Would you take a punt on this bridgeport vari speed milling machine?

[slim_boy_fat]

Cheap enough to give it a go mate, thanks

What about an air needle scaler? Never used one before but seen people use them to remove rust and paint on YouTube?

I'm sure Lidl do them in their offer from time to time - with their 3 year warranty they can't be bad. Iirc a Member on here used one when refurbishing a machine.- not sure it was Lidl job though, but a search might track his thread down.

 

[Screwdriver]

What’s gonna be the best thing to strip the paint off this head? Other than something like vapour blasting,

I’d prefer just a thinners type product but think this is gonna be pretty tough coating and will take something special

It can’t be harmful to the metal though as I dont want to risk any pitting or surface damage to the quill bore or other machined areas

For a complex casting like that, it's probably best to clean it and recoat it. It will be so difficult to get off you might wonder why you want to take it off. Plus I suspect the rough casting will have been filled with putty. Removing that might reveal some flaws, pits, holes etc. that will need to be refilled, sanded and painted.

 

[wyn]

I used a needle gun on my lathe and milling machine.

 

[brewdexta]

As per Screwdriver, it will take ages to get it all off then you probably need to refill it. I made that mistake with my first Tom Senior mill restoration. Now I just remove loose paint/filler, grind back deep scratches that contain rust, give the whole thing a good sand and degrease then fill imperfections, sand, degrease and paint. It may take two or maybe 3 cycles of filling and sanding to get it spot on but far easier than taking it back to the rough casting.

 

[M K]

Whichever way seems like it’s going to be a fair bit of work involved

Just rubbing down and then repainting is easiest but will leave very clear steps in the paint due thickness of the original in places compared to new cheap stuff

 

[M K]

Have heard good things about rust-oleum primer and spray paint so thinking of giving that brand a go in dove grey

 

[Screwdriver]

Whichever way seems like it’s going to be a fair bit of work involved

Just rubbing down and then repainting is easiest but will leave very clear steps in the paint due thickness of the original in places compared to new cheap stuff

Yes but you would key the surface, fair it with filler rub down and then undercoat paint etc. That's the plan with mine, I don't see the advantage of removing difficult to remove paint and filler before putting on possibly a less robust covering.

 

[brewdexta]

After renovating two mills, two lathes and a radial arm drill to reasonable standards you don't have to take old paint and filler off if you prepare it properly. IMHO depending on the state of it you are creating more work

Here's one I did earlier that turned out well

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/tom-senior-m1-renovation-servicing.41490/

Cheers
Andy

 

[Wightsparks]

I used electrolysis on my lathe parts http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/boxford-model-c-re-furb-build-assembly.69528/#post-926376 worked a treat to take everything off.

 

[M K]

Hi

Thanks for the reply’s

I have a tub, car battery charger but what washing soda did you use?

All videos on YouTube seem to be American and use Arm&Hammer washing soda which we don’t have in our supermarkets

Also, will the electrolysis do any damage to the precision machined quill bore?

I’ve seen in the videos on YouTube it works well to remove paints and rust but not seen on YouTube anybody doing a properly super finished machined surface like the quill bore

Just worried if it pitted it etc then that’s the quill head ruined near enough without major money being spent which would outway another mill

Thanks
Marc

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/285047163 I used these.

Shouldn't effect the base metal just the rust.
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/andyspatch/rust.htm

 

[Wightsparks]

I use a laptop charger and soda crystals that are £1/bag. As above, should be no effect on the good metal (I have used it on brake calipers) - however if you are worried try it on an old brake caliper/cylinder anything with a shiny bore you can examine.

 

[M K]

I am doing the electrolysis for paint removal more than rust removal

I have picked at the quill housing and there doesn’t seem to be any filler like the column etc so I want to do the electrolysis on this to strip the paint mainly

Looking at the bore, it isn’t rusty so there shouldn’t be any chemical reaction there to cause any pitting

Gonna pop to Sainsbury’s now and get some soda crystals

Thanks guys

 

[M K]

Here’s some of the parts soaked in white vinegar, decreased the about a minute scrub over with green scotchbrite

Although the clockspring worked great I was gonna buy new as it was so manky and half rusted but now it’s excellent and I soaked it in oil after so the oil gets between the coiled spring, that’s £80 saved that I almost spent

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Need an old battery charger. Anything "smart" gets upset and shuts the current off

That was a cheap ring charger from screwfix as I didn't expect my true smart charger to work. Found one at the car boot next day luckily.

Found it better to give parts and hour. Pull em out and give them a scrub then repeat as needed.

 

[M K]

I have this old 12v car battery charger I haven’t used in years

This should do it ok I guess?

 

[M K]

Let’s give it a go

 

[slim_boy_fat]

This is what I use for the electrolysis tank, works well with soda crystals as per @M K

 

[M K]

Well I’m hooked up using a test piece of the mill, a table end retaining plate that has some slight rust but more importantly the same enamel type paint finish on it which is what I want to remove

Some before pictures and the set up for this test piece

 

[M K]

Doesn’t show much amps on the charger so no idea how that will affect things but it’s bubbling away already so il check it around 9pm and give it a scrub as I don’t want to leave it on all night

If needs be I will turn it back on again once I’m home from work tomorrow