Restoring a Shopsmith 500 Barn Find

[ShalomOrchard]

I got a Shopsmith 500 as a ‘barn find’ last week.
It included a Band saw and a shaper.

It’s pretty rusty, so the way tubes, and any other iron parts go Into an Evapo-Rust bath for a couple of days; the way tubes in a pvc pipe. It’s a great product, and removes every bit of rust. A lot of parts, except the way tubes, are minutely darker or rougher, but oh well, I’m not polishing or sanding them. It will be hard to find a big enough container to hold the shaper bed and fence without needing gallons of Evapo-Rust; how far does it come apart? I would like to coat them with something to keep them from re-rusting; you can’t find Johnson Paste wax anymore. I wouldn’t want to put that on the underside anyway.

I do want to make the way tubes smoother. I hate the idea of sanding. Obviously I’ve removed the rust, but there is still damage that can’t be undone. I’ll say it again, I hate the idea of sanding metal, especially chrome, you’re just spreading the damage and making it worse. I want to do as little additional damage as possible. Some kind buffing compound might be acceptable, though. If it was a flat surface, I could sand it on a flat surface, and know I was taking off the high points.

I’m not making much success with the aluminum. I’ve tried Bar Keepers Friend, and it didn’t do much. I guess I’ll try using Star-Brite Aluminum Restorer next. I also have a kit with various buffing wheels and several compound for buffing aluminum.

Any other suggestions? I replaced the hard plastic casters with something softer rubbery ones. It’s easy, just yank the old ones out of their mounting spring blocks, and replace them with softer casters with the same wheel size and stem. I know there’s a way to upgrade the casters to a larger wheel size, but I didn’t want to go to that much trouble.

If anyone has some left over tables from a 500 > 510 upgrade, I’d love to buy them. I like having extra tables for the 500. On one machine, I even mounted the main 500 saw table onto an end table tube mounting to mount a big table onto the end of the 500.


Also, what’s the deal with SC Johnson’s paste wax? You can’t find it anymore. What’s the alternate? Some other brand of paste wax?

[RobertTaylor]

you do not show your location, I like others may be able to help you but there is NO selling allowed on this forum

[DLB]

It will be hard to find a big enough container to hold the shaper bed and fence without needing gallons of Evapo-Rust; how far does it come apart? I would like to coat them with something to keep them from re-rusting; you can’t find Johnson Paste wax anymore.

I used Evapo-Rust on my non-SS cast iron Shaper table. You can cover the table with rags or good paper towels and keep them wet with Evapo-Rust for the necessary time. I used those blue shop towels. The stuff does evaporate but not quickly, and needs to be re-applied throughout. It wasn't as good as soaking, but worked okay and didn't consume too much Evapo-Rust. I used once-used Evapo-Rust and kept the table in the shade for this in an attempt to control cost.

I bought what I hope is a lifetime supply of JPW before it went away. Some members have reported good results with Minwax and alternatives. I just checked ebay and full new cans of JPW are going for $100+. Which is a bargain compared to $274+ on Amazon. Take the hint, SC Johnson!

- David

[JPG]

Trewax.

[ShalomOrchard]

you do not show your location, I like others may be able to help you but there is NO selling allowed on this forum

I am in Maine. I’m not selling anything…

[HopefulSSer]

I’m not selling anything…

I think the point was that since there is no selling on this forum, there is also no buying

[JPG]

If anyone has what he mentioned he could use, the PM route is appropriate.

A request is not IMO a problem.

[edma194]

ShalomOrchard - do you have a valid email address in your profile? I tried to send you a PM but it hasn't left the Outbox.

[jsburger]

ShalomOrchard - do you have a valid email address in your profile? I tried to send you a PM but it hasn't left the Outbox.

Someone will correct me if I am wrong but, I believe PM's stay in your out box until the recipient reads it.

[chapmanruss]

ShalomOrchard,

It sounds like you are well on your way in this restoration.

SC Johnson discontinued making it's paste wax some time back. Minwax and Trewax are good alternatives. Both have been sold by Shopsmith as an alternative to Johnson Paste Wax.

David aka DLB suggested,

You can cover the table with rags or good paper towels and keep them wet with Evapo-Rust for the necessary time. I used those blue shop towels. The stuff does evaporate but not quickly, and needs to be re-applied throughout.

If doing this method, I would suggest putting it in a large plastic bag to reduce evaporation of the Evapo-Rust.

Having the Way Tubes smooth is desired to allow the Headstock and Carriage to move freely on them, but you do not want to remove base metal in the process. Way Tubes with the rust removed but still having some lighter pitting from the rust can still be used but it is helpful to treat the pits to prevent additional rust. If the Way Tubes have heavy pitting from rust than consider replacing them. The Bench Tubes are not as critical and there are options to make them look better once the rust is removed. For a time, Bench Tubes were painted silver.

When considering replacing the old standard 2" casters with the 3" ones know that older Retractable Caster Assemblies had the Foot Pedal Wheel closer to the end of the rod. Those older Retractable Caster Set's Foot Pedal interfere with the 3" casters.