Electrolysis, and cast iron.

[bazmak]

Thanks Baron,my aging brain seems to remember that its easier/necessary
to copper plate first before nickel or chrome plate.Thats why I asked the
question about cast iron.I thought that the high carbon content was detrimental to plating

 

[goldstar31]

Barry, it's all in Matthew 6-19 but I think that your recollections may be from the horrendous shortage of plating metals during and after the War! After all, the cosmetic part of plating is actually porous. Come to think about it, so is cast iron.

Kind regards

Norman

 

[BIGTREV]

Use your large plastic/polythene garbage wheelie bin to do it in, if you have them where you come from. Resistant to almost anything.

John

I would if the bin was big enough, the mill is 4' 6" high
Cheers

 

[BaronJ]

Surely you are not going to try de-rusting things without stripping the mill ? The table needs to come off and the bearings on the leadscrews need checking and maybe replacing.
Though I know of one person that used wet cloths and a metal plate to remove rust locally. It looked very patchy afterwards.

 

[BIGTREV]

Surely you are not going to try de-rusting things without stripping the mill ? The table needs to come off and the bearings on the leadscrews need checking and maybe replacing.
Though I know of one person that used wet cloths and a metal plate to remove rust locally. It looked very patchy afterwards.

It's stipped down, I've already done the smaller parts in a 45 gallon drum, I want to to pull the rust from the dovetail, on the main body of the mill body. I've used caustic soda and wallpaper paste, to remove the paint already

 

[bazmak]

As y mother used to say.Cant beat elbow grease.How about wire brushing
hand and machine.Scrape the ways etc etc.I an afraid your looking for an
easy way.Shot/bead blast ?

 

[BaronJ]

It's stipped down, I've already done the smaller parts in a 45 gallon drum, I want to to pull the rust from the dovetail, on the main body of the mill body. I've used caustic soda and wallpaper paste, to remove the paint already

Aah, a picture says a thousand words. I had visions of something much smaller.

Could you not turn the base upside down and then immerse it in your drum, use a couple of wood supports across the drum top to stop it touching the drum whilst you electrify it. You could use a wire brush on the rest of the base. That should at least allow you to de-rust the knee dovetails.

 

[BIGTREV]

Aah, a picture says a thousand words. I had visions of something much smaller.

Could you not turn the base upside down and then immerse it in your drum, use a couple of wood supports across the drum top to stop it touching the drum whilst you electrify it. You could use a wire brush on the rest of the base. That should at least allow you to de-rust the knee dovetails.

It's way too big and heavy, it stands 4'6" high, and they didn't worry how much cast iron they used when it was made, all assembled it weighs a bit over half a ton
I've built the tank today, I'll post some piccies when I get it up and running.
Cheers

 

[BIGTREV]

As y mother used to say.Cant beat elbow grease.How about wire brushing
hand and machine.Scrape the ways etc etc.I an afraid your looking for an
easy way.Shot/bead blast ?

I've never tried hand scraping, electrolysis cheaper than having it blasted + it pulls the rust out of the pits too. The only part I'm really looking to get clean, is the dovetail.
Cheers

 

[bazmak]

For the dovetails if the rust is light then its scraping or wet/dry emery paper
If the rust is heavy then its a regrind

 

[BIGTREV]

For the dovetails if the rust is light then its scraping or wet/dry emery paper
If the rust is heavy then its a regrind

The rust on the dovetail is quite light, I'll finish it off with scotch brite.
Cheers