Jon Knauft
08-30-2007, 11:49 PM
I was at an auction this weekend and picked up several great deals. One was a Sears 20" Contractor scroll saw with stand for $25 and the other was an Illinois ToolWorks die grinder for $20 (the auctioneer called it a filing machine). The scroll saw looks like it may have been used twice but the die grinder has seen quite a long life. I'm going to give the scroll saw a quick once over but the big project will be the die grinder.
My question is about cleaning up the die grinder. What would be the best thing to use to clean the grease, etc. off the die grinder. Would something like WD-40 or penetrating oil along with a 3M pad work best? In some places there's almost an 1/8" of grease on it. It's a "table top" model from World War II and it took 2 of us to get it into my van. I'm guessing it weighs close to 100 pounds. Also, it came with about 30 files but I'm looking for additional files. They all have Nicholson Swiss file on them but I couldn't find anything when I googled it. I'll post some pictures over the weekend for those that might be interested and to satisfy the picture police.
I'm going to be making several metal body shoulder planes over the next few months and I thought the die grinder would be great for roughing out the dovetails, etc. I'm inherently lazy so if I can find a machine to do the hard work, I'm all over that! :D
-Jon
My question is about cleaning up the die grinder. What would be the best thing to use to clean the grease, etc. off the die grinder. Would something like WD-40 or penetrating oil along with a 3M pad work best? In some places there's almost an 1/8" of grease on it. It's a "table top" model from World War II and it took 2 of us to get it into my van. I'm guessing it weighs close to 100 pounds. Also, it came with about 30 files but I'm looking for additional files. They all have Nicholson Swiss file on them but I couldn't find anything when I googled it. I'll post some pictures over the weekend for those that might be interested and to satisfy the picture police.
I'm going to be making several metal body shoulder planes over the next few months and I thought the die grinder would be great for roughing out the dovetails, etc. I'm inherently lazy so if I can find a machine to do the hard work, I'm all over that! :D
-Jon