Mondo
Member
Looking at buying a starter lathe but should I be concerned about the rust on the ways. Can it be removed?
Rust
- Thread starter Mondo
- Start date
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robutacion
Member
If the lathe is working perfectly, the rust in the "ways" is your least of worries, you have various way to deal with it, my way would be to "kill" the rust by wire brushing the rusted area, clean with acetone (make sure the acetone doesn't run into the paint) and the brush the rust with any of the rust inhibitors products, available in the market. Any auto parts store and hardware stores will have it.
After the "rust killer" has dried or done its job (look for the product specifications, for that.), grab a small block of wood and wrap some wet and dry sandpaper 600 grit would be OK and then run it on the ways, as if you were shaving a piece of wood with a hand plane, you want to "flatten" the area treated but not remove much good metal surface and the 600grit with plenty of water, will do a good job on that.
After that is done, you only need to maintain the area lubricated (WD40) as you would if the rusted area was never there...!
Good luck...!
Cheers
George
After the "rust killer" has dried or done its job (look for the product specifications, for that.), grab a small block of wood and wrap some wet and dry sandpaper 600 grit would be OK and then run it on the ways, as if you were shaving a piece of wood with a hand plane, you want to "flatten" the area treated but not remove much good metal surface and the 600grit with plenty of water, will do a good job on that.
After that is done, you only need to maintain the area lubricated (WD40) as you would if the rusted area was never there...!
Good luck...!
Cheers
George
low_48
Member
Mineral spirits or light oil will work a lot better than acetone. No idea how you would keep the acetone off the paint. I like to use a single edge razor blade to scrape off the rust with the mineral spirits as a lube, then a rub with a red scotchbrite. Also check that the tailstock center lines up with the head stock center. Those tailstocks are not known for accuracy.