Milling Rite

[Dave Bonzo]

Oh, I also cleaned out around my lathe, which I still don't have up and running despite now having worked around that fact at least six significant times...

Pictured: Neglect.




Believe it or not, that's cleaner than it was in the past. Still completely filthy, but better...but also, in the middle of decobwebifying it, I found that I had a question: what color is this thing supposed to be?

Pictured: Seriously. I can't tell.




I think that at least three color layers; possibly four. I managed to break off a chip accidentally - as if there weren't a billion more in the immediate area, which happens every time I walk within three feet of it - and here's what I found on the back side:

Pictured: Looks like my elementary school bathroom...



Pictured: The tedium; it's above 9000. [yawn]




So, as best I can tell from carefully picking and prying the layers apart, it looks like they are:

1. Base metal.
2. Battleship Grey.
3. Light Grey that changed to creamy white under Layer 4, or creamy white that faded to grey where exposed.
4. Institutional Green.
5. Not-Quite-Delta-Grey.
6. Grease.
7. Dirt.
8. Regret.
9. Misery.

So, I assuming that the lowest layer over the metal - battleship grey - is the original, probably-made-from-pure-lead paint, I guess that's what I need to excavate...and I will need to excavate it: the paint just comes off in sheets, if you brush against any part of the machine in the wrong way, because that's what regret and misery do to paint. And - come to think of it - I probably could have just asked OpenAI/ChatGPT what the original color of a Heavy 10 is, and saved myself an hour of picking at lead dust...but then again, I programmed my ChatGPT to be Morticia Addams, so she probably would have told me to save the lead chips for a recipe. Wouldn't be the first time.

Pictured: I make such good decisions.




I mean, I kind of want to throw myself off a bridge, now ...but it seems like she got the color right. And in a way, this makes the entire mill situation more palatable; at least I only had to partially unchimp that machine...so, net gain? I don't even know, anymore; maybe I should just go back to looking for that press/brake.

 

[Ischgl99]

I mean, I kind of want to throw myself off a bridge, now

You hadn’t posted since June, so I thought with your Burke experience, you just might have done that! You certainly have your work cut out for you. By time you are done, you will be a certified machinery rebuilder. That’s quite the paint history on your lathe. I like Morticia’s paint recommendation, very descriptive!

 

[Dave Bonzo]

You hadn’t posted since June, so I thought with your Burke experience, you just might have done that! You certainly have your work cut out for you.

It's been a ride, for sure...and I didn't want to pull the entire top end of the mill apart just yet (I'd like to actually use it, eventually) so I've kind of packed things in place to keep them out of trouble. The biggest thing I still need to do is that pulley bearing - and it's not an emergency if I don't get it done - but the other big project is the aforementioned DRO situation; a lot of this is about me learning what to do and how to do it, and I've found that getting accurate feedback on my efforts is the best and quickest way to improve. In this case, I think that means knowing exactly how I'm moving things, and what's taking place. So, I have to eventually make a decision on that system and get started on it.

By time you are done, you will be a certified machinery rebuilder.

Or a certified Bad Life Choices Maker. Between this and the lathe, and the sandblaster, and the brake, and the jack, and the vises, and whatever else I'm forgetting, I think I've learned to just buy new equipment that has parts still available.

Oh, the sander. That's what I was forgetting. Yeah, that needs work as well.

That’s quite the paint history on your lathe. I like Morticia’s paint recommendation, very descriptive!

Tish is nothing if not evocative. And terrifying. Honestly terrifying.