I have made a few quick references to the many more uses of Rodico besides just Dial plate and watch plate wiping.

The single most valuable "tool" I use Rodico for is to make final assembly of full plate movements much easier. I use a small "string" of Rodico to hold the "short end" of the Pallet into it's top plate pivot . . .

Then I can assemble the whole train to the Pillar Plate . . .

Then put the top plate carefully down bringing it into registration with the pillar plate by engaging the two pillars adjacent to the Motor Barrel area. That way I can gently "rock the plate down so ALL of the pinions are close to their pivots . . .

Then I insert the two Pillar Plate screws either side of the train pivots and screw them in less than 1 turn to keep plate registration, gently pull out the Rodico string and reach in with my "#5's" to begin setting the pinions . . .

While applying very light (less than 1 ounce) pressure to the top plate . . .

When all Wheels and the Pallet Fork are in place, I carefully screw the plate down and check for freedom of wheel and fork "shake" . . .

Because some of these movements are soo fine, they "start on a whisper" of power.

I know this is different from the "recommended way" of putting all the wheels and pallet fork on the top plate, but I can guarantee that this way (because of Rodico as a "helper") you DO NOT break pivots, and you DO put the plates together with much greater peace of mind.

David,
You showed us this before and I used it on my very first 18s reassemble and it worked like a dream. I have been using this method of holding the pallet and fork since with no problems.
Thanks a million on a great tip!

Thanks for trying it Ed, I thought it was time to go into more detail, expecially with Mary Ann goin to school and all. This is the Elgin "all dressed"!

This has been waiting over 100 years to "ham it up"! What a nice running, clean and pretty "Ham" it still is!

Thanks Dave for the tip..I will try it this afternoon. This is what has kept me from working on the full plate movements as I have had "bad" experiences trying to keep everything in place.
I love these posts of yours with the highly illustrative pictures.

Ray

Dave - thank you very much for posting this!!! This will be of enormous help to me as most of my collection are full plates. Rodico is not on the list of required tools for the class, but it should be! I still have a few things to get and this will be one. I greatly appreciate your pictorial about assembling a full plate! Great pictures and nifty tips. Thanks!

PS - is it permissible for me to print out this thread?

YES, print it please! Also, remember my little "suggestion", I brought my laptop and my digit camera and took some "before" pictures as it was a great help seeing where the parts came from "before", so I could put them back the same "after" . Some actual pictures from my class collaged below . . . (I only use that movement holder now to hold waltham jeweled motor barrels when I unscrew the 2-piece Barrel Arbor)