with the famous Maroccan girl "nephew of Egyptian Mubarak" (), Karima El Mahroug aka "Rubi Rubacuori" (Rubi Heart-stealer), 17yo at those times:

 

2 of the starrings of the "bunga bunga" nights... (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunga_bunga)

[Glaude 1,615]

1 hour ago, GenTLe said:

It depends.

Still don't need to be friends ... chloroform is cancerous but there are other substances alike ...  

[Popperini 17,778]

9 hours ago, GenTLe said:

It depends.

Let me introduce you Nicole Minetti, former "dental hygienist" () of Mr. Berlusconi...

This one, together with the famous Maroccan girl "nephew of Egyptian Mubarak" (), Karima El Mahroug aka "Rubi Rubacuori" (Rubi Heart-stealer), 17yo at those times:

2 of the starrings of the "bunga bunga" nights... (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunga_bunga)

This post needs to be moved to the “Eyecandy and Wristworkouts” section.

[GenTLe 1,490]

8 hours ago, Glaude said:

chloroform is cancerous but there are other substances alike ...  

"If you can't seduce her, you can sedate her" 

[Nikosaldente 630]

On 29/04/2021 at 01:23, Glaude said:

Still don't need to be friends ... chloroform is cancerous but there are other substances alike ...  

We stopped using chloroform ages ago for that reason....

Also, I have many friends, you don't want a person handling sharp rotating instruments inside your oral cavity to consider him an enemy 

On 28/04/2021 at 03:28, NCRich said:

You scare me. 

 

The Dentist I went as a child was scary, I'm like Disney Club compared to him

[Nikosaldente 630]

On 28/04/2021 at 23:41, GenTLe said:

It depends.

Let me introduce you Nicole Minetti, former "dental hygienist" () of Mr. Berlusconi...

 

This one, together with the famous Maroccan girl "nephew of Egyptian Mubarak" (), Karima El Mahroug aka "Rubi Rubacuori" (Rubi Heart-stealer), 17yo at those times:

 

2 of the starrings of the "bunga bunga" nights... (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunga_bunga)

Would love to have her as an assistant 

[movintage 2,310]

Unbelievable! This was started 8 or 9 days ago and still at it, 

Since the damage is already done, get on with it. Finish  cutting the end links, remove the spring bars and bracelet and fix file, sand and polish the lugs and replace the SELs, get a new TT or put on the Jubilee you have and live with it.

[George. 34]

Can’t you just...

 

 

you know....

 

 

pull the bracelet really fucking hard? 

 

 

like, reeeeeeealy hard? 

[GingerApple 7,272]

1 hour ago, movintage said:

Unbelievable! This was started 8 or 9 days ago and still at it, 

Since the damage is already done, get on with it. Finish  cutting the end links, remove the spring bars and bracelet and fix file, sand and polish the lugs and replace the SELs, get a new TT or put on the Jubilee you have and live with it.

He started his (still unfinished) Omega Snoopy about a year ago - you're being wildly optimistic.

[k4jun 251]

On 28/04/2021 at 22:41, GenTLe said:

Nicole Minetti,

I came here to see whether Popps has damaged/released the bracelet but somehow Nicole has stolen all my attention

[Popperini 17,778]

3 hours ago, movintage said:

Unbelievable! This was started 8 or 9 days ago and still at it, 

Since the damage is already done, get on with it. Finish  cutting the end links, remove the spring bars and bracelet and fix file, sand and polish the lugs and replace the SELs, get a new TT or put on the Jubilee you have and live with it.

Thanks for the motivational pep talk, but you clearly don’t know how I go about things. Ginge, on the other hand - he knows how I roll.

I roll very, very slowly - with lots of meandering along the way.

[GenTLe 1,490]

8 hours ago, Nikosaldente said:

Would love to have her as an assistant 

Not sure your wife will agree, but yes, that can also be a great business pusher

[movintage 2,310]

2 hours ago, Popperini said:

Thanks for the motivational pep talk, but you clearly don’t know how I go about things. Ginge, on the other hand - he knows how I roll.

I roll very, very slowly - with lots of meandering along the way.

No worries, I totally get it.  Procatzione di Popperini!

[k4jun 251]

Seems to be a popular problem recently... even for the professionals from the gen side 

AD Installed Shoulderless Spring Bars in BB58...

 

[GingerApple 7,272]

How is this going now Poppadoodle? Long since sorted I assume?

[GenTLe 1,490]

These no-shoulder steel springbars are worse (much worse) than those stupid "inverted springbars" I had to deal with recently on a 1950 something Zenith...

These bastards "Female springbars":

 

Used on these kind of lugs:

They were made of brass and totally oxidized so not moving at all, luckily the strap was complete crap, so I could just cut them in half (through the strap)...

[Popperini 17,778]

1 hour ago, TheGingerFerret said:

How is this going now Poppadoodle? Long since sorted I assume?

Oh yes, of course.

Well, I had another go at carefully drilling into the bars - but I'm still attempting to avoid damaging the SELs' access slots too much, which makes the job nigh on impossible. One end of the bracelet is tantalisingly close to moving, but the SELs are so damn tight that it just won't be wiggled free. And the only way I could force it free by levering it out would be by forcing a tool between the SEL and the case, which would damage the case.

It's looking increasingly like I'll have to attack the bars with a 2mm bit, and chew chunks out of the SEL slots in order to cut right through the bars. It really is a right bugger of a job. 

So I've done my usual in this situation, and I'm ignoring it for a while, hoping I'll wake up and find it was all a dream. 

@k4jun Thanks for the link - I just read that Tudor thread, and LOLed at the "experts" there chipping in with advice to insert this or that implement which will magically sort out the problem. I've subscribed to that thread - I really want to hear how that one turns out!

[movintage 2,310]

[brang1 3,988]

Have you tried the Lord Popp?

“Listen to me, Lord, and answer me,
for I am helpless and weak.
Save my watch from death, because I am loyal to you;
save me, for I am your servant and I trust in you.

You are my God, so be merciful to me;
I pray to you all day long.
Make your servant glad, O Lord,
because my prayers go up to you.
You are good to us and forgiving,
full of constant love for all who pray to you.

Listen, Lord, to my prayer;
hear my cries for help.
I call to you in times of trouble,
because you answer my prayers…”