Rotary tables and tool cleaning

RT's go up quite substantially in weight once you get past the 12 inch size. Most common are 12 inch on the BPs witha 42" table. Go as large as possible as you always runo ut of room on a RT to secure the item your working on.

Hmmmmmm cleaned up machine tools, never yet been to an auction where anyone ever went to any trouble to clean up the machines, usually they were just like they were when pulled from use.......

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Well there aren't too many machine tools that need to be clean in order to work properly. :-o

As long as the sliding surfaces and such don't have any grunge just keep them oiled properly.

If you do insist...

You can use something like Varsol.

Or if you want to be more agressive, try Ed's Red. It's a homebrew of acetone, transmission fluid and I forget what else.

Used to clean guns, just do a lookup on the net for the formula.

DOC

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It depends what's on there. Oil over time dries to a varnish. Removing this varnish can be difficult. On bare metal kerosene and a stiff brush followed by a shot of compressed air used JUDICIOUSLY can work. I also like Hoppe's No. 9 nitro solvent for removing old-oil varnish from bare metal.

In general, you have to use a combination of solvent and mechanical scrubbing. I've tried lots of stuff, even tried steam once back when I temporarily owned a steam cleaner. Usually you just take what you have and start. Here are some of the cleaning supplies I keep:

rags simple green kerosene Super Agitene (in my parts washer) Kroil/WD40/other spray light oils .. Comet TSP Cascade dishwashing detergent (actually I keep this in my kitchen :-) lye muriatic acid paint thinner aka varsol aka mineral spirits aka turpentine carburetor cleaner acetone lacquer thinner M.E.K. Brasso Knorrostol (use this a lot) a whole variety of tube brushes from about 1/8" dia up through about 2" dia. several scrub brushes old toothbrushes toothbrushlike brushes with stainless/brass/plastic bristles Tom's machinist brushes (big plug, these work great) cup-style wire brushes in knotted and plain disk-style wire brushes in knotted and plain

3M deburring wheel lots of kinds of sandpaper an old file ground like a scraper (use this a lot) 3M pads, the brown ones "shop rolls", those rolls of abrasive paper about 1" wide, several grits 3M roloc-mounted sandpaper and 3M pads with arbors for die grinder disk grinder flap wheels, several types and grits random orbital sander with coarse 3M pad (puts pleasing finish on AL) variety of auto body fillers (e.g. Bondo, fine putty)

I've probably forgotten a few. Some of these will make your skin feel um crummy so I also stock several kinds of rubber/plastic gloves.

I use *all* of the above for different things.

Things like precision layout tooling I don't use often I coat with a product called "Lano-Lube" from Flexbar. It's the stuff that gage block manufacturers recommend.

That reminds me -- I've got a filthy Baldor carbide grinder to clean up and paint!

There was a guy in Seattle that was instrumental in introducing me to machine rebuilding. He always says "once you paint it, it's yours in a special more permanent way".

Grant Erwin

|| Second- What best to safely clean the usual shop gunge off machine tools. ||What do the auctioneers use to make things look so good before a sale? Thanks ||for your help.

WD40. Get the one with higher-volume spray that came out recently. Apply liberally all over, let sit overnight, then reapply as you scrub with a copper or plastic Brillo pad, stiff brush. Wipe down, apply real oil to preserve and protect.. Texas Parts Guy