Jerry's 1955 "Greenie" Serial No. 293506

[bluekayak]

For cleaning the aluminum handles (e.g. quill lock), aluminum speed dial and other small aluminum parts, you might try liquid dish soap and a scrub brush. I just used this technique on my Greenie #273353 and it worked wonders.

My tubes were in much better shape. A combination of steel wool, Scotch-Brite and elbow grease cleaned them up nicely.

In another thread, I have described a quill upgrade done for me by a machinest friend. I've owned my machine since 1972, and frequently use it for drilling and drill-press type activities, so this was something I specifically wanted to do. But, if you decide to replace the quill bearing, you might consider the upgrade.

Thanks for the tips Dave. I checked out your three bearing quill, and it looks like a big improvement. I'm going to try your liquid dish soap and scrub brush on the aluminum.

Jerry Floren
St. Peter, MN

[bluekayak]

I wanted to experiment a little bit with polishing the aluminum table on the jig saw that came with my Greenie. I really like the coarse Weiler, nylon, cup brush. However, I normally feel it is too abrasive for soft aluminum. In the Shopsmith book there was a section on damasking, and I thought I could try something like that. Besides it would give me a chance to use the Shopsmith for something useful for the very first time.

I thought I had several "before" pictures of the table, but this was the best I could find as it was loaded in the van on day I got it.



With damasking you apply overlapping circular patterns using the drill press. I just put a little Brasso on the table and started using the Weiler nylon brush.



Here the table is finished (sort of). After this I polished it again by hand with the Brasso, then washed it in hot, soapy water as Dave suggested.



The "jig" to hold the table was quite simple. A cardboard box with a slot cut in the top. I had the drill press table at a slight angle. I probably should have been more precise and maybe used a miter gauge. However, this really was just an experiment, and I think I might experiment with it a bit more on some other pieces.



BTW -- I really enjoyed using the Shopsmith.

Jerry Floren
St. Peter, MN

[mickyd]

Tbat brush looked like it was a tad bit abrasive on the aluminum.

[bluekayak]

Tbat brush looked like it was a tad bit abrasive on the aluminum.

Not only on aluminum, but even on steel. There is a definite swirling on my Greenie's tubes compared to my Gray's tubes. The Gray was just hand polished with Brasso and its tubes look quite different than the Greenie's tubes. I can't believe a nylon brush leaves these types of marks.

The pictures in the previous post were just as the table came off the drill press without even wiping out the Brasso. Here are a couple more pictures of the jig saw table after it had been washed in hot soapy water and waxed.



I find it really challenging to get decent pictures of these articles with highly polished metal.



The swirl patterns are not deep. The table is much smoother after this treatment than it was before.

Jerry Floren
St. Peter, MN

[duhonsr]

I used this on mine...

Minwax 1 lb. Paste Finishing Wax

works great, and I use it on my scroll saw table!! make is so smooth.....