Rust removal on machine surfaces

[fizzy]

Having just bought a rusty old Smart and Brown lathe what is the best way to clean it up?
Also applies to milling machines and anything else with rusty beds of course. And rusty chucks and handles etc.
Would a wire wheel in an angle grinder be too vicious, or those scotchbrite type pads for angle grinders?
Or do I have to resort to loads of elbow grease?
I see people get things gleaming but could never work out how.

 

[Dcal]

Citric acid is your friend

 

[fizzy]

Citric acid is your friend

I don't have a bath big enough!

 

[Kram]

I don't have a bath big enough!

Put a cloth and soak it, works almost as well.

 

[awemawson]

I have an interest in this Fizzy. A few months ago I bought a job lot of CNC hydraulic chuck jaws. Mainly soft for machining but a few hard ones as well. I stacked them in two five drawer tool chests but they've proved too heavy for one and it collapsed yesterday when I was trying to move it. Transferring them today to a more sturdy set of drawers I notice that many have developed a flash of rust.

Citric acid I have a plenty (big sack) but I'd rather keep them dry. A quick dust with a sand blaster possibly, but preferably with something like walnut shells rather than glass grit.

They need sorting as once it starts it can only get worse, but I approaching quarter of a ton of them to do!

 

[awemawson]

This is the result of a very brief light grit blasting

 

[Kram]

Light rust is best sorted with oily rag, that looks a lot worse than it is.. most of it will wipe off and a layer of oil will stop it getting worse.

 

[fizzy]

This is the result of a very brief light grit blasting


View attachment 305869

I am not sand blasting a lathe bed
Good for other things of course.
When my cabinet is ready I will do the tailstock etc when I do a proper restoration.

 

[fizzy]

Put a cloth and soak it, works almost as well.

Damn good idea!
Or maybe I could make up a paste with flour or something?

 

[awemawson]

No it's a tad heavier than that Mark

Top to bottom: No treatment, light grit blast, oily rag

Not too keen on grit blasting but on these items I think it's not detrimental if done lightly.

 

[awemawson]

If the lathe bed is being reground or scraped it's probably the best way of ensuring the rust is totally gone, but has to be done sympathetically. I've even sandblasted printed circuit boards in extremis - but it has to be in a controlled fashion! (It was an AC5 alternator 440D control board)

 

[JMS1972]

Having just bought a rusty old Smart and Brown lathe what is the best way to clean it up?
Also applies to milling machines and anything else with rusty beds of course. And rusty chucks and handles etc.
Would a wire wheel in an angle grinder be too vicious, or those scotchbrite type pads for angle grinders?
Or do I have to resort to loads of elbow grease?
I see people get things gleaming but could never work out how.

If it's reasonably light I've had good results using single edge razor blades as a scraper. Or a hand held Stanley blade the remaining good surface guides it so just removes rust.

 

[optima21]

just dont put things in citric acid and forget about it........this is the remains of a nail I put into a small glass of citric acid (for a couple or three weeks)

 

[Kram]

No it's a tad heavier than that Mark

Top to bottom: No treatment, light grit blast, oily rag

Not too keen on grit blasting but on these items I think it's not detrimental if done lightly.

View attachment 305874

Nothing wrong with the bottom, perfectly functional. The slightly rougher surface will hold oil and rust will not return.
Depends if you are looking for cosmetic perfection - which to me a grit abraided precision part is not.. but as you say, it wont do any harm, just my preference.

 

[tigdlo]

Try one of the new fangled rust removers, MC51 is good but expensive. I have used it myself on cast iron, rinsed/scrubbed with cold water and oiled, no rust after 12 months in my workshop. It doesn't need to be submerged if you can keep the surface wet. It won't cause secondary rusting like citric acid and white vinegar.

 

[4String.]

Having just bought a rusty old Smart and Brown lathe what is the best way to clean it up?
Also applies to milling machines and anything else with rusty beds of course. And rusty chucks and handles etc.
Would a wire wheel in an angle grinder be too vicious, or those scotchbrite type pads for angle grinders?
Or do I have to resort to loads of elbow grease?
I see people get things gleaming but could never work out how.

Handheld Scotchbrite pads and lanolin grease afterwards to stop future rusting.

That was all we ever used at the machine tool dealers for dealing with slideways which could be anything in size, often 24" across, and we dealt with other stuff such as planer tables up to 50' long and 10' wide and vertical borer tables up to 40' diameter in the same manner with no issues.

 

[Richiew]

Have a look at Spencer427's old threads. I think I asked him once how he made the ways looks so nice. Pretty sure it was just wire wool and some fluid, either oil or wd40 etc

 

[Gareth J]

As its a lathe bed, get a look under magnification, see how extreme the pitting is.

A good reason to remove all (or as much as possible) of the rust is to stop more hard rusticles from coming loose in use and acting like grinding paste. A good reason to leave some in situ is that it's hard to remove it all!

In the end, with my old rusty ways, I decided to "wash" them with wire wool and white spirit (or could have been diesel. Something very light anyway) until, like a chicken, the juices ran clear. Scotchbrite would be similar I guess. I figured that anything still stuck in the pits would be so firmly lodged as to be of little concern.

A very fine smear of moly paste to fill the then emptyish pits. Seemed like a decent plan to me anyway.

 

[frank horton]

scotch brite pad and anything like WD 40 etc done by hand....then coat with oil after washing down with thinners, white spirit etc...