Matanuska wrote
What steps do you go through on a typical restoration?
That depends on a few factors, including: the model I’m restoring, its starting condition, and the outcome I’m looking for.
Older Mask 5s don’t tend to retain their paint very well (Magna was not very good at keeping paint on their aluminum castings back at that time), so those jobs typically entail stripping and repainting all the metal surfaces. This compares to Model 10ERs, where I can often get away with removing slight surface rust and grime, and preserving that condition with some paste wax.
Of course I need to do some mechanical repairs inside a lot of older headstocks, but nothing is typical there (and not relevant for your project either), so I’ll spare you the details…
Where I really get a lot of “wow factor” on restorations is from the bare metal surfaces. Since I do a fair number of these, I have tried to at least mechanize some of the work (sanding pads under a palm sander for first pass cleanup on flat surfaces, custom jig for cleaning/polishing tubes), but a lot of it is still hand sanding and polishing, especially if I’m trying to achieve a “showroom new” look on a 70-year-old machine.
I don’t know what the original surface condition was on your vintage machine, but the early Greenie Mark 5 models had very nice polished surfaces on the aluminum knobs and handles, and you need to avoid using a wire wheel on those, as it’ll mar that original polished surface that’s usually still sitting there under decades of grime! In those cases, it’s fine steel wool and Blue Magic brand metal polish to bring them back to life:
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I’ve also spent a lot of time following the contours of the original machining marks on tables (they accidentally created some beautiful Art Deco looks on older models that are worth preserving!) with delicate hand sanding and steel wool, but that’s not going to be relevant on a 520 style table…
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And then sometimes, I’ll put all those techniques (a little new paint, a little preserved paint, some mechanical fix-up, and a LOT of polishing!) to work in a single machine, and the results can be pretty impressive!
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Hope this inspires you a bit - good luck!
