Rust on upper tubes

lmccown · Post by **lmccown** » Sat Feb 08, 2014 9:11 am

I am looking at buying a 510 that has rust on the upper tubes. Has anyone ever replaced these or have some way of repiaring these so they will work? Price is right but question the rust.

holsgo · Post by **holsgo** » Sat Feb 08, 2014 9:19 am

Rust is typical on machines stored outside. Not a deal breaker unless severe and very pitted. Progressive sanding with 600 up to 1200 and on will restore them to like new condition normally.

dgale · Post by **dgale** » Sat Feb 08, 2014 9:27 am

There are lots of threads on this site about dealing with tube rust - yes, you can replace them if you prefer and they usually sell for ~$30-$50/pair plus shipping on E-Bay…I got a set of all four tubes on E-Bay a few years back for $50 including shipping. THey of course are used but were in near perfect condition, so for me it was just a question of what my time was worth. It also depends on the how bad the rust is - if there is pitting you are not going to be able to get rid of that, but if it's just surface rust then you definitely can and most folks here go that route - I was just super busy at the time and taking the lazy way out.

I'll let others with much more experience weigh in on this but in general most folks here use Evaporust (available at Harbor Freight Tools if you have one nearby, or otherwise I'm pretty sure you can order it from Amazon). The typical practice I've seen is to remove the tubes and place them inside a PVC pipe with end caps that is filled with Evaporust. You want to get whatever size pipe is just larger than the tubes to limit the amount of Evaporust you have to pour in there to fill it up. If I were doing it, I'd glue one end cap on the pipe and have the other end be a threaded cap - slide the tube in, fill it with Evaporust, screw the end cap on and then let it sit for a handful of days, rotating the pipe a couple times a day or so to make sure all surfaces get treated. Others here can weigh in on how long each tube needs to sit. I'd then pour the Evaporust into a 5-gal bucket, pull out the tube, insert the next one and refill with Evaporust and repeat.

Once a tube is extracted from the Evaporust, you need to clean it off and assess how rust-free it is - usually some level of buffing is required to really clean them up and make them shine - various approaches for buffing tubes described elsewhere on this site.

Of course, if you are looking at a used 510 with tube rust, you want to thoroughly assess the remainder of the machine as well for rust and functionality, just so you know what you are getting into and also to provide more ammo for haggling on the price.

fredsheldon · Post by **fredsheldon** » Sat Feb 08, 2014 10:32 am

You can just seal one end of the PVC pipe and stand it on end, fill to just cover top of tube and set in corner for a day. Light sanding with 1200 grit will remove most stains once rust is gone.

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Sat Feb 08, 2014 10:32 am

Can ya post a pic of the tubes?

ChrisNeilan · Post by **ChrisNeilan** » Sat Feb 08, 2014 12:29 pm

Evaporust works very well, but is thin like water. You can also try "Krud-Cutter". Not the grease remover, but they have a rust remover as well. I bought it at Job Lot. It is thick and faster acting than evaporust. I paid about $4.50 for a bottle.

Chris

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sat Feb 08, 2014 9:35 pm

A 2" pvc pipe with end cap and access cap. Add a 1" pvc pipe with end caps to take up the space inside the tube. Overnight is usually sufficient.

As for 'pitting', it is not necessary to totally remove it. It becomes an appearance thing, not a function thing.

It takes little 'polishing' to get them functional.

For a bad to good example, check out MickyD's 10ER thread. As bad as that rust looked it was only a few thousands deep.

Not the really bad model 10, but scroll down for before/after pix of tubes.

http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showpos ... stcount=25

tbirdtim · Post by **tbirdtim** » Sat Feb 08, 2014 9:40 pm

I watched a video the other day where the guy caped a 3" piece of pvc pipe and filled with water, added the rusty tubes and then cut up a few potatoes and capped the end. let it sit for two weeks and pulled them out. The potato dissolved and he wiped the heavy rust off. He then buffed with a scratch pad and waxed. It might have been the sawdust series guy.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sat Feb 08, 2014 9:43 pm

tbirdtim wrote:I watched a video the other day where the guy caped a 3" piece of pvc pipe and filled with water, added the rusty tubes and then cut up a few potatoes and capped the end. let it sit for two weeks and pulled them out. The potato dissolved and he wiped the heavy rust off. He then buffed with a scratch pad and waxed. It might have been the sawdust series guy.

Sounds like Nick! Yes that works also, but is slower and stinks a lot more!:rolleyes: