Dry time of superlume

[rei]

I've attempted to 6 of my reps so far. I seamaster dial is toast (all the dots are good but I screwed up on the double markers at 12....must find a replacement dial). Hands are fairly badly scratched but lume is great on them. Rolexes are easy to lume, IWC not so bad. PAM 111 (non H) was a pain.

Even after 1 day, the lume still does not seem dry (still slightly sticky). What is the normal drying time of superlume?

thanks
Rei

 

[takashi]

I believe you put too much dilutor and too little varnish. It should be done only a couple of hours.

 

[lool]

hi me too i damage my rolex dial also, the same problem that the supellume take very long time and even keep like hard clay after aday, please any experiance person give as a guide how to make this work,

 

[takashi]

as I said... You put too much dilutor and too little varnish and too little powder too. Or too much varnish.

 

[rei]

Thanks for the prompt reply. I used zero dilutor tho so perhaps I did not use enuf powder but it was as around 1:1 on a volume basis.

 

[rbj69]

u have to mix it 1 to 1 , only add dilutor when your 1 to 1 batch starts to dry in the mixing bowl , only a drop to help loosen your 1 to 1 mix up

often people add dilutor usually during mixing and that is a not what it was intended for , if your mix is too thick then u add some varnish at the time during the mixing process , not dilutor (the dilutor is causing the long drying time u r talking about btw.)


hope this helps


joe

 

[ThumbModds]

u have to mix it 1 to 1 , only add dilutor when your 1 to 1 batch starts to dry in the mixing bowl , only a drop to help loosen your 1 to 1 mix up

often people add dilutor usually during mixing and that is a not what it was intended for , if your mix is too thick then u add some varnish at the time during the mixing process , not dilutor (the dilutor is causing the long drying time u r talking about btw.)


hope this helps


joe

I concur with Joe and Taka, You should not use dilutor for luming, use it only to thin out drying lume in the pot.

I usually mix 2 powder to 1 varnish and it is dry in 2 - 3 hours. this may be to thick for some applications. so use 1 varnish to 1 powder mix.

long dry time indicates use of dilutor, which is a extender intended to increase the product's drying time.

Sorry to hear that yourt first attempt was unsucccessful try getting a coupe old dials to experiment on once or twice before attempting on another good watch dial. :wink:

 

[daytona4me]

Yes, always practice mods or watch repair before doing it on your keeper!
There is a reason this is a skilled trade,

1. they dont shake like me
2. they practiced on everyone elses reps so by the time they do mine there good at it! :lol:

 

[seraphe]

2 parts to the skill...

On chemistry... in mixing the ingredient to the right portion

On art... in getting the right strokes of the applicator

Btw, how is lume applied? Is it similar to painting the fine details on a plane model with a brush?

 

[rei]

I've been using a syringe needle ( tiny one) connected to a 1 mL syringe. It works great for circular lume spots. I'd dot the needle into the lume and then transfer it to the dial. Doing the PAM numbers (non-H) was really hard! I saw some tiny brushs at an art store but I did not think it would work well with the lume consistency.