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tritium vials and a bad evening! beware : many pics!

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Kasper

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tritium vials and a bad evening! beware : many pics!

Post11 Feb 2013, 22:51

After winning the watch competition, i had to choose a watch..so i went for the Savant Trilite lcd. (thx Matt)
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I always wanted to build these small tritium vials in a watch like Abem did with a Fairshild. http://www.timetrafficker.com/watches/lcd/fairchild-lcd-tritium/index.html
Now i have all the Fairshild watches here at home but it must be possible with a savant as well.

After checking the bay, i couldn't find 6 x 1.5 mm vials, so i bought 6 x 2 mm vials in Ice blue color.
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the Savant came original with a brown front but i did like the blue front of another tritium watch.
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a dark picture of the 10 ice blue tritium vials
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first things first...get the module out.
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as i worked with such a module before, i knew that the module kept together with the white plastic piece...that was the hardest part.
trying to get it open without breaking the small feed on the plastic piece.
here you see another blue one..to give you an idea.
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The old tritium parts are sitting in the silver container that is glued to the back of the lcd...i had to think half an hour
how i could get it loose withoud breaking anything...making warm, cold..using a product to make the glue soften etc.
But i decided to push it a bit because the glue must be old and hardened. And yes..it worked.
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then out of the blue ..disaster struck...my lcd starts bleeding. It was not from the push..i think the little container just put
enough pressure on the lcd so that it didn't start bleeding.
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but i still wanted to try it so i put the vials on the backside of the lcd...then second disaster...the 2 mm thick vials are
just to thick to get between the back of the lcd and the printboard without loosing contact with the zebra's.
So i was really disappointed.
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second idea was ..i put some luminous paint in the container and recover the module for what was left of it.
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But i had broke 2 feet from the plastic carrier that hold the module together so i've made another solution
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the savant lcd did it again but the extra 1 mm thickness was to much...i tried everything but the digits always kept going blanc after
putting the back plate on the watch
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It was the end of a hell of a evening.
Lesson learned : Buy 1.5 mm vials instead of 2 :bang:
But where can i find them?
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abem

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Re: tritium vials and a bad evening! beware : many pics!

Post12 Feb 2013, 08:55

Kasper,

Sorry to hear about your run of bad luck. It happens. That Savant watch is quite nice looking, with the slinky bracelet. It would have been something.

For 1.5x5mm Tritium vials, I got mine from a guy named "Bart" in Amsterdam who posts on the CandlePower forum ( http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showth ... t-deux-bis ). You can email him at: pixpimp@gmail.com.

The 1.5x5mm vials are $7.50 each. He recently opened a new thread with posts in February of 2013, so it looks like he's still a "Tritium Trafficker". The Tritium vials that I got from him have lasted just fine, are decently bright and he sent me an extra couple after having initially miscounted, so I had an overall good experience dealing with him. I have no idea where he gets it.

Sometimes you have to take a deep breath, put everything aside for a bit and come back to it later. I hope you give it another try as the end product is pretty neat. I have a minty perfect Sensor Trilite watch with a frosty blue face that you can have (free) if you want to try again. I was thinking of re-Tritifying it myself, but I have enough other distractions at the moment.

Cheers,

-abe.
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BENRUS

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Re: tritium vials and a bad evening! beware : many pics!

Post12 Feb 2013, 17:08

:fri:
Oh,... NO!
If I come accross any more Savant/Sensor parts, or related modules...I will let you know.
Good work though, These are not easy to meddle with.
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AlmightyTallest

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Re: tritium vials and a bad evening! beware : many pics!

Post12 Feb 2013, 18:11

Man, :-(

Sorry to hear about the problems, that would have looked neat with the blue tritium.

You had a good idea with the glowing paint, I wonder if you could concentrate that glow paint with a few layers of it in the tray, and use the 1.5mm vials also in the tray to create a very bright backlight for the next attempt.

It's sad to see a vintage piece get damaged, but we'd never know how to restore these if someone didn't try. Also great to see the other guys offering their watches for the second attempt. We have a good community here. :-)
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Kasper

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Re: tritium vials and a bad evening! beware : many pics!

Post13 Feb 2013, 11:19

Thanks you all guys...i was so disappointed cause it was a module with alarm...you don't see these very often.

i ordered new vials so Abe you have a pm :-D

:dwf: :dwf: :dwf: :dwf: :dwf: :dwf: checking out the new animated icons :grin1:
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