The Shining

[Dale Thompson]

Hi Folks,
When I got my PM 66 about seven years ago, I could look into the polished cast iron and see a young, handsome, dashing stud. Today, when I looked into the surface, I looked like a corpse whose undertaker had flunked third grade. My worst move was to leave a piece of treated 1X12 on the table overnight. I figured that my life was over on that one so I walked out on my dock to take my "last" dive. Just my luck. It was January in northern Wisconsin and all I got was a black eye and a sprained wrist from hitting 12" of ice.

Anyway, where do I start in restoration? It's really not as bad as I might imply but I would like to get back to close to the factory finish. Scotch-brite, pumice, rubbing compound, steel wool (0000), etc. I also have a buffer if that would help. Perhaps you have already guessed but I have a tendency to exaggerate sometimes. I don't need a re-milling job. :) Thanks for any suggestions.

Dale T.

[Paul Kunkel]

Grin & bear it - we all begin to show our age sooner or later! If it's smooth, it don't have to be shiny.

[Dean Baumgartner]

Dale,
I just went through the same thing but on all my cast iron after leaving everything sitting in a very damp basement for 3+ years.

WD40 with the brown scotch brite pads. Use a block of wood to keep the pad flat and work in circles over the whole top in a uniform manner. Wipe off with paper towel periodically and switch to clean scotch brite.

When everything is nice and shinny clean the top with mineral spirits and apply several coats of Johnson's Paste wax.

Here's a picture of the top of my saw, was completly brown with rust but no pitting.

[Ed Falis]

Dale,

Sounds like you have two choices: 1) Use the PM66 as your own personal "Portrait of Dorian Gray" (which has its merits), or 2) find Dave Arbuckle's "Dirty Dozen" steps to preparing cast iron tops (http://users2.ev1.net/~arbuckle/DirtyDozen.html). I'm not sure even the latter will return the top to the fabled PM66 mirror finish. But it does do a nice job.

The dirty dozen is for prep of a new table. Skip the cosmoline removal, and insert the step of using a single edge razor blade to remove any gross rust before doing the WD-40 thing.

- Ed

[Keith Outten]

Dale,

Use your randon orbital sander. Start with a very fine wet paper and use WD40, then clean the surface and use 3M pads and paste wax. The cast iron will come back to a mirror finish and you won't have to wear your arm out with a sanding block.

[Chris Padilla]

Dale,

From Keith's original post on 'hand-rubbed finishes using your ROS,' (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?threadid=5305) I think he has a great and quick solution there. In fact, I just ordered up a bunch of the grey, white, and maroon scuff pads to fit my Makita ROS.

In the past, I've used my Makita sander/buffer and some glazing and polishing compound meant for automobile finishes (no, don't use auto wax with silicone in it) and gone to town. I then finish it up with Slip-It (Grizzly has it). I will use my ROS next time. Top Coat is another product people like to dress their tables with.

Chris

[Dale Thompson]

Thanks folks,
Since I only have eight lives left, I appreciate the help. I think that the reflection of the young, handsome, dashing stud is close to a reappearance on my PM 66. :D

Dale T.

[Rob Russell]

Dale,

Use your randon orbital sander. Start with a very fine wet paper and use WD40, then clean the surface and use 3M pads and paste wax. The cast iron will come back to a mirror finish and you won't have to wear your arm out with a sanding block.

DON'T USE YOUR ROS IN YOUR SAW TOP!!!

Forrest Addy, a man whose opinion I respect greatly when it comes to anything machinist-related (not a spelling error) - would say the same thing.

Using any power tool to surface your saw top can take off material far faster than you want and leave you with other than a flat surface.

Do the work by hand.

Rob

[Keith Outten]

Relax Rob

A ROS that is safe to use on a wooden surface isn't going to harm cast iron. It's a matter of selecting the right medium for the job...kinda like woodworking.

[Lee Schierer]

I agree with Keith. We routinely clean up cast iron surcaes on some of the machiens we make here with the brown scotch brite pads, WD-40 and a vibratory sander and have no material removal problems some of these parts are flat within .001 so material removal could be a problem. You have to rub a long long time with scotch brite to remove much material no matter what you use for power.

[Rob Russell]

I'm Relaxed now :-)

[David Klug]

Dean, I'm curious, the fence on your saw looks like it might be a Vega. Is it? I have one but it is painted black and yours looks shiny.

Dave

[Dean Baumgartner]

Dean, I'm curious, the fence on your saw looks like it might be a Vega. Is it? I have one but it is painted black and yours looks shiny.

Dave
YUP it is a Vega in plain shiny aluminum just the way it came from the factory. I've had it for about 10 years and love it. Turned my low end Delta motorized saw into a very usable saw. The micro adjust feature is the greatest and the biggest reason I got the Vega over any of the competitors.


Dean