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Found on non-machining related site.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/20...With-Being-Homebound-As-Only-An-Engineer-Can?
We can all relate.
What was I thinking when I bought this thing?
Here we are, heading into Month Two of staying home. How to spend all that time?
One of my solutions is to randomly browse eBay. I found this 75-year old Sears Craftsman benchtop lathe selling at a good price. The seller stated that everything was seized up and that it was missing the headstock and chuck. So I bought it, figuring I could tear it down, refurbish it, and replace the missing parts. What could go wrong?
This is what it looked like when it arrived. It was truly completely seized up, nothing would move. WD-40 to the rescue. I gave it a liberal hosing down and let it sit overnight. The next day I began the process of taking it all apart , preferably without breaking anything.
Things went reasonably well, and by dinner time I had it all broken down. The only glitch was me not realizing that there is a little ball-and-spring detent under that lever with the spherical black knob in the image to the right. Once that assembly (It’s called a crossfeed) is removed from the bed, you can over-travel that lever and if you do, that little spring and ball bearing will go flying off in whatever direction you happen to be pointing it. And that’s exactly what I did. I somehow managed to retrieve the spring but that little steel ball is gone forever in some dark corner of the garage. It turned out to be a standard 5/16” ball bearing, and I was lucky enough to have one in my ‘parts bin’ (I never throw anything like that away because I may need it someday).
Once the thing was broken down to it’s various bits, the next job was to clean ‘em up. This involved days of degreasing, soaking in rust remover, wire wheeling, grinding, sanding, painting, and polishing, piece by piece.
I don’t have any other photos of the restoration process, but it’s basically the standard stuff like I described above. In the meantime, I found a headstock on eBay and picked that up; it arrived a week ago and seems to work properly.
Some of the nuts, bolts, spacers, and such were originally nickel plated, but the plating on them was worn and rusty. What to do? Learn how to nickel plate at home!
YouTube to the rescue. To strip nickel plate, all you need is some very strong drain cleaner (the kind that comes with a plastic bag around the bottle; it’s basically sulphuric acid), a 12 volt battery, jumper cables, a couple copper wires with alligator clips, and a piece of lead. I used a heavy sinker from my tackle box. All things I had at home. Nice. See YouTube for process details — It involves running electricity through acid and it generates some nasty fumes. Wear plastic gloves, well ventilated area, etc.
Next is reapplying the nickel plate. Again, off to YouTube. You need some white vinegar, table salt, a 12 volt battery charger with a 2 amp setting, copper wires and clips, and a couple strips of pure nickel. I had everything but the nickel strips, but they’re available on Amazon. As with the stripping process, go to YouTube, or look it up in one of those things called a book, and follow the process, including all of the safety measures.
This process works well for small parts like fasteners and such, but for larger items like, say, a pipe wrench, it would probably require scaling everything up beyond what I have on hand.
All right, so here’s the semi-finished rehab. Amazingly, there are no extra parts left over
Everything turns and slides nice and smooth. The brass bushings on all the gears and shafts look and feel OK, but I’ll have to power it up to know for sure. It still needs a chuck, and there’s a broken crank handle that needs replacing — i’m watching eBay..
Now it needs a motor. Once more, eBay to the rescue. I found this old ¼ HP General Electric motor for fifty bucks. The “KC” on the nameplate indicates it was produced in October 1925. Heh, Thomas Edison himself could have been touring the plant that day. The seller says it runs nice and quiet. We’ll see.
So I bought it, figuring I could tear it down, refurbish it, and replace any bad parts. Electric motors are pretty simple machines. Electric motors are also heavy, the shipping cost more than the motor!
It should arrive in a few days. then I’ll get to deal with 95-year old wiring. I’m geeked. What could go wrong?
These lathes originally sold for about $100 in 1945. That would be around $1500 in today’s dollars. When I’m finished, I figure I’ll have about $500 to $600 into it. Now, you can buy a brand-new Chinese-built machine for about the same price, but for me this is better — bringing a little piece of American manufacturing history back to life.
Finally, here’s an interesting adjustable wrench that belonged to my grandfather. It had been sitting in the bottom of his toolbox rusting away for decades. I love old good-quality American tools, so I gave it a good cleaning and polishing and I think it came out nice.
This wrench was manufactured sometime around 1960 by the Diamond Tool and Horseshoe Co. in Duluth, MN. Sadly, they’re defunct now — They went under in the 70’s. I guess maybe there wasn’t a very big demand for horseshoes anymore.
There are still a good number of Grandad’s old tools sitting out in the garage, waiting for rejunification. Mrs. Ro0t jokes that by the time I’m done with them we’ll be able to open up an antique tool store. That won’t happen, but I can say that my little workshop has never been more orderly and organized than it is right now!
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/20...With-Being-Homebound-As-Only-An-Engineer-Can?
We can all relate.
What was I thinking when I bought this thing?
Here we are, heading into Month Two of staying home. How to spend all that time?
One of my solutions is to randomly browse eBay. I found this 75-year old Sears Craftsman benchtop lathe selling at a good price. The seller stated that everything was seized up and that it was missing the headstock and chuck. So I bought it, figuring I could tear it down, refurbish it, and replace the missing parts. What could go wrong?
This is what it looked like when it arrived. It was truly completely seized up, nothing would move. WD-40 to the rescue. I gave it a liberal hosing down and let it sit overnight. The next day I began the process of taking it all apart , preferably without breaking anything.
Things went reasonably well, and by dinner time I had it all broken down. The only glitch was me not realizing that there is a little ball-and-spring detent under that lever with the spherical black knob in the image to the right. Once that assembly (It’s called a crossfeed) is removed from the bed, you can over-travel that lever and if you do, that little spring and ball bearing will go flying off in whatever direction you happen to be pointing it. And that’s exactly what I did. I somehow managed to retrieve the spring but that little steel ball is gone forever in some dark corner of the garage. It turned out to be a standard 5/16” ball bearing, and I was lucky enough to have one in my ‘parts bin’ (I never throw anything like that away because I may need it someday).
Once the thing was broken down to it’s various bits, the next job was to clean ‘em up. This involved days of degreasing, soaking in rust remover, wire wheeling, grinding, sanding, painting, and polishing, piece by piece.
I don’t have any other photos of the restoration process, but it’s basically the standard stuff like I described above. In the meantime, I found a headstock on eBay and picked that up; it arrived a week ago and seems to work properly.
Some of the nuts, bolts, spacers, and such were originally nickel plated, but the plating on them was worn and rusty. What to do? Learn how to nickel plate at home!
YouTube to the rescue. To strip nickel plate, all you need is some very strong drain cleaner (the kind that comes with a plastic bag around the bottle; it’s basically sulphuric acid), a 12 volt battery, jumper cables, a couple copper wires with alligator clips, and a piece of lead. I used a heavy sinker from my tackle box. All things I had at home. Nice. See YouTube for process details — It involves running electricity through acid and it generates some nasty fumes. Wear plastic gloves, well ventilated area, etc.
Next is reapplying the nickel plate. Again, off to YouTube. You need some white vinegar, table salt, a 12 volt battery charger with a 2 amp setting, copper wires and clips, and a couple strips of pure nickel. I had everything but the nickel strips, but they’re available on Amazon. As with the stripping process, go to YouTube, or look it up in one of those things called a book, and follow the process, including all of the safety measures.
This process works well for small parts like fasteners and such, but for larger items like, say, a pipe wrench, it would probably require scaling everything up beyond what I have on hand.
All right, so here’s the semi-finished rehab. Amazingly, there are no extra parts left over
Everything turns and slides nice and smooth. The brass bushings on all the gears and shafts look and feel OK, but I’ll have to power it up to know for sure. It still needs a chuck, and there’s a broken crank handle that needs replacing — i’m watching eBay..
Now it needs a motor. Once more, eBay to the rescue. I found this old ¼ HP General Electric motor for fifty bucks. The “KC” on the nameplate indicates it was produced in October 1925. Heh, Thomas Edison himself could have been touring the plant that day. The seller says it runs nice and quiet. We’ll see.
So I bought it, figuring I could tear it down, refurbish it, and replace any bad parts. Electric motors are pretty simple machines. Electric motors are also heavy, the shipping cost more than the motor!
It should arrive in a few days. then I’ll get to deal with 95-year old wiring. I’m geeked. What could go wrong?
These lathes originally sold for about $100 in 1945. That would be around $1500 in today’s dollars. When I’m finished, I figure I’ll have about $500 to $600 into it. Now, you can buy a brand-new Chinese-built machine for about the same price, but for me this is better — bringing a little piece of American manufacturing history back to life.
Finally, here’s an interesting adjustable wrench that belonged to my grandfather. It had been sitting in the bottom of his toolbox rusting away for decades. I love old good-quality American tools, so I gave it a good cleaning and polishing and I think it came out nice.
This wrench was manufactured sometime around 1960 by the Diamond Tool and Horseshoe Co. in Duluth, MN. Sadly, they’re defunct now — They went under in the 70’s. I guess maybe there wasn’t a very big demand for horseshoes anymore.
There are still a good number of Grandad’s old tools sitting out in the garage, waiting for rejunification. Mrs. Ro0t jokes that by the time I’m done with them we’ll be able to open up an antique tool store. That won’t happen, but I can say that my little workshop has never been more orderly and organized than it is right now!
