Whats the best cleaner/polish?

[mranum]

Found something to restore. I just picked up a 10ER very very reasonable thats actually in very nice condition except for some light rust on the way tubes. The former owner used to keep everything well oiled I see, lots of nasty oily sawdust to get rid of. I was going to clean everything down and repaint but the factory paint under all the gunk looks really good for the most part. The plain steel parts have a light coating of rust that will take some time to clean up, unless someone here has a suggestion?

What I'm wondering is what has been found out there in stores to bring back the luster in the old paint? Also whats the best cleaner/polish for the aluminum parts?

This seems to have all of the available accessories that I know of and I think all the parts are there for them. Hard to tell when I never used one before.

Router / shaper / jointer fence
Jigsaw ( used but still in the Shopsmith box )
Jointer head
Table extension
Variable speed changer ( needs repair, broken ear )
Mortising head and mortising hold down
12" sanding disc
End support table
Tail stock & Face plate, drive spur, dead center, tool rest and 6 Craftsmen turning tools
2 chucks
Standard table w/ fence & 2 inserts and the upper blade guard:eek:
Shopsmith blade w/arbor and a Craftsman dado on an arbor
Micro adjust for the table
Upper belt hood
And the Shopsmith legs with the retractable casters, those need some serious attention.

All in all its gonna be a very workable tool when I get it all done.

[solicitr]

I just did this on my new-old Mk V.

The way and base tubes will clean up nicely with some *fine* emery cloth. WD-40 helps with the stubborn rust. Finish up by cleaning them with paint thinner and letting them dry, then take a fresh strip of emery, wrap it around the tube and slide back and forth using *light* pressure until it's nicely 'frosted' with parallel scratchmarks; then go over it again using your emery cloth shoeshine fashion to restore the original 'transverse' patterning. To polish them I found Mother's billet polish to work the best.

The aluminum bits shine up with mag-wheel polish and some elbow grease.

For the painted parts, I'd just give them a good scrub with thinner and a scotch-brite pad, and wax them with Johnson's (EXCEPT crucial non-skid parts of course)

While you've got the emery out don't forget to touch up the tube guides in the headstock and carriage, which will probably be scored and burred, and almost certainly coated with gunk. (Of course, the 10ER's cast iron may not booger up as easily as the Mk V's aluminum).

[ldh]

Take a look at this site and see what a 10ER could look like http://mkctools.com/. Makes me feel bad for my poor old 10ER.
ldh

[mranum]

Take a look at this site and see what a 10ER could look like http://mkctools.com/. Makes me feel bad for my poor old 10ER.
ldh

Mine won't look that nice thats for sure:eek:

Should be respectable though.

Thanks for the advice guys.

[SDSSmith]

You also might want to check out the "10erusers" group on Yahoo at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Shopsmith10ERusers/ .

There is quite alot of information and a good group ready to help out fellow 10E/ER users.

[mranum]

You also might want to check out the "10erusers" group on Yahoo at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Shopsmith10ERusers/ .

There is quite alot of information and a good group ready to help out fellow 10E/ER users.

I found that the other day and my membership is pending.

Should be some good info shared there about the tool I would think.

[mranum]

On a whim yesterday I decided to experiment a bit on removing rust from some of the smaller pieces. These were not heavily rusted but were solid brown with some pitting on them.

I took the drive spur for the lathe put it in a pint sized plastic container, filled it with water and dropped in a couple Alka Seltzer tablets. Left it soak for a couple hours then took a brass brush to it, rinsed it off and couldn't believe my eyes. The rust was completely gone! I repeated it on 8 other pieces with the same results.

Try it, you will be amazed.

Matt.

[a1gutterman]

Thanks for sharing; that sounds like a great tip:) .

[jimhart]

The alka seltzer story is great, I'll have to try that.

If you haven't already taken emory or sandpaper to your tubes, don't do it yet.

You described the rust as light. Some Mothers Chrome and Aluminum Polish from Checker Auto Parts should take it off with some light rubbing with a cloth. You'll be left with the mirror finish your tubes came with.

The sandpaper/emory treatment refinishes the tubes by taking off material and is better suited for pitted rails than lightly rusted. Think of it like repairing a finish on wood. If you can repair it, great. If not, you might have to sand down to the wood and start over.

Jim

[ldh]

I gave the alka seltzer, actually the walgreen generic brand, a try last evening on a quite rusty Jacobs chuck. I can tell you it did a very respectable job of removing the rust. Rinsed it off well and blew all the water out and gave it a coat of boshield T9 and it looks great. Easiest rust removal I have ever done.
ldh