Small repairs

Jan 10, 2004 6 Replies

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SRF 22 years ago

Hi all.

I'm cleaning up a South Bend 10" Heavy and want to make it look really nice. One problem is that there are a number of nicks, some fairly good size. Most are in places where I can't just grind the surface down. I don't want to use epoxy where it is not a painted surface since the epoxy will show up pretty obviously against the polished steel. I don't want to weld it and put stresses into this nicely aged metal. I was wondering if spray welding would work and can it be done by a home shop guy. Or is there any epoxy out there that looks like polished steel? Any other suggestions?

Thanks. Steve.

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SRF 22 years ago

As I was poking around on the Internet I came across this

formatting link

Anyone have experience with this stuff?

Thanks. Steve.

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Marty Escarcega 22 years ago

[posted and mailed]

"SRF" wrote in news:a1RLb.201589$ snipped-for-privacy@twister.southeast.rr.com:

If its a machined surface, I would not touch it. If its non critical, I wouldn't worry about it. Polish everything else up. Its not a brand new machine, it does add some character to it. :-)

Marty

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John 22 years ago

Leave it alone, they're battle scars and as Marty says it gives it character. For arguments sake say that you would spend hours to clean that all up somehow and than

*you* put a nick in it: You would feel very bad about it. If you leave it alone you can say: "Eh, another nick so what, you can't see the difference" and even smile when you think: "Good thing that I listened to Marty's and John's advice and did not waste my time" HTH

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Gunner 22 years ago

When I first started dragging machines home..I was spending a lot of time restoring them. And not a lot of time using them. When I did restore a machine, paint etc..I realized that I was probably gonna ding them..and I did.

It was something that Tnut ( I think) said that finally struck a chord..something about "F*ck the paint, fix it good enough to use, and use the damned thing for making stuff like it was intended".

And now Im having more fun making stuff than piddling around making them pretty.

Gunner

"Gun Control, the theory that a 110lb grandmother should fist fight a 250lb 19yr old criminal"

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Marty Escarcega 22 years ago

Gunner wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Yup, I have nearly passed the point of ripping them apart myself, it takes an awful lot of work...though I try and wipe them down occassionally and clean them up, oil them down.

Marty

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jim rozen 22 years ago

Yep. Or at least with me, when I'm restoring something to 'look pretty' I don't lose sight of that fact. Indeed the most useful tools in my shop (both at home, and at work) are the ones that simply look the nastiest.

I cringe at the thought of folks looking at my hardinge horizontal mill, the paint is *so* ugly:

but I just don't see any sense in doing a cosmetic, or even functional restoration on it - after replacing the broken bits, and re-doing the feed screw nuts, it just won't stop performing its intended purpose.

The hlvh at work honestly looks like it's been shot at and missed, s*it at and hit. But damn it sure works nice.

Jim

================================================== please reply to: JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com ==================================================

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