Shopsmith Forums

JPG wrote: ↑Mon Jan 25, 2021 10:46 am Hmmmmm. Typewriter, slide rule, zylyss vise.

Starting a museum?

Yes how did you get that shiney finish.

I have a small collection of typewriters ranging from about 1910 to the mid 60s that I have repaired and restored. I needed a counterweight on the little table so I grabbed one. Then keeping with the 50s theme, I tossed in an era appropriate slide rule.

Short version: sanding, wire brushes, Scotch Brite, WD-40, Simple Green, buffing wheel w/brown compound, Mother's Mag polish, Flitz metal polish.

First all parts were washed with diluted SimpleGreen. I used an old toothbrush to get in the tight areas.
I mounted the steel shafts using "pen" jaws on my lathe chuck, using masking tape wrapped around them to protect where the jaws gripped.
At around 300 rpm I progressed from 400 to 1500 grit wet/dry paper using WD40 as a lubricant. I finished by polishing with Flitz. The screw also went on the lathe and I cleaned it with a stainless steel wire brush, followed by Flitz.
I saw no good way to remove the wooden handle, so I carefully scraped with a dull razor blade to remove paint and other foreign materials. I then rubbed it down repeatedly with Shellawax friction polish.
The metal portion of the handle I cleaned up with Scotchbrite pad followed by Mother's Mag & Aluminum polish.
Using diluted SimpleGreen as a lubricant, I sanded the curved parts of the jaws with 600 through about1000 wet/dry as seemed appropriate. The jaw faces were flattened on a piece of granite with 150 grit. I used a fine wire brushes (hand and dremel) to clean out any scratches deeper than I was willing to sand. Areas where I did not intend a high shine (the table clamps etc) I polished with green Scotchbrite.
I then buffed everything on an 8" wheel using "brown" polish, then finished with Mother's followed by Flitz. This was not quite as straightforward as written -- there was a lot of iterative repeats for problem areas as needed.

Wow Paul- thats quite a process. I'll take some pieces of it for getting my vise presentable, but perhaps not museum quality ! Thank you.

b

Greetings ... I do not have the funds or space for a Shopsmith. I have to make do with portable power tools and among those are a couple of Zyliss Vices. I saw a Youtube video by Rambling Russ Veinot in which he describes how he attaches auxiliary jaw faces to his Zyliss Vice via a couple holes in the top jaws. I decided to make a Drawing of the jaw section of the vice so that I could produce some jaw faces that cover both the top and bottom jaws. Perhaps this will prove useful to some of you folks. If you want the origonal DWG file then send me a PM. Cheers

I have leather glued to my jaws. I use it for gluing and put painter's tape over the leather to keep the glue off.