1956 Mark V restoration

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 9:12 am

russsaw wrote:what kind of sander did you use? I don't have an electric sander available cause the shopsmith is in pieces! I actually just bought the shopsmith belt sander. I could try it by hand but that sounds like some work.

I do have a drill that I could spin the tubes with.

THIS will provide a little thought. There are links there to further info!

ddvann79 · Post by **ddvann79** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 1:39 pm

russsaw wrote:what kind of sander did you use? I don't have an electric sander available cause the shopsmith is in pieces! I actually just bought the shopsmith belt sander. I could try it by hand but that sounds like some work.

I do have a drill that I could spin the tubes with.

If you chuck the tubes up in a drill, just hold sandpaper by hand.

As for the castings, I stripped them with CitrusStrip and finished up with a coarse Brillo pad or paint stripping pad by hand. Some of the paint was so flaky I just used a putty knife. The aluminum castings are just soft enough that I'm not quite comfortable using any electric sanding tool, Dremel or rotary tool on it. The exception here is that I did use an abrasive pad in a hand drill to help strip the sheet metal legs.

ddvann79 · Post by **ddvann79** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 1:42 pm

JPG40504 wrote:How does 'unidirectionality' help?

Spraying in the same vertical plane as the can (up and down relative to the can) results in a very heavy coat that is more apt to run, I think. This is because the nozzle sprays more paint in the vertical direction. Spraying perpendicular to the can results in less paint deposited, assuming the same rate of speed.

wannabewoodworker · Post by **wannabewoodworker** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 1:42 pm

When I redid my 54' Greenie I had all of the castings plastic blasted to remove all of the original paint as trying to get it off any other way was going to be a lesson in frustration. Didn't cost too much money but it wasn't cheap either. I did however make the repainting so much easier and quick. I used my Mark VII and chucked the tubes up in it to remove the rust. That worked quite well actually and I never had to use any chemicals at all and those tubes were in BAD shape.

ddvann79 · Post by **ddvann79** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 1:45 pm

wannabewoodworker wrote:...I used my Mark VII and chucked the tubes up in it to remove the rust. That worked quite well actually and I never had to use any chemicals at all and those tubes were in BAD shape.

Great solution. The only issue is that not soaking in a chemical bath doesn't remove any rust deposits inside the tube. Depending up the condition of your machine, this may not be an issue.

Anybody tried to apply some sort of protective coating to the inside of your tubes?

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 1:56 pm

ddvann79 wrote:Great solution. The only issue is that not soaking in a chemical bath doesn't remove any rust deposits inside the tube. Depending up the condition of your machine, this may not be an issue.

Anybody tried to apply some sort of protective coating to the inside of your tubes?

Sorta! After soaking in Evaporust. let it dry(both outside and inside). Subsequent 'polishing' will remove the Evaporust from the outer surface, but that inside will remain. i.e. Do not rinse/wash it off! I thought of running a swab saturated with penetrol through them, but have not done so! Most tubes are not all that rusty inside(I am sure there are some!).

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 2:05 pm

ddvann79 wrote:Spraying in the same vertical plane as the can (up and down relative to the can) results in a very heavy coat that is more apt to run, I think. This is because the nozzle sprays more paint in the vertical direction. Spraying perpendicular to the can results in less paint deposited, assuming the same rate of speed.

Ahhh! Bi-directional(back and forth horizontally) is ok, but unilaterally(including up and down) is bad! That makes sense!;)

I would add the avoidance of continuous spraying while reversing direction. i.e. Spray up to the 'edge', release the finger pressure thus stopping the spray, but continue motion beyond the 'edge'.

After stopping/reversing direction, begin spray just prior to reaching the 'leading 'edge'.

One other detail! Some spray cans are usable in any position(even upside down briefly). They do not purge the paint tube/nozzle when inverted(what one would normally do if they wanted to reuse the paint weeks later).

russsaw · Post by **russsaw** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 2:28 am

Ok I see how the tube sanding setup works. Pretty inventive! what exactly did you use to 'chuck up' the tubes? what drill attachment works best?

on another note, I just pulled one of my Mark V's legs out of the electrolysis tub and most the rust and paint came right off with a good scrub and hose down

I will be some citrus solution on the next hardware store trip. My list is getting pretty long. I have loaded up on supplies and tools for this restoration, but I guess I have a bunch of useful things!

wannabewoodworker · Post by **wannabewoodworker** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 6:02 am

I went to my local car parts store and bought a 1.5" rubber freeze plug to use as an arbor to chuck the tubes up in the lathe. I think it was 1.5" but can't remember at the moment a quick measure of the ID of the tube will tell you exactly what the size you need is. Then I used some fishing rod supports from my rod lathe to support the tube on the other end of the lathe. Use progessively finer grit sand paper until it shines like new. If it is pitted badly don't worry about it. My 54' Greenie had some deep pitting but once it was all polished up the pitting had no effect on the ability of the headstock to slide smoothly on the way tubes.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 8:19 am

wannabewoodworker wrote:I went to my local car parts store and bought a 1.5" rubber freeze plug to use as an arbor to chuck the tubes up in the lathe. I think it was 1.5" but can't remember at the moment a quick measure of the ID of the tube will tell you exactly what the size you need is. Then I used some fishing rod supports from my rod lathe to support the tube on the other end of the lathe. Use progessively finer grit sand paper until it shines like new. If it is pitted badly don't worry about it. My 54' Greenie had some deep pitting but once it was all polished up the pitting had no effect on the ability of the headstock to slide smoothly on the way tubes.

The plug may vary! The tubes come in three sizes. Older model 10 tubes are 1 3/8" id, older bench tubes(gilmer versions) are 1 5/8" and newer way and bench tubes are 1 1/2".

A hex coupler(like an elongated nut) that matches the thread on the core plug will provide a better grip to the drill chuck.