How Do You Clean Up Rust?

C

CarlosA

H-M Supporter - Gold Member
H-M Supporter Gold Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
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I am buying a nice older drill press tomorrow, and the column has some rust on it. I`m thinking of tossing it on the lathe and cleaning it up - but wanted to see what others use for this process? I listed out some of the things i`ve considered below. I`d choose the cleanest option that removes the least amount of metal...

  • Rust converter then oil it up and leave as is
  • Sand paper/emory cloth
  • Steel wool
  • Toolpost grinder
  • Wire brush
  • File (lol)
  • Leave it alone

From the pictures it seems like only 10-20% of the column has some surface rust, the rest is still original machined finish. Some of the chrome on the quill seems to be rusting as well, so may clean that up in the same process.
 
A red Scotch brite pad, some oil and elbow grease can perform miracles. For the rougher parts, a fine crimped wheel brush on a grinder works nicely. They may not make it shiny, but they will make it smooth without removing too much material.
 
Towels soaked in Evaporust, applied, then sealed in plastic wrap to keep it from drying out. Overnight should do.
 
I use POR 15 Prep & Ready.
http://www.por15.com/POR-15-Metal-Prep_p_15.html
It is a very good surface rust remover. A grey ScotchBrite pad and about 5 minutes of your time and the column will be rust free. The Metal Ready also leaves a zinc phosphate coating so future rusting is greatly eliminated. I use this stuff on all of my welding tables and they stay rust free for years as long as they are kept fairly dry...
Mark
 
Some oil and a balled up piece of aluminum foil do a great job of removing rust without damaging the metal.
 
The last time I did something like this I used Scotch-Brite pads, but also had to get into wire brushes and wet-dry automotive sandpaper. If you've got a lathe that'll turn it at slow speeds, that'll make the task much easier (assuming you don't mind getting rust dust all over your work area...). I did not have an appropriate lathe, so I set my column up on some casters mounted to a pair of sawhorses and used a drill with a center plug to turn the column while I sanded and polished (I used a pneumatic orbital, but you could do it by hand as well).
 
+2 on Evaporust, been reading about it for a while, and finally decided to stop being so cheap and bought some. Unbelievable, I will keep it in stock, it's that good! JR49
 
A side note on Evaporust, shop around, as some places put a premium on it. Locally, it's available from $22 - $30 a gallon.
 
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