Finally... my 500 to 520 upgrade experience!

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:28 pm

I'm pretty sure you posted the "before" pics, but I can't find them. Would you be so kind as to post them again or direct me to them?

chrispitude · Post by **chrispitude** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:38 pm

Hi beeg,

I really should have taken a good closeup picture. You can choose "Original" size to zoom in on some of the other pictures in the album, but none of them really show how much surface rust was on the tubes. The flash ends up making them look shiny and better than they were.

- Chris

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:55 pm

chrispitude wrote:Hi all,

I picked up some stuff at the DoItBest hardware store today:

Penetrol

Butcher's paste wax

Trewax paste wax

I figured I would buy both and try them and see which one I liked. I also bought some mag wheel metal polish at the auto parts store.

The tubes had a fair amount of surface rust on them, but they cleaned up well. First I tried a shop rag with metal polish compound, shoeshine-style wrapped around the tube. This worked on the very light rust marks, but was very slow on the heavier rust marks. Next I moved to a green Scotchbrite scouring pad, coating the tube lightly with polishing compound, then lightly rotating the pad around the tube. (I wanted to keep the radial markings and not lengthwise markings from sliding the pad up and down the tube.)

Once all four tubes were nice and polished up, I wiped them down twice with mineral spirits, let them dry, then hit them with a coat of Trewax, waited 10 minutes, and buffed it out. For the polishing/cleaning/waxing steps, I worked in halves - moved the headstock and main table to one side and worked, then moved them to the other side and worked.

Here is the end result:

my precioussss

Next is cleaning and waxing the tables and floating table tubes!

- Chris

Hi Gollum, er, I mean Chris, I think,
I don't see any rust, and that is a good thing.

Len · Post by **Len** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:22 am

chrispitude wrote:Hi all,
Here is the end result:
my precioussss
Next is cleaning and waxing the tables and floating table tubes!
- Chris

Happiness IS......

chrispitude · Post by **chrispitude** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:22 am

Am I becoming a Shopsmith addict? I got an email today saying my backordered replacement rip fence has shipped. In that email was a coupon code for 25% off plus free shipping for some goodies. I decided to spring for the 2-piece sanding disk for the 520, plus I threw in a velcro conversion system plus two 6-piece sandpaper packages. The total was just over $90.

- Chris

pinkiewerewolf · Post by **pinkiewerewolf** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:42 am

Yes Chris, I believe we have joined the Shopsmith-A-Holics.
And we didn't have to put up with the Mall Crowds.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:51 pm

I hope you bought a rubber eraser (753523, $10.99) to clean those disks; otherwise, you'll be reordering disks before you should need to.

Hurry, call customer service. Maybe they'll add it on.

chrispitude · Post by **chrispitude** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:14 pm

[quote="dusty"]I hope you bought a rubber eraser (753523, $10.99) to clean those disks]

I called and added it on. It was on sale too. That's what I really like about this crowd, they're very generous with my money!

(dusty, if you were being sarcastic, I just paid $10 to figure it out...

)

- Chris

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:34 pm

Who me? Sarcastic? Never!

Seriously, the eraser is money well spent. I use mine almost every time I break down a sanding setup; it (the eraser) must be 10-12 years old and I still have about half. It really saves on disks. If you don't use it, the disk will still work, sorta, until it gets fully compacted with sawdust and then its over. It just shines your work.

No sarcasm (sp) intended.

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:16 pm

-Did you guys ever save the warm cast off edges of the sticks? When still warm, they can be rolled/fused together to make an art gum eraser! Try it! It will grow to be usable size, and it really works to erase pencil lines.