MetalworkingFun Forum

mumble mumble , green,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,      Greg 







Rob

The weather seams to affect shapers. We had a wet cold day here and the darn thing started falling apart.
Would be a daunting task with out the crane to lift tables and saddles on this thing.

hows the wear looking on the slides, hopefully it will just magically all fall back together some night and when ran will live mirror finishes on whatevers put in the vise.

gonna be fun to watch the chips fly off of this one.

Nice work Greg

Amazingly little wear, still see the flacking on the main casting, and the ram looks smooth as glass, no ridges at all. Hard to believe a machine like this wouldn't have been worked.
All the front parts got degreased and pressure washed then into a tank of molasses for a couple of weeks soaking.


From what it took to fill the barrel there's roughly 13 gallons on cast iron. That would be about 1000 pounds, sounds about right.

molasses?

Makes a good rust remover, 1 part molasses to 10 parts water. Forget the chemical jargon but it only attacks oxides, leaving the base metal untouched. Slow though, takes at least a couple of weeks to work. Cheap, 30 pounds of molasses was $20 at the feed store, and no harmful chemicals.

Give electrolysis a go Greg. It is much quicker.

Was going to give it a try. Did some more reading, (probably read to much into it), and some of the articles commented that it was often line of sight to the electrodes, with this much area and so many holes recesses and t slots I wondered it this would be a good first try. Im in no rush, wasn't going to start at it till I finished shingling the shop and had the last of the soffit and facia on. Need to evict the squirrels that have ruined the insulation in the attic. But had a cold wet weekend so, well, had to find something to do. By the time I have time to get back at this it will be derusted.

I have read that too Greg. I used weld mesh to line the inside of the container I use and a chunk of flat plate on the bottom. I figured that was line of sight enough but I am not sure that it really makes all that much difference, as the top surface always cleans up as well as the bottom. Sometimes I need to cycle a part through a couple of times but I think that is dependent upon the state in which I found them. I also give them a (very) quick scrub with some hot water when I fish them out.

I think the one thing that the molasses method has over this one is that you can throw all the parts in at once, where you would likely have to do individual parts or a few smaller parts at a time. I think electrolysis would still be quicker in the long run