Big Project Ahead

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I don't even have a shop yet.  I picked up over the weekend a 1956 Rockwell 11 x 36 lathe.  The lathe was in a warehouse that burned and it has some damage.  Mostly melted aluminum tags and such.  It is also rusted solid.  I am hoping to make a go of it and restore it back to full use.  It came with a bunch of tools and great attachments such as the turret and a taper attachment.First thing, I have to do is build a new cabinet.  The old cabinet barely supports the weight now. I'll keep you posted on the progress if there is any interest.  Right now I have to get the shop up and then get my welding machine back home.It is pretty fugly:I did clean up a spot on the ways just to see how hard it would be:  I used elbow grease, WD-40 and some green scotch brite."G"ConductorX - The Volkswright Shophttp://volkswright.blogspot.com/http://bugwerks.blogspot.com/Miller DVI w/Spoolgun - Miller Plasma Cutter
Reply:Looks like you'll be getting some good use out of a blast cabinet if you want get all those parts back to bare metal efficiently. I think your elbow grease is going to run out quickly! Nice score, BTW.
Reply:You can't blast a lot of it some of it you can but the prescision parts can't be blasted if its worth it to you and there is a shop near you should see about getting it scraped and flaked1979 sa 200victor 100several bfh's several pitbulls (for holding down the floor)
Reply:Originally Posted by texasrednekYou can't blast a lot of it some of it you can but the prescision parts can't be blasted if its worth it to you and there is a shop near you should see about getting it scraped and flaked
Reply:Originally Posted by texasrednekYou can't blast a lot of it some of it you can but the prescision parts can't be blasted if its worth it to you and there is a shop near you should see about getting it scraped and flaked
Reply:I have brought a bunch of metal back to bare by soaking it in a plastic tub with 3 parts water and 1 part muriatic acid (found in the pool section of your local home hardware store). Always add water to acid, not water to acid.DO NOT soak aluminum for more than 10-15 minutes. Steel and cast iron work great.Copper not too bad either. Generally I use it for steel and the times take 4-12 hours depending on severity. Brush clean the surface so you do not contaminate the acid with dirt, etc. It will remove the paint as well.Neutrilize with water and then soak/coat bare metal parts in phosphoric acid for a few minutes (found in the paint section, one brand is Ospho). Wait about 24 hours and you are ready for primer and paint. The phosphoric acid with neutralize/stabilize any remaining rust and etch the bare. The surface turns black and sometimes gets a little hazed and chalky looking.Do not get any of this on the concrete unless you also want to clean and etch the concrete.
Reply:Typically that is what the Naval Jelly and other such chemicals do.  I would not want the ways and other shiny parts to turn black.  I also found an electrolisys method on You Tube but again it turns the metal black and ready to paint."G"Last edited by ConductorX; 03-25-2013 at 02:17 PM.ConductorX - The Volkswright Shophttp://volkswright.blogspot.com/http://bugwerks.blogspot.com/Miller DVI w/Spoolgun - Miller Plasma Cutter
Reply:Originally Posted by chuckholeI have brought a bunch of metal back to bare by soaking it in a plastic tub with 3 parts water and 1 part muriatic acid (found in the pool section of your local home hardware store). Always add water to acid, not water to acid....
Reply:Originally Posted by roadkillbobbyou can blast with walnut shells, that wont damage the ways...
Reply:Originally Posted by roadkillbobbyou can blast with walnut shells, that wont damage the ways...
Reply:Always add water to acid, not water to acid.I believe chuckhole is trying to say AAA  -  Always add acid [to water].Opus
Reply:Originally Posted by RhymesWithBob
Reply:My first thought would be warpage, due to the heat of fire, but  then "how HOT did it get in there???? i would check that out good before i put much else into it...
Reply:What about electrolytic rust removal for the delicate parts? AFAIK, this preserves as much of the underlying metal as possible.
Reply:Soda blasting?And my first thought was warpage too.
Reply:I second the electrolytic process. Restored a few pieces of my atlas lathe that way.
Reply:http://www.evaporust.com/This stuff is so easy to use.  Tractor Supply has a good price on it.  I use it on rusted bullet molds.
Reply:Biggest worry about iron machinery in a fire is if it's hot enough when any water hits it - thin sections check crack & if things are bad enough thick sections can surface check. That and any wiring & motor insulation would be toast. The poor shape of the stamped steel stand may not mean anything at all, they were pretty light weight anyway.Dry ice blasting is used to reclaim ferrous materials of value, doesn't warp thin section things like sheet metal and doesn't etch or abrade that you can tell. Otherwise you're down to a lot of steel brushing & cleaning. "Scraping" is a metal removal process for finishing precision surfaces, "flaking" is decoration of same with a scraper tool.That's a bit of a crying shame really, I see a Jacobs collet chuck, 3 & 4 jaw chucks, milling attachment, faceplate & at least 1 lathe dog, turret attachment, steady rest, tailstock, 4 way toolpost & some odd ball piece of tooling (sitting on the cross slide).I suppose you'll find out as it goes along, could be a fairly long project.Good luckMatt