Eric: Cleaning up milled tool surfaces?

J

Jamus

Member
Hey Eric--
Hope you're doing well....A while back you posted a description for how you've been cleaning up old milled tool surfaces. I have a drill press that needs some love and was wondering if I could get a couple pointers. If I recall, you had found a combination of a solvent and a special 3m pad that attached to a orbital sander?

thanks
Jamus
 
Jamus

What did you get? You NE guys are in a great area for finding quality old machinery. Funny you should mention drill press. I bought a drill press to restore and was working on it last weekend. I'm about to start on the cast iron table. I found the drill press, seen below, on ebay for $75. It needs a new motor sheave, which Powermatic doesn't stock anymore but I've located a used machinery dealer that has them. After totally taking it apart last weekend I think I'll be able to get it going again. The variable speed sheaves may take some effort but when I'm done it should be a sweet addition to the shop.

dp1.jpg
dp2.jpg
dp3.jpg


Back to your question. For cast iron clean-up I do the following. Get a razor blade scraper, like you use for getting paint off of windows, and scrap all the rust ond gunk off. This works like a charm. Next, your gonna love this, take your makita sander polisher and put a 6-8" wire wheel on it (buy a nut of the right arbor size for about 23 cents to hold it on) . Then go to town getting all the old stains and whatever else the razor left behind. After that, if even needed, you can take your random orbital sander and remove the sandpaper from it. Spray WD-40 on the surface and then use a scotch bright pad under the sander. Wipe the residue off. By this point the old gal is starting to look good again. Finally, use 1500-2000 grit automotive sandpaper with elbow grease and do a final polishing. Put the sand paper on one of those foam pad drywall sanders and you get really good results.
sander.jpg
These finer grits really bring back the old mirror finish, if it had one. Don't make the mistake of using coarser sandpaper. All they do is trash the original blanchard grinding marks.

Below are some pics of a vintage Delta tenon jig I did a while back.

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Eric you sure do some nice work! Its great to see life brought back into old tools and machinery like that!
 
Eric,

This is great information and thanks for sharing. With the new format how far will the archives be held. If I wanted to find this post in a year or so will it still be there?

My best,

Don Shearer
 
Don

It will stick around until we exceed our storage limits. Right now that's 1GB but we will probably upgrade to 5GB. At some point we will have to prune old posts. Just not sure when.
 
Gopher cage? Never heard of that.

The tenon jig is nice. They've become a collectors item now and usually go for $150 or more on ebay. If I had a lot of time on my hands in the off season I think I'd start hitting auctions and estate sales, keep some stuff, and turn the rest loose on ebay. Could be a hobby that pays for itself.
 
"gopher cage"..as in power...I was trying to be funny. I know what you mean about ebay..problem is...almost every one is doing that so it's getting harder to find "junk" to fix and sell. Sometimes I think it would be cool to move into a shack and put a shingle out for repairing stuff...I love doing that, problem is...I'd still have to deal with a-hole customers that want you to dance for their dollar.
 
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