Cleaning And Painting Wells Index Model 745

azshadeguy

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I finally got the 745 in the garage.
I am in the process of tearing it down and cleaning.
One thing I found is that the head will not rotate to the left or right .
I loosened the screws and turned the bolt and it just spins.
It looks like they put a light coat of bondo or something to cover blemishes on the castings. My question is
is this bondo or something else? Should I pull the rivets and remove the nameplates prior to painting?
 
There is a worm gear inside the mechanism that is probably has some teeth strripped off of, which is not allowing the head to rotate. I would suggest removing the motor and whatever else you can and grab ahold of the head with a engine hoist or a overhead hoist and carefully remove.
The bondo looking stuff is a filler that W-I used for smoothing out the castings before painting. Have no clue what kind of material it is. Sand lightly and paint. I painted my mill with ford blue from the tractor supply over ten years ago and it is doing fine so far. Just hard to keep the mill clean from usage. I highly recommend using Rustoleum brand of paint which does not necessary require primer and use. I've used it with their primer and without, with great results. If you can remove the name plates without damaging them, do so. Most of the time, I cover them with painters tape and it does fine.
 
Yes, Rustoleum is ok, I've found it chips badly until it dries for a month or two, then it slowly gets harder and more resistant to dings and wear. Much better to find a polyurethane or maybe one part epoxy if you want a hard, chip resistant surface.

I took the inspection plates off my old Dalton Lathe when I repainted it (rustoleum). Then got some brass rivets to reinstall them. Used brass split rivets to put plates back on the thin gear covers on the end of the headstock. You can spread the back end of a split rivet with your fingers - so no banging on thin cast iron parts!

Glenn
 
Yukko muckko what's that yellow stuff Shedd's spread? And that green stuff leaking out looks like something died in there
LOL
Mark
 
There is a worm gear inside the mechanism that is probably has some teeth strripped off
You were right the cavity was full of shavings and someone must have tried to turn it withoutIMG_1697.JPGIMG_1698.JPGIMG_1699.JPG loosing the the bolts
 
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