How to quickly clean rusty tables (w/pics)

[David Eisan]

Hello everyone,

I have moved most of my machines from their previous location to my new house. As some of these tools have sat for a while I decided to clean them all as I set them up for use at the new place. One of the worst pieces was an older Delta 6x48" belt, 12" disk sander. It was my intention to do a full restoration w/paint, but I don't have time for that. I will be pressing it into service in the next week or so as I still have *loads* to do at the new place. This machine has sat idle for many many years and the tables were quite dingy.

Rather than using elbow grease to clean the table, I enlisted the services of a Makita 9924DB belt sander. Now, I know what you are thinking, Ack! Only and idiot would take a belt sander to a cast iron table! And, you are right, only an idiot would. Unless of course, that idiot was using a surface conditioning belt rather than regular sanding belt. A surface conditioning belt looks like a Scotchbrite pad. This one was blue, and I have no idea what grit it conforms to. We have been using this on used equipment at work for a while and it does wonders, cleaning up quickly without leaving any marks.

The table was sprayed with "Top Saver", left to sit for a minute, and then I had at it for a short bit of time with belt sander and the blue surface conditioning belt.

You can see the table on the sander, halfway done, done, and back on the sander.

http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/sandertable1.jpg

http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/sandertable2.jpg

http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/sandertable3.jpg

http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/sandertable4.jpg

Very impressive results for a very small amount of work.

I also cleaned up my table saw, jointer and OSS as well. The bandsaws will have to wait until they make it over here.

Thanks for looking,

David.

Every Neighbourhood has one, in Mine I'm Him

[Todd Burch]

Great idea! Now you need one thin enough to reach into the miter slot!

Todd

[alex grams]

maybe for the miter slot you can get a polishing disc and put it on the end of a drill and just run it down there.

Very nice though.

Where did you purchase the refinishing belt?

[Noah Levy]

Electrolysis will also get every little "seed" of rust without removing any metal. If you haven't tried it, it's amazing.


Hello everyone,

I have moved most of my machines from their previous location to my new house. As some of these tools have sat for a while I decided to clean them all as I set them up for use at the new place. One of the worst pieces was an older Delta 6x48" belt, 12" disk sander. It was my intention to do a full restoration w/paint, but I don't have time for that. I will be pressing it into service in the next week or so as I still have *loads* to do at the new place. This machine has sat idle for many many years and the tables were quite dingy.

Rather than using elbow grease to clean the table, I enlisted the services of a Makita 9924DB belt sander. Now, I know what you are thinking, Ack! Only and idiot would take a belt sander to a cast iron table! And, you are right, only an idiot would. Unless of course, that idiot was using a surface conditioning belt rather than regular sanding belt. A surface conditioning belt looks like a Scotchbrite pad. This one was blue, and I have no idea what grit it conforms to. We have been using this on used equipment at work for a while and it does wonders, cleaning up quickly without leaving any marks.

The table was sprayed with "Top Saver", left to sit for a minute, and then I had at it for a short bit of time with belt sander and the blue surface conditioning belt.

You can see the table on the sander, halfway done, done, and back on the sander.

http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/sandertable1.jpg

http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/sandertable2.jpg

http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/sandertable3.jpg

http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/sandertable4.jpg

Very impressive results for a very small amount of work.

I also cleaned up my table saw, jointer and OSS as well. The bandsaws will have to wait until they make it over here.

Thanks for looking,

David.

Every Neighbourhood has one, in Mine I'm Him

[Brad Evans]

Electrolysis will also get every little "seed" of rust without removing any metal. If you haven't tried it, it's amazing.

Can you point to how this is done? Thanx...

[Tom Zielinski]

Can you point to how this is done? Thanx...

http://www.chip.com/buick/techtips/rustremoval.html
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/andyspatch/rust.htm

For example, btw Google is your friend.

[Matt Day]

I'd be interested in where you got the belt too. I couldn't dig up much with google. Thanks.

[Richard Dragin]

Sounds like a good method. I always use an angle grinder with a wire wheel which is fast and lets you get the miter slots also. The wire wheel isn't the most pleasant thing to use as the wires do come off so gloves and long sleeves are required.

Electrolysis is great for smaller items but a machine top is rather large for most hobbiests to set up for and it's more effiecient to use a mechanical method, imo.

[Steven Wilson]

Nice job. I have a pad for my Metabo grinder that accepts the 3M surface conditioning disks. I also have a small 1/4" shaft roloc disk pad to use with a drill. What rust?

[Joe Melton]

I cleaned up my unisaw table using a random orbit sander and a scotchbrite pad. I sprayed the table surface with WD-40, laid the scotchbrite pad on the oil, set the sander on the pad, and had at it. It worked pretty well, and took about as long as it takes to google blue sanding belts.
Joe

[Bruce Page]

David, where do you find these creatures?

"A surface conditioning belt looks like a Scotchbrite pad."

[Richard Dragin]

Here is what a minute with a wire wheel can do.
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j147/DraginRichard/Picture083.jpg

[Andrew Thuswaldner]

I'm not expecting the technique is going to be similar :D but do any of you have suggestions for how to clean up my Forrest table saw blade? It has never been the same since I cut some MDF for a cabinet I made last winter. I've tried the Freud bit and blade cleaner stuff but it' harder to get the teeth clean than I expected. As usual I have enough 'other stuff' to do so I'm looking at the easiest way to do a good job.

Andrew

[Ellen Benkin]

Try oven cleaner. Let it sit for awhile and then use a scotchbrite pad to remove the gunk.

[Todd Burch]

You can take it to your local sharpener, show them, and they will be happy to sell you a quart of whatever it is they use to get blades clean. Or, let them clean it.

I gauge my blade's performance on how they cut, not how they look!!! :eek:

Todd

[Richard Dragin]

I gauge my blade's performance on how they cut, not how they look!!! :eek:

Todd

Actually if you have a lot of built up resin on the blade it will dramatically effect how it cuts. I picked up some of this http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=849

and it works really well. I used a brass brush and the resin came off very easily. It is a lot less caustic than oven cleaner as well.

[Chris Barnett]

Bought a can of Sprayway SAW CLEANER at Muncy, Pa (Grizzly) last month. Had buildup of resin just behind teeth that Blacksteak Remover would not touch. Not only did the resin buildup quickly disappear, the lettering on the blade strarted to smear too. Used an old toothbrush on the teeth, but probably didn't need to do so. Next time I will use Black Streak Remover [RV centers or Walmart] on center of blade and finish with the SAW CLEANER just on the circumference. My 35 year old blade carbide tipped blade looks like new, except for some smudged lettering; cuts nice too now. Warning...don't breathe the vapors...it will remove your lungs, sniffer and sense of smell.

[Floyd Cox]

Electrolysis will also get every little "seed" of rust without removing any metal. If you haven't tried it, it's amazing.
Cool article, now if i could just find a pan/bucket big enough for my table saw top.

[John Schumer]

You can get Scotch discs at auto parts stores like Carquest or Napa.
a package of discs come with the arbor to mount into a drill, or whatever you are going to use. I use them to clean my cast tops before I wax them, they work awesome.
HTH
John

[Brian Backner]

Using electrolysis to clean large items is not all that difficult. I just saw an online article about using it to derust a boat trailer! The trailer was parked on a sheet of 12 mil plastic and a reinforced plywood wall was constructed around it with the plastic lining the entire thing. The resulting "tub" was filled with water and had 30 or 40# of baking soda mixed in. For a power source, they used a 220 volt arc welder on a setting that allowed continuous operation. Took several days, but it looked like new when it was repainted!

Brian