New To Me Compact 8 Cleanup Thread

[The Fishing Hobby]

Here goes nothing! This will be my first lathe overhaul but I've been taking things apart and putting them back together since I was 5 (when I took my granddad's drill apart without permission ). The lathe looks much worse than it actually is and it was the best thing I could find on a very limited budget. I paid $435 for it. This will be a nice temporary distraction from another project for a product I'm developing that has been consuming my thoughts every waking moment for the past several months. I need this lathe for machining some shafts for that product so that is how I got to this point. The lathe runs and cuts great but looks like it was pulled out of a scrap pile. The ways look flawless. Here are some pictures. I'm starting work on the chuck first and will move on with it piece by piece. Any tips are always wanted and welcomed!

 

[MAKEITOUTOFWOOD]

Awesome! She just needs a good cleaning and some attention. Good luck with it and enjoy.

 

[The Fishing Hobby]

Thank you!

 

[The Fishing Hobby]

Slight correction, I paid $425 for it

 

[The Fishing Hobby]

Ok, got the chuck off and apart. Ran it through a couple of cycles in my ultrasonic cleaner using a degreaser. Just a quick tip, if you use an ultrasonic cleaner, put your parts/cleaning solution in a separate container and use water in the ultrasonic cleaner tank itself. Makes cleanup a whole lot easier
I have it running through a few cleaning cycles again now using Evapo-Rust. More to come...

Chuck before:


Chuck disassembled:


Cleaning in degreaser:

Chuck parts after degreasing:


Parts in Evapo-Rust:

 

[The Fishing Hobby]

Any thoughts on rust prevention for the chuck after removing the rust? Wipe parts down with 30w non detergent?

 

[The Fishing Hobby]

First time using Evapo-Rust, won't be the last! Rust gone after 1 hour in heated ultrasonic cleaner
I set my oven to 170°F and rinsed everything off after the Evapo-Rust treatment then popped everything into the oven to dry. After everything was dry I coated everything in 30w non detergent oil just enough to dampen the surfaces and then wiped it all back off. I think that should keep surface rust away for a while.
Here are the finished parts:


I'm happy with that, not going for a full on restoration here. Just trying to clean it up and make it look a little nicer.

 

[mikey]

Evaporust is some magic juice, that's for sure. The parts look good, in pics anyway.

I have a few comments/suggestions:

• I use synthetic lubricants (Super Lube) on my chuck. They don't cake or harden with age and lubricate well.
• I use a rag lightly coated with oil and wipe down every surface on every part before I assemble the chuck. Once assembled, you cannot reach these parts so now is the time. I found that if I failed to do this then some time down the road, something will rust. I live in Hawaii and rust is a real thing here.
• You need grease on the pinion nose (the end of the pinion that goes into the hub), the pinion teeth and the back of the scroll. Do NOT grease the scroll itself; use oil only.
• You do not need a ton of torque on any of the screws. Just bottom them out and give them a firm snugging, that's all they need. Emco chucks were made by Rohm and are precisely machined; they will stay secure without cranking down on the screws. Next time the chuck comes apart, it will come easy.

You are missing the tail stock ram locking lever and the split cotter that actually locks the ram. Was this left off or is it actually missing? The OEM split cotter is made from aluminum, by the way.

The lathe is filthy but is mostly all there. It will clean up nicely. Pics are your friend and I would take pics from every angle before disassembling anything. An Emco lathe can be fully assembled from just the parts breakdown alone; Emco drawings are very accurate and complete.

I assume you are familiar with electrolytic rust removal. It is a very good way to de-rust large pieces, including that bed. It removes rust and paint without touching the parent metal, thus saving a tremendous amount of work.

 

[The Fishing Hobby]

All the parts look good except the lead in on the scroll for the jaws. A little file work there should clean that up and I don't foresee it causing any issues. The chuck operated very smooth and precisely even in the condition it was in!
I use superlube oils and grease for old fishing reels that I collect/use so I have plenty of that!!! I am familiar with electrolysis. Believe it or not, the worst of the rust was on the chuck itself. Everything looks like it was kept oiled excessively
You can't touch the lathe without getting oil all over yourself.
It has one of the aluminum clamping sections for the lockdown mechanism for the quill. I will have to make the other one. The screw was broken that went to that part too but the handle is there. I'm pretty sure I can make those parts, they look fairly simple.
I'm going to document things here as I go in case it is helpful to someone else down the road.

Thanks for the tips! More to come

 

[The Fishing Hobby]

Got the chuck back together and it feels just as smooth as before but it requires less effort to turn and it looks much better. It is much nicer than my import chucks I use on my little 7x10 lathe.
I think that the stud spacing on the back of these is the same as my really old Harbor Freight 7x10 but the studs are larger in diameter. If that is the case, then that may be a possibility for some people looking for a chuck for a Compact 8. I will do some measurements on the studs and the mounting recess later and see what the differences are.

Here are some after pictures: