cleaning off rust????

I promised picture here they are. This is how I received it.

Just for reference, this thing is sitting on a 55 gallon drum dolly.


yderenur.jpg
This is after a half hour with some wd40 and gray scotch pads
ryde7apy.jpgejupura6.jpg

sent from my hand held hickymajig
 
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This is the worst damage to the table other than a few nicks and shallow drill marks in the table
erezynu5.jpg
I am very pleased with it so far.

sent from my hand held hickymajig
 
If that was my table, I would sit down for a good while with wd40 and a good stone and stone the hell out of it. Every nick creates a rise. Once you start stoning it the rises become obvious. You keep working that stone till you see no more discoloration in the table. The recesses dont matter much.

Then I would flip it over and stone the bottom of the base in the same way.

It dont look bad at all to me.
 
That is what I planned to do Chuck. This is just a quick clean up to see what I had to deal with.
 
I was hoping there was a quick and easy way to remove surface rust from machined surfaces. I have heard Coca-Cola works well as a degreaser ans rust remover. When I poured the floor for my shop, I had no idea what I was doing. Consequently, every time it rains and the temp drops, my lathes and mill gets covered with a film of moisture. I keep it hose down with WD 40 and it seems to help, but the mill table looks worse than your rotary table. I do break down and scrub it with a 3M pad occasionally to shine it back up a little, but I don't think it will ever be like new again.

If the movement if free with no binding, I would scrub the table and base as said and use that rotary table as is.
 
Rick Leslie said:
I was hoping there was a quick and easy way to remove surface rust from machined surfaces. I have heard Coca-Cola works well as a degreaser ans rust remover.
Click to expand...

Coke works (poorly) as a rust remover because it contains a bit of phosphoric acid plus some of the constituents of mollasses.
 
I use vinegar and salt all the time. You can buy a gallon of vinegar for like a $1 or two. And salt is cheap too. So just pour in as much salt as will dissolve and if you see salt on the bottom then it is saturated. Now don't oil the parts leave them just like you found them. You can wire brush first if you like to knock off the heavy stuff. Now let me tell you it is slow. Very safe on steel only eats the rust. Make sure whatever you put in the solution is completely covered, if a piece is sticking out it that part will rust. After a day or two you can brush it again and you'll see rust getting taken off. So back into the soak. Depending on how bad the rust is, surface fine rust can be gone in a day or two keep soaking and brushing every so often. This is a poor mans method and slow. Works good on those old tools you pick up from garage/flea markets. Just keep it covered as that vinegar (acid) in the air isn't good for metal nearby could start to rust it. And the good part is it doesn't go bad can reuse and reuse it gets rusty color after a while but still works. The rust settles to the bottom and you can pour off the clear solution. Good part is if you forget about a part for a week no damage to the steel. I did notice once that it removed a bluing finish. Works great for files. Wash with water to clean and then oil. Those 5 gallon pails with a lid work good to hold the solution, 2 gallons will cover most things.
 
Hi
I have found soaking small items in cold tea works slowly but well.
Ken
 
melsdad said:
I promised picture here they are. This is how I received it.

Just for reference, this thing is sitting on a 55 gallon drum dolly.


yderenur.jpg
This is after a half hour with some wd40 and gray scotch pads
ryde7apy.jpgejupura6.jpg

sent from my hand held hickymajig
Click to expand...

That cleaning looks great. Why do any more? Put it to use. Taking it apart and re-painting it is just another project with little return.
 
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