# Is it restorable?



## Dinwoodie Cutlery Concepts (May 12, 2020)

So when I moved into my new shop my landlord informed me that he had moved a bunch of machinery out of the way when he bought the building a few years prior. Among some of the machines was this South Bend 11” lathe I almost started crying when I saw that he just moved them outside and left in the weather. I was wondering if any of you would attempt to restore something like this or is it just scrap?


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## eugene13 (May 12, 2020)

What a crying shame, I would put it in front of my shop and display potted plants on it.


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## Dinwoodie Cutlery Concepts (May 12, 2020)

eugene13 said:


> What a crying shame, I would put it in front of my shop and display potted plants on it.


I know! I walk by it often and it makes me sad Seeing it there.


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## Superburban (May 12, 2020)

I would not try to restore it, But I see many doors, knobs, guards, id plates, that might sell good on ebay. That Gorton engraver in the background of some pics looks to have made out well.


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## Old Mud (May 13, 2020)

Well i would try to bring it back. The most i would loose is time and right now that's all i have. I would first try to derust it all before getting into the mechanical part of it. Then at least you could say you tried. / I tried. All the castings are there just have to clean it up. You would have a good display piece for a Machinery dealer,Sell good clean parts etc.


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## Dinwoodie Cutlery Concepts (May 13, 2020)

I might try the old Johnny Cash method “ one piece at a time “ I’ll try a couple smaller pieces and see how it goes. According to my calculations I should only need 152.75 gallons of evaporust and a pallet of scotchbrite pads.


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## Old Mud (May 13, 2020)

Good call.


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## WCraig (May 13, 2020)

You might want to look at a less expensive alternative for rust removal:






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(I believe the chemistry of these solutions isn't that exotic.)


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## matthewsx (May 13, 2020)

If you were British, and it was a car, it would be a fine restoration candidate.

Honestly, unless you need a lathe like this one I would disassemble, de-rust the valuable bits and sell them on to someone who is restoring one in better shape.

If you start with the bed I guess you could figure out how much wear there is and make your decision based on that but parts have to come from somewhere and in classic car circles this would be considered a "donor"....


john


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## randyjaco (May 13, 2020)

It is Yard Art.


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## tobnpr (May 13, 2020)

Looks too far gone, and it's an uncommon much older model which means any parts you might need will be tough- if not impossible- to obtain.
If you're really interested in the possibility, I'd first take a razor blade and carefully scrape the top of the most badly rusted areas. If it's gone beyond surface rust (and sure looks as though it has) and there's pitting it's a goner.

Clean up the valuable parts and sell 'em as mentioned above.


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## middle.road (May 13, 2020)

The Legs and chip pan!


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## Dinwoodie Cutlery Concepts (May 16, 2020)

#25
So I took off the tail stock and started to see what would free up etc. little evaporust for small stuff and hit the hand wheel with a wire wheel. I’ll keep ya posted.


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## cjtoombs (May 17, 2020)

The short answer is "yes, it is restorable".  All depends on how much time you have to put into it.  There was a time when I would have tackled it, but I'm so piled up on projects now I'll have to wait till I'm retired to get them all worked out.  The surface rust isn't that much of a problem, that will pretty much come off with some phosphoric acid (you can get it in gel forms for rust stripping, so it hangs onto the metal well).  Pitting might be a problem under where the slides are together.  Pre-existing mechanical issues might be more of a time sink or expense if it has any.


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## Dinwoodie Cutlery Concepts (May 17, 2020)

Yup I’m done! Tried taking out the spindle with a press and hammer not budging! I’d rather be making stuff than fixing stuff!


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## brino (May 17, 2020)

Dinwoodie Cutlery Concepts said:


> Yup I’m done! Tried taking out the spindle with a press and hammer not budging! I’d rather be making stuff than fixing stuff!



I think the only chance would be soaking for weeks in penetrant.

No shame in failing to clean that up.
At least you did try!

-brino

EDIT: one comment on that shallow tray for evaporust; if you have any part sticking out above the liquid surface, you will get a noticeable line. Even after re-soaking with the entire part submerged that line can remain. But it only really matters on non-painted, high-quality surfaces.


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## matthewsx (May 17, 2020)

Dinwoodie Cutlery Concepts said:


> Yup I’m done! Tried taking out the spindle with a press and hammer not budging! I’d rather be making stuff than fixing stuff!



All is not lost, offer up the pieces and let others decide if they're suitable for whatever restoration projects they have. It can live on as replacement parts....

John


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