Newbie needs advice!

[Steve Rundell]

Help!!!

It finally happened; I bought my first metalworking tools, in this case a Craftsman lathe and drill press. They are both from the estate of a friend of mine, and I would guess them to be around 1950-1960 vintage, althought I don't know for sure. The lathe measures about 12" x 36". Its label plate says '101-07403'. The drill press is a table-top model, but it's huge! It was made by King-Seeley, and is labeled '103-23130'. There is also a monstrously heavy rotary table with X- and Y-axis movement, and a whole bunch of tooling.

I'll be building tables for each of these goodies, but I need to clean them up first. What should I use? Should I buy an automotive-type solvent tray? After I get them cleaned, what should I use to prevent further problems?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

I need advice along two lines;

1. Where to get owner/operators manuals for these machines, and...

2. How to clean them up. There is a little surface rust, but mostly they are just dirty (very), with grease and a nice coat of dust and sawdust.

[Ron LaDow]

Steve,
My $0.02:
Plain, old WD40, disposable paint brushes and paper towels will clean them. It's available in gallon put-ups with a spray bottle.
I also use it to keep the bare metal from rusting.

[toff]

Hello,
I bought the Craftsman 12 inch and wrote one of the advertisers in HSM:

M.Herman
1036 Governers Road
Mount Pleasant,SC
29464

Was $3 model #,and spindle size/threads per inch. Should give floor or bench model too.
Might give him a call. I called long distancce info. to get his number.
I had good dealings with him.
Luck,
toff

[SGW]

A friend used industrial hand cleaner gel to degrease an INCREDIBLY filthy lathe he bought. (That was after we had sprayed it with Gunk degreaser and washed it down with a hose; it was REALLY bad!)
You probably don't have quite that level of problem, but the gel hand cleaner idea may be applicable.

To get rid of rust, the best thing I've found is something like kerosene and one of those green "Scotchbrite" scouring pads. (Get the real "Scotchbrite" brand ones; the generic look-alikes are nowhere near as good.)

[bdarin]

Had the same problem with an old Atlas lathe. Cleaned it up with mineral spirits and a paint brush. Some fresh oil and it's as good as new. Good luck with your new toys.

[This message has been edited by bdarin (edited 05-30-2001).]

[roberlt]

Depends on how far apart you want to disassemble. If you take them COMPLETELY apart, for iron & steel try a automotive machine shop and have the parts "hot tanked" this will remove dirt,rust,paint,oil etc. but NO aluminum,pot metal, etc should be subject to this.

[Harry J. Dolan]

If the oil and grease is not to heavy, I have had good luck with "409" Cleaner (none of the look alike cleaners seem to work). "409" does not seem to promote rust and cuts the grime well. I use it about every 6 months or year to clean the painted surfaces on my machines. I have an owners/parts manual for my 12" Craftsman (bought new in 75)which I will copy and send to you (no charge). If you still need one e-mail your street address.
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Ron LaDow:
Steve,
My $0.02:
Plain, old WD40, disposable paint brushes and paper towels will clean them. It's available in gallon put-ups with a spray bottle.
I also use it to keep the bare metal from rusting.</font>