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Reluming tips

Raddave

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Cwazy had mad skillz
 
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tripdog

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I've just lumed a set of hands, so I paid attention to what I was doing. I always use a wooden toothpick/cocktail stick to lume hands, as you need a fair amount of lume on the end to cover the Mercedes hour hand.

Lume mix should hold a rounded dome, and when you pull the toothpick out of the mix it should leave a peak which drops back down - it should not be instantaneous, it should take 1/2 a second or so to drop back to a smooth, rounded dome.

The hands are under side up, I put a ball of lume on the end of the toothpick - it's not smeared up the length of it. I make contact with the base of the hand, before the apertures, with the ball of lume, then pull it up over the rest of the hand.

I used to have problems with lume dropping down through the apertures and thought it was gravity, but I think the weight of the lume wouldn't be enough for this to happen - add in surface tension and viscosity and it's even more unlikely. I found the reason my lume dropped down into the aperture was mix to thin, applying too much mix, and probably the biggest reason, having the lume applicator coming too close to the hands and pushing the mix down into the apertures - shaking hands (or hands that shake) will do the same thing.
The toothpick is just used to pull the mixture over the surface of the hands, it doesn't touch the hands - surface tension and viscosity are what keeps the mix on both the applicator and the hands.
 
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Raddave

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shaking hands will do the same thing.


300547
 

Dr Fun Socks

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I've just lumed a set of hands, so I paid attention to what I was doing. I always use a wooden toothpick/cocktail stick to lume hands, as you need a fair amount of lume on the end to cover the Mercedes hour hand.

Lume mix should hold a rounded dome, and when you pull the toothpick out of the mix it should leave a peak which drops back down - it should not be instantaneous, it should take 1/2 a second or so to drop back to a smooth, rounded dome.

The hands are under side up, I put a ball of lume on the end of the toothpick - it's not smeared up the length of it. I make contact with the base of the hand, before the apertures, with the ball of lume, then pull it up over the rest of the hand.

I used to have problems with lume dropping down through the apertures and thought it was gravity, but I think the weight of the lume wouldn't be enough for this to happen - add in surface tension and viscosity and it's even more unlikely. I found the reason my lume dropped down into the aperture was mix to thin, applying too much mix, and probably the biggest reason, having the lume applicator coming too close to the hands and pushing the mix down into the apertures - shaking hands (or hands that shake) will do the same thing.
The toothpick is just used to pull the mixture over the surface of the hands, it doesn't touch the hands - surface tension and viscosity are what keeps the mix on both the applicator and the hands.

Thanks trip I appreciate the detailed write up. Ill try using a toothpick next time. I assume your holding the toothpick sideways? Might not get a chance today but hopefully tomorrow i will.
 

tripdog

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Thanks trip I appreciate the detailed write up. Ill try using a toothpick next time. I assume your holding the toothpick sideways? Might not get a chance today but hopefully tomorrow i will.

I hold it about 20° - 30° from the horizontal.

Practice on second hands first - they're easy to do, but when you do them quickly and accurately you'll find a minute hand is easy to do, and when a minute hand is easy, the hour hand will quickly become easy.
 

yodog

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i use a large sewing needle, upside down. the viscosity of my mix insures that the lume doesn't "fall" through the opening on the hands. its hard to get right but once you have the hang of it, its easy. Hands are the easiest to do, flat dials are harder and the mix thickness really matters
 

Dr Fun Socks

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Id just like to say thanks to everyone who chipped in with some advice. I know it took me a lot longer than i said to have another go buy life gets in the way. Im very pleased with the outcome of this gmt master. I used a lot of different pieces of advice, and something i came up with. Yeah you have to float the lume, but if your a bit shit like me, making an ‘outline’ around the hands with a very thin layer then going in with the float layer helps immensely. I know its not perfect but it glows like plutonium and thats all i really care about!
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Dr Fun Socks

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Hell yeah bro that's nice! Definitely a handy skill that will improve each time.

Thanks mate! Im definitely getting better but id be lying if i said its fun to do. Just worth the effort once its on the wrist, if genuinely rather have a not perfect looking bit of lume in the day that glows like hell than the perfect white you get from the factory that glows a bit meh.
 
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Dr Fun Socks

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So is it worth reluming your rep? I would say yeah definitely. Will it glow all night? Nope. Will it glow strongly for an hour? Probably not. Its still a lot brighter and longer lasting than the cheap stuff the factories use. Heres what it looks like after about a minute under a UV light. Then 5 minutes later. Stock rep is the batman on the left. I used a blend of about 70% wmbg9 grade a and 30% blue light c3 grade x1 on hitmans recommendation.




 
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