Replacing tubes with stainless pipe

[Ed in Tampa]

I think living in Florida with it's high humidity and fairly near salt water has given me some experience with rust.

Here is what I have learned. I painted my bottom rails (bench tubes) with Penetrol. Penetrol is a paint conditioner that has been found to almost bond to metal. It goes on like water and does not build up and dries almost invisible. I experimented with it on things like pliers and measuring tools before I painted my SS with it. I works wonders but because it will rub off it isn't suitable for the upper rails(way tubes).

On the way tubes I polish them with Johnson paste wax which does two things prevents rust and makes the headstock and carriage slide easier. I also use it on nearly everything else on my SS.

My SS is 25 years old and it doesn't have any rust on it. I have had small areas of rust mostly from me touching unprotected metal with sweaty hands pop here and there over the years. I found a product called Empire Top Saver which is a kit containing a cleaner/wax a ultra fine plastic scouring pad and a buffing clothe quickly cleans it up and makes it look like new. Of course you can let the problem get so bad that the metal is deeply pitted and expect a miracle.

My worst case was a set of perfect hand/finger prints etched into my lower (bench) rails one time when I used the SS to sharpen the lawn mower blades and I was totally soaked in sweat. I had use the SS and put it way without wiping it down because I was trying to get the lawn mowed before it rained. That was before I used the Pentetrol. About a month later I noticed the hand print. But Top Saver Kit saved the day.

[jhall423]

I appreciate all the input on preventing rust. The greenie I recently purchased (1956 vintage) has some pretty good pitting on all the tubes. Rather than go through trying to remove I was considering replacing the tubes and wanted to see if anyone has used stainless. As I stated before the stainless will require minimum maintenance. I read everything on the electrolysis, etc but still believe the stainless will be the best route.

Thanks for all the input.

[Ed in Tampa]

I appreciate all the input on preventing rust. The greenie I recently purchased (1956 vintage) has some pretty good pitting on all the tubes. Rather than go through trying to remove I was considering replacing the tubes and wanted to see if anyone has used stainless. As I stated before the stainless will require minimum maintenance. I read everything on the electrolysis, etc but still believe the stainless will be the best route.

Thanks for all the input.

Jhall423
I also think the idea of using stainless is a great idea, I'm just waiting for feedback from someone on cost and how well it works out.

If you do decide to go that route please document every part of the process and let us know what you find, how much it cost and how well it worked.

[robinson46176]

I had waxed "The Old Gray Mare" tubes last year but left it sitting stored in the old shop over the winter. I now need to re-clean the tubes on it. They are a lot rustier than I like but not enough to hurt them. It's just a bit of an annoyance.
Happily stuff doesn't rust like that in the new shop and waxing is adequate protection there.

[JPG]

I appreciate all the input on preventing rust. The greenie I recently purchased (1956 vintage) has some pretty good pitting on all the tubes. Rather than go through trying to remove I was considering replacing the tubes and wanted to see if anyone has used stainless. As I stated before the stainless will require minimum maintenance. I read everything on the electrolysis, etc but still believe the stainless will be the best route.

Thanks for all the input.

Used tubes are on e-bay all the time. In your case, the bench tubes are a problem. They are 1 7/8" od. These are not easy to find OR verify prior to 'purchase'.

I have purchased a set (1 3/4") in almost new condition. They ARE out there!

[billmayo]

There are 1 3/4" OD stainless steel tubing available in the market place. I priced some 10' long tubes locally for around $100 per tube a couple years ago. These were too expensive for me so I turned some couplers to fit inside the regular 1 3/4" tubes as I needed 10' tubes to turn 4" X 8' porch columns. I was able to use 2 regular tubes plus the 18" tube I cut from making SHORTYs for the middle for each tube. I used a carriage on each set of way tubes and build a support in the middle for the 18" tubes. We was able to turn 100 porch columns for a home building customer. This was one of the fun things I like to do with Shopsmiths.

[JPG]

There are 1 3/4" OD stainless steel tubing available in the market place. I priced some 10' long tubes locally for around $100 per tube a couple years ago. These were too expensive for me so I turned some couplers to fit inside the regular 1 3/4" tubes as I needed 10' tubes to turn 4" X 8' porch columns. I was able to use 2 regular tubes plus the 18" tube I cut from making SHORTYs for the middle for each tube. I used a carriage on each set of way tubes and build a support in the middle for the 18" tubes. We was able to turn 100 porch columns for a home building customer. This was one of the fun things I like to do with Shopsmiths.

I'll bet it was FUN B4 the workpiece got to running true!:D

[a1gutterman]

There are 1 3/4" OD stainless steel tubing available in the market place. I priced some 10' long tubes locally for around $100 per tube a couple years ago. These were too expensive for me so I turned some couplers to fit inside the regular 1 3/4" tubes as I needed 10' tubes to turn 4" X 8' porch columns. I was able to use 2 regular tubes plus the 18" tube I cut from making SHORTYs for the middle for each tube. I used a carriage on each set of way tubes and build a support in the middle for the 18" tubes. We was able to turn 100 porch columns for a home building customer. This was one of the fun things I like to do with Shopsmiths.

This is a solution to turning longer materials on the SS that has knot been talked about on these forums before. I like it. At one point I had posted that SS make longer tubes available for just that purpose. Some members responded that longer tubes might sag. Did you have any sagging problems?

[billmayo]

This is a solution to turning longer materials on the SS that has knot been talked about on these forums before. I like it. At one point I had posted that SS make longer tubes available for just that purpose. Some members responded that longer tubes might sag. Did you have any sagging problems?

Yes, I did have sagging and vibration problems when first using the lathe chisels. Then I built a support table for the middle of the 10' tubes. I had a carriage on each side of the middle support table. All 4 tubes was hard clamped to the support table. I had to use 2X4s between the middle support table and the legs and the 2X4s were weighted down by bags of concrete. These actions were accomplished the same day. This made a very steady lathe for turning of 8' 4X4s. I was using a home made speed reducer to get the RPM below 250 RPM. Close counted for this job as the porch columns were being painted.

[a1gutterman]

Yes, I did have sagging and vibration problems when first using the lathe chisels. Then I built a support table for the middle of the 10' tubes. I had a carriage on each side of the middle support table. All 4 tubes was hard clamped to the support table. I had to use 2X4s between the middle support table and the legs and the 2X4s were weighted down by bags of concrete. These actions were accomplished the same day. This made a very steady lathe for turning of 8' 4X4s. I was using a home made speed reducer to get the RPM below 250 RPM. Close counted for this job as the porch columns were being painted.

I still like your solution. Thank you for sharing!