SawStop top clean up

[tim walker]

My SS PCS has become stained on the cast iron top and otherwise just kind of dirty. It seems like I remember an article or perhaps even on here where someone uses a random orbital sander to clean up the top and make it all shiny again. What grits of sand papers would you recommend? My thoughts are starting at 220 and going up to maybe an 800 or even 1200 then applying a CNN pastes wax and buffing it out. Feedback please,

[Richard Coers]

Sandpaper is overkill. A lot of people here fuss over a couple thousandths of an inch and a random orbit with sandpaper will take off that amount of cast iron. I would use maroon scotchbrite and a light oil rub. But of course you don't mention what kind of stain it is.

[Jason White]

Green Scotchbrite pad and mineral spirits.

[Sam Shankar]

Sandpaper is overkill.

Agreed. Don't go nuts. You might try some oxalic acid-based cleaner (e.g. "Barkeeper's Friend'). I've used it to brighten up our stainless steel appliances when they get grungy. A little goes a long way.

[George Yetka]

If I ever get surface rust on anything I use Boeshield Rust free with maroon scotchbright. If its just to clean Mineral spirits or acetone with a clean rag. Then get something like glide coat/paste wax on right away

[Michael Rutman]

Depends on how bad the rust is. Any absolute answer will be situational, so not saying anything anyone else said is wrong, just saying it may not apply in your situation.

For me, workmen left a cup on every metal surface in my workshop, so every expensive piece of equipment had a round ring of rust. I was in an understatement, perturbed.

Starting at 220 with WD-40 and going to 1000 fixed it. Yes, 220 is aggressive and beyond the tolerance of new, but so is a ring of rust. To get under the pitting you need to just eat the fact that you will be flat but not thousandths of an inch flat. You will be flatter than any wood, which may be good enough. I finished off with wax.

It sounds like you aren’t in the situation I was in, hence why 220 is not right for you.

In my experience, I spent a week trying to understand why some people were saying sandpaper and others were saying never use sandpaper before I realized it was situational.

[Tom M King]

I use Jack's method, but I keep a cup brush on an old 9" sidegrinder, and don't bother to trim the Scotchbrite pads to round.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uMrVusnaEg

[Aaron Inami]

The problem with using sandpaper is that it's perfectly flat and will not get rust/stains out of the micro grooves. You can actually grind away cast iron with sandpaper and create dips on the table top.

Spray a generous amount of WD40 onto the cast iron top (as a lubricant) and use a scotchbrite pad on random orbit sander. This has given me the best results.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Scotch-Brite-Heavy-Duty-Scour-Pad-6-Count-226-CC/202511521

I've used Boeshield in the past and hated it. It is a "rust converter" and creates discolorations on the cast iron.

If I'm "cleaning" a top, I generally use naptha because it dries very fast and is somewhat oderless. Mineral spirits take a lot longer to dry and you have the fumes/odor in the air for a long time.