Lathe cleanup advice

[Stigmorgan]

Hi guys, I'm finally ready to start cleaning up my lathe so I can start using it, it was 2nd hand from gumtree, the guy had it stored in a barn, it's not in too bad of a condition, a bit of rust on the tubular bed and other non painted parts, what would you guys suggest I use to remove / clean the rust, I have plenty of WD40 and hard plastic wool/scouring pads, are there any parts that would need lubricating and what lubricant would be best?

 

[RichardG]

The tubular bars need to be as smooth as possible otherwise the banjo and tail stock will be a pain to move, my blue variant CL3 bars are still nicely chromed and I still have to wax them to get the banjo to move smoothly. I'd try to spin the bars and then use different grades of paper until they are shining, finish off with some scouring pads and wax. See here for some ideas on cleaning up a tube. Startrite Mercury 10speed advice Otherwise just wrap the paper round the bars and go for it. When I cleaned up my old startrite drill I wrapped the tube in some towelling and vinegar...see Here

Probaby best to dismantle the tail stock and wire brush everything, if it still looks bad then you could try soaking the parts in some vinegar or other rust disolver. Grease and reassemble, make sure the morse taper is clean. Hopefully the centre currently fitted has stopped it rusting or it may be stuck fast, you need a long bar to poke through from the other side to knock it out. It may take quite a wack if its been there for a while.

The rest is cosmetic and some wire wool and wd40 or oil will clean it up.

The headstock bearings look to be sealed for life type so if they grumble they will need replacing, they're cheap and relatively easy to replace. I presume you've already run it but it should be smooth and quiet.

I'm not sure about the motor, I've certainly never lubricated my blue CL3 motor, nothing is mentioned in the manual.

Final job is to make sure the top of the tool rest is smooth, just use a metal file to clean it up.

The stand looks like it would benefit from a good wire brush, ideally one on a disk grinder or drill and then a coat of hammerite or similar.

There's loads of restorations on here so have a search and you'll find all sorts of ideas and solutions...

 

[Stigmorgan]

The tubular bars need to be as smooth as possible otherwise the banjo and tail stock will be a pain to move, my blue variant CL3 bars are still nicely chromed and I still have to wax them to get the banjo to move smoothly. I'd try to spin the bars and then use different grades of paper until they are shining, finish off with some scouring pads and wax. See here for some ideas on cleaning up a tube. Startrite Mercury 10speed advice Otherwise just wrap the paper round the bars and go for it. When I cleaned up my old startrite drill I wrapped the tube in some towelling and vinegar...see Here

Probaby best to dismantle the tail stock and wire brush everything, if it still looks bad then you could try soaking the parts in some vinegar or other rust disolver. Grease and reassemble, make sure the morse taper is clean. Hopefully the centre currently fitted has stopped it rusting or it may be stuck fast, you need a long bar to poke through from the other side to knock it out. It may take quite a wack if its been there for a while.

The rest is cosmetic and some wire wool and wd40 or oil will clean it up.

The headstock bearings look to be sealed for life type so if they grumble they will need replacing, they're cheap and relatively easy to replace. I presume you've already run it but it should be smooth and quiet.

I'm not sure about the motor, I've certainly never lubricated my blue CL3 motor, nothing is mentioned in the manual.

Final job is to make sure the top of the tool rest is smooth, just use a metal file to clean it up.

The stand looks like it would benefit from a good wire brush, ideally one on a disk grinder or drill and then a coat of hammerite or similar.

There's loads of restorations on here so have a search and you'll find all sorts of ideas and solutions...

Thanks Richard, it does run smooth unloaded, haven't tried it with a piece mounted on yet, the tail centre came out fairly easily thankfully, I guess my biggest worry is what I should and should not grease/ lubricate. The stand was made by the previous owner but as you say just need a good scrub, I have a huge tin of black hammerite paint that will sort the stand once I've cleaned it.

Need to get a few bits for it too, would prefer a live centre for the tailstock rather than the dead centre, a 4 jaw chuck and possibly a bigger faceplate than the one that came with it, also need to replace the tailstock locking nut as it seems to be missing. Will need more gouges too eventually but I should be OK to get started with the 3 I have, spindle roughing, skew and bowl gouge, I picked them up at the oak fair last weekend.

 

[Jacob]

Friction on the rusty bars may not be a prob if you wire brush off loose stuff and apply grease. It depends on how much of the original surface is intact, a few pits don't matter.

 

[Richard_C]

Some chucks come as so called "kits". My record sc3 came with a set of jaws and a faceplate so you might not need to buy both chuck and faceplate. Recently I've been using a small block of hard beeswax to rub over things that need to slide, including the edge of the toolrest and the lathe bed. Quick, effective and it only goes where you want it and not beyond.

 

[Stigmorgan]

Some chucks come as so called "kits". My record sc3 came with a set of jaws and a faceplate so you might not need to buy both chuck and faceplate. Recently I've been using a small block of hard beeswax to rub over things that need to slide, including the edge of the toolrest and the lathe bed. Quick, effective and it only goes where you want it and not beyond.

I have a faceplate but it's quite small so would like to get a bigger one even if it is only to make me feel safer with larger pieces. I'm not looking forward to choosing a chuck, there seems to be so many to choose from.

 

[Orraloon]

Those are quite good little lathes. I had one as my first lathe. Like yours it needed a scrub up but its not hard to do. As to faceplates the one on it looks big enough for most things you can do on it. I use hex head roofing screws to mount things on faceplates as they grip like anything and can be used over and over again. I would get a standard 100mm scroll chuck and sometimes they come in a kit with extra jaws and a faceplate ring. You can keep that if you later trade up to a bigger lathe. There are screw adapters so you can fit them to different lathes. A drill chuck on a No1 morse taper will also be handy so you can drill out things like pepper grinders, tool handles and well anything you can drill on a lathe. I found it a good lathe to get started out in turning.
Regards
John

 

[Richard_C]

I've never thought of faceplate size as a limitation. As long as you are fixing into sound wood, bring tailstock up while you do the initial cuts to get it all balanced and the main shaping, it's not going to come flying off. By the time you get to the tenon or recess the hard work has already been done.

Maybe I should worry some more.

 

[Stigmorgan]

Picked up some wire brushes and a couple of wire wheels for the drill today, hoping to fi d some time this week to start the clean up. Will start with the rails and see how clean I can get them.

Orraloon, I tend to strip stuff down when it's thrown out so I have buckets of screws, nuts and bolts, I'm sure I'll find something suitable to use with the faceplate, also need to find a bolt for the tailstock quill so I can lock it in place.

Richard, having spent 15 years in construction being responsible for onsite H&S I tend to be a little overcautious.

 

[Orraloon]

I also tend to keep odd bolts, screws and things for those kind of situations. Sometimes I am lucky and find something to fit.
Happy turning
Regards
John

 

[Stigmorgan]

Spent all afternoon today cleaning her up, the wire brushes I bought for the drill are too harsh for the rails so I used some 120 wet&dry and a ton of WD40 and I'll save the brushes for the stand, got the rails as clean and smooth as I could, there's a lot of pitting from use but I can live with that, I gave all the blue parts a wipe with a cloth sprayed with a little WD40 and put it all back together.
Next is the headstock end, Should I try and clean the bearings? They are a little stiff and do not free spin very well, I have WD40 copper grease and I have spray white grease, which would be best for lubricating the bearings?

 

[Dalboy]

If that model has sealed bearings it would be a good idea just to replace them at least you will know that they will last you

 

[RichardG]

I'm sure they're sealed bearings so agree with @Dalboy replacement is the way to go although if funds are tight just run it for a while, they may well free up but check they're not getting hot.

edit. Recordpower - Woodworking tools

 

[RichardG]

This may help in replacing the bearings. Record DML 24" Lathe. - www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

 

[Stigmorgan]

Thanks guys those are both very helpful, there's no play in the bearings so will see how they go, good to know they are easy to replace.

 

[Stigmorgan]

Threw a block of pallet wood on and set to it with absolutely no idea what I was doing, the whole thing rattled and bounced around so I need to find a way to either bolt it down to the floor or increase the weight and rigidity of the stand. 100% need to sort dust extraction, I knew there would be dust but was not ready for so much of it, also need to make more space.

I'm not sure if I wanna show the finished item as it's pretty crap, the tools need sharpening, the roughing gouge did a good job but the bowl gouge and skew just didn't want to cut.

The face plate kept coming loose, anyone had this/know how to stop it?

 

[Dalboy]

Find a local club and join them worth the cost and you can find someone to help teach you which will save a lot of pain. Pallet wood not ideal to play with especially if you do not know what they were use to store on them, leaking chemical drums for example. Dust mask and face shield a must to start with.

 

[Stigmorgan]

Find a local club and join them worth the cost and you can find someone to help teach you which will save a lot of pain. Pallet wood not ideal to play with especially if you do not know what they were use to store on them, leaking chemical drums for example. Dust mask and face shield a must to start with.

The pallets I keep are from our paper deliveries, I only keep the newest ones that are not marked up as having been treated.

 

[Stigmorgan]

So having managed to clean up the garage after the dust bath created by my first turning, dust collection is my next task along with sorting a sharpening system.

Dust collection, I have a machine at work that hasn't been used in years, its a Numatic meant for wet clean up but I figure it should do the job

What are your thoughts/suggestions?


Sharpening,
As my budget is pretty tight and there are a lot of things I want/need for my planned wood turnings I'm looking at the Screwfix Titan bench grinder as it has pretty good reviews and will be useful for other projects and jobs too.

In the meantime I need to make space in the garage so I can position and set up the vacuum, bench grinder as well as my scroll saw and band saw.

 

[clogs]

noticed ur question to late.....
in the past have changed really bad tubes for either galv or Stainless Steel.....
and before everyone moans about galv there are several grades....
rough as Bxxxxks for farm work and much finer.....

As for ur bearings, anything other than silky smooth just bin em....dont waste any time on them because they may be allright for a while but then they will fail soon enough.........