Shopsmith 500

[ogwe3595]

I was just given a SS 500. The way tubes are a little rusted so I tried WD40 and scrubbed it with a wire brush. It didn't help much but I read that naval jelly works great. I'll give it shot. Any ideas??

[fiatben]

There are almost as many ways to clean up way tubes as there are guys on this forum rebuilding old machines. I've been very impressed with the various ways the guys have used electrolysis to clean up really rusty tubes as well as mounting them lathe-style to sand/polish. I'm not an expert, but I'm sure several of them will respond quickly to this. Meanwhile, using the search feature might put you onto these great ideas as this topic has been covered many, many times.

[heathicus]

For the tubes, I like the homemade lathe method discussed here:

http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthr ... #post33408

A hand drill and a marine plug and some sandpaper are all you need.

WD-40 really isn't really a rust remover. I've never used Naval Jelly, but I've had a lot of luck with Evapo-Rust and electrolysis. Evapo-Rust is expensive and the part has to be totally submerged in it, so I wouldn't recommend it for the tubes.