General Lathe and Bandsaw Maintenance

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egnald

egnald

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Joined
Jun 9, 2017
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3,804
Location
Columbus, Nebraska, USA
Greetings all:

I didn't work on any pens today, but I did clean the morse tapers and cleaned & waxed the ways on my lathe. I also waxed the table on my bandsaw, replaced some guide bearings, and made a new zero clearance insert. Not much to show for it but at the end of the day it was still gratifying.

Speaking of wax, I bought a can of Trewax Clear Paste Wax at our ACE Hardware since SC Johnson's has been discontinued. I did find some on eBay, but wow, the prices were insane. The most expensive was listed at $999.95 for a new can. Most of the others were more reasonable, but still quite expensive, in the $80 range -- that's an awful lot to spend on a pound of wax.

Dave
 
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I cleaned and waxed my lathe down the other day. The only wax I had was Renaissance wax. Worked good though. I also had to re-adjust the tension on my 17" bandsaw. I guess sitting in storage for a year knocked it out somehow. Of course I keep the tension off unless I'm using it.
 
The belt on my 1018 Excelsior lathe broke the last time I used it, so today is maintenance day on that lathe.
 
derekdd said:
What are you guys using to clean the lathe bed?
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My usual go to for general cleaning on metal is Denatured Alcohol. Depending on the crud level, I might start with some Mineral Spirits then follow up with Denatured Alcohol. I use the Alcohol to take away that light oily residue that Mineral Spirits often leaves behind. - Dave
 
I wipe the lathe bed with DNA, lightly touch it with very fine sandpaper, wipe again and use a new lubricant, Ballistol. Similar to WD-40 but is a thicker viscosity. Lightly wipe again with a clean cloth or paper towel.
 
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