Vintage Martin T75 restoration

[Brian Holcombe]

Patrick, it’s grest to break them down. I feel very confident with the machines I’ve broken down to small parts.

[Patrick Walsh]

Well,

I guess I’m gonna see. This will be the first machine I broke down all the way.

Patrick, it’s grest to break them down. I feel very confident with the machines I’ve broken down to small parts.

[Patrick Walsh]

Emptied booth this morning and snuck in a couple resprays.

Top priority was the piece I bitched yesterday threading in some Allen screws that act as stand-offs to level and plumb the piece. The piece is one of three attachment points for the outrigger arm to swing on.

I could be done spraying and out in the garden by 9am but I would had stuffed the holes with tape again and risked another nightmare when I threaded the alen screws again. I implemented much discipline to not stiff with tape but instead wait for the hardware store to open at 10am. As a result I got into more work, down the rabbit hole I went.

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I figured might as well be productive. I was not perfectly happy with sliding table propers paint job. I figured now was as a good a time as ever to deal. I wet sanded it to 800 grit waiting for the hardware store to open.

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All sprayed,

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You know how yestersday I was saying you win some you lose some and the losses are often the best part. Well today I got to celebrate. I got the end of the sliding table and the finsh was top notch. I walked to the the other end and I found this

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What are you gonna do, just gotta have a positive atttitude about it. The positive is I can probably wet sand it out then buff the whole piece and it will be even better than if it never ran and I never color sanded it. Being it’s such a in your face piece of the machine I’m pretty committed to it being perfect.

Or I can spray it a third time and it will have mucho green paint on it thus being more resistant to wear and chipping from what will be normal use. It’s bound to bumped and banged around and three layers of paint can’t hurt as this product can be put on as heavy as you want vrs some products that fail under their own wait and crackle.

My big win is the missing piece to the rip fence. Most would had though me crazy to re spray it. The risk when a piece of already pretty darn good but not perfect is much like the sliding table. You might nail it, or you might just make it worse.

I nailed it!

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[Patrick Walsh]

More,,

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The motor,

No I don’t suck that bad the motor has a seriousness texture to the castings, again I just cleaned, primed and shot this with finsh. It’s a motor right. Still way better than what a motor shop would had done.

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Another resprays, I dinged this piece moving it, yet again the radius portions of these prior were a mess and it wrecked my head to look at them. I spent some serious time fixing all the radiused parts so them are consistent and uniform so you know I had to repair the ding. I’ll probably ding them putting the machine back together or the first cut I make. Is what it is but I’m not knowingly just gonna say “eh your gonna get some of that on the big jobs”...

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The other side of the trunion, this is the side you see when you change the blade. Again I coulda gotta all fancy with this but this is how I found it somyou know I went with it. Honestly I should put more attention into this side. It will probably bug me later.

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These two,pieces also got sprayed again as one side I thought I had masked and was machined ended up not being masked and not being machined but ampainted surface. I sprayed this surface as though I was spraying over tape I would remove. Again the area would get covered by brackets and bolt but the edges would have been seen slightly and I just couldn’t say the hell with it. I figure why when I’m already setup to spray anyway. What’s a couple more pieces.

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I then loaded a bunch more fully cured and pieces into the car to take home and called it a day. I spent the rest of the day transplanting and pruning my Bonsai “short window for this work and it’s now” and pruning the Japanese maples before sap starts flowing and leaves pop. I took the dog for a nice walk and that’s a day.

Time to eat dinner. I am just smitten with the life of a batchelor with no kids, life is good. Something major has to melt down soon as it’s always the way isn’t it....

[Brian Holcombe]

You still have time on the maples? I trimmed mine about two weeks ago and just barely got it done in time.

Parts are looking great!

[Patrick Walsh]

Well I feel like i got nothing done today. I emptied the spray booth yet again, believe it or not it takes a good 45 minutes to empty it and put everything away “paint materials” and leave it tidy for the whomever is using it next.

I got In maybe a hour in the am cleaning up the cast iron table. Then another 2-2.5 tonight.

I’m just gonna say this, “ I’m totally pissed at whomever thought it a good idea to leave what looks like a sawblade and or a few cans of some sort sitting on the tables for long enough leave permanent rings.

It took me a little while of going at this with a wire wheel and scotch brite and various chemicals to realize that whatever got on the tables had etched these stains into the surface. You know this is the second saw I have now purchased with this defect. I have a sawstop with very obvious and deep etching in the surface the shape of some sort of chemical spill.

It just wrecks my head to think someone just left stuff sitting on the saw long enough for this to happen. I work and have worked with enough people that could give a rats ass about machines or tools that would do something as stupid as to put a bucket of water or a blade soaked in blade cleaner atop a beautiful and very expensive machine. Often times the owners of such machines to y wonderment. Different strokes of different folk I guess ...

I tried a few chemicals, pb blaster, wd40 rust remover and Zepp Industrial degreaser. I found the Zepp worked the best.

I only have pictures of what was like 3-4 minutes of work. Things look much better but I’m pretty sure I’m gonna be living with those dark circles forever. To get them out I’d have to have the tables re ground or as mark suggested flatten them myself with wet stones. In doing so my prized Martin ribs from a time long since past would be all but gone. I like perfect but I don’t think I’m gonna get it this time.

Hopefully tomorrow i can finish this task and get back to sandblasting the base before the weekend.

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[Darcy Warner]

You can try bar keepers friend, does a pretty good job on stains.

[Carl Beckett]

You can try bar keepers friend, does a pretty good job on stains.

Agree. I sometimes mix the BKF with WD40 and use this slurry with a scotchbright.

Then if this doesnt suit me, Boeshield makes a product called 'Rust Free' that I use to get a more uniform patina and lift rust stains. Then polish as above.

[Brian Holcombe]

Patrick, tables like that are planed, not ground.

[Robert Hazelwood]

You can try a a maroon scotchrite pad stuck onto the tips of a wire cup wheel on an angle grinder. This is about the most effective way to remove staining that I've found while still preserving the original grind marks (or in your case planing marks, which I would never grind off if I could avoid it).

[Patrick Walsh]

Already done all the above minus the bk friend.

Been using a wire wheel and marrin scotch brite from the beginning. Also rust remover zero degreaser on blaster you name.

The bk friend did nothing!

I think I'm gonna have to live with it?

You can try a a maroon scotchrite pad stuck onto the tips of a wire cup wheel on an angle grinder. This is about the most effective way to remove staining that I've found while still preserving the original grind marks (or in your case planing marks, which I would never grind off if I could avoid it).

[Robert Hazelwood]

Already done all the above minus the bk friend.

Been using a wire wheel and marrin scotch brite from the beginning. Also rust remover zero degreaser on blaster you name.

The bk friend did nothing!

I think I'm gonna have to live with it?

Well, I think Chris Hall (Carpentry Way) found a guy in NH with a metal planer who redid his Wadkin saw's top. https://thecarpentryway.blog/2018/06...ction-phase-1/

That might be the nuclear option, I guess. How is the flatness of your table?

[Patrick Walsh]

That could be a option,

Thanks for sharing.

You know I have not got out a machinist straight edge feeler gauges, or the machinist level but I have put a know flat level across it ever direction possible and per a regular high quality level it saiz its perfectly flat.

Obveously in the stained/corroded areas that won't be the case.

You know I'm not sure what to do. Looking at those stains forever will drive me nuts but if the tables are actually flat I'm not sure o can justify planing them.

I'm not so worried about the cost but the headache of getting them there and back and then trusting or gambling I like the finished product.

always the chance something goes wrong or things come back worse or different than I expected.

I'd hate to look back and say I shoulda lefetcwell enough alone..
[QUOTE=Robert Hazelwood;2916336]Well, I think Chris Hall (Carpentry Way) found a guy in NH with a metal planer who redid his Wadkin saw's top. https://thecarpentryway.blog/2018/06...ction-phase-1/

That might be the nuclear option, I guess. How is the flatness of your table?[/QU

[Patrick Walsh]

Well a day later and I about the same exact place I was yesterday.

I’m banging my head off the wall with this cast iron top. It’s the first aspect of this project that I can’t tend to myself if I want to bring it to the same level as the rest of the work I’m doing.

I’m half inclined to say I’m done it is what it is. On the other hand i know I have time on my side the top is not going to be put on the machine anytime soon being it’s being moved home in pieces and probably not till early fall.

For now the top is clean. Now I can flip it sand blast it, prime it and paint it. Only time will tell,what I decide.

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And the stains close up, you know at this point I could live with the stains. The issue is I had to bar down so hard where the stains were that it’s pilished more than anywhere else. It does not matter the amount of back in forth in long straight strokes with a scotch brite on a mdf scap I do it’s just not gettting rid of that shine or flashyness.

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And bed time...

[Mark Hennebury]

You could sandblast the top, that does a good job of cleaning it without removing the ribs. then wire wheel it.
*You could maybe try acid, wash. Muriatic acid, then neutralize it with baking soda solution, dry it and coat it in boiled linseed oil. * DO IT OUTSIDE, not in the shop.
Those options wont remove the ribs, but may remove the stains.
Of course you should do some testing on scrap cast first to make sure its what you want.
If its already " Flat" not much point sending it out to be planned, unless they can guarantee, to keep or improve the current surface tolerance. Plus that will cost you a serious chunk of cash, so i would be inclined to try the cheaper solution fist, nothing to lose that way.