New mill Wells-Index 745

I next seperated the head from the turret and put it on a rolling cart (to be delt with later).

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After the head was removed next I removed the turret from the base.

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Next up will be the coloum/base...

More updates to come!
 
I have a good friend in Coquitlam and he has a BIAX Power 1/2 moon Flaker and I bet he would flake the top of saddle for a few beers. He has an amazing repair shop up there. http://www.carrsmachining.com/ His name is Shane. The 1/2 shapes are oil pockets and not scraping. I hate to tell you this, but it doesn't look the 1/2 moon flaking is original from the factory. I like Wells Index mills as they are still the only American manufacturer still making their machines in the USA. I stopped by their booth at IMTS show. They had a new machine like yours and one they will be importing from Taiwan. The top of the knee looks like it might be chrome plated too. Be sure to buy or make some new way wipers too. Rich
 
Thank you so much for the tips Richard I really appreciate it!

I will definetly give shane a call about the flaking. If he can redo it would be awesome, I didn't realize anyone in my area did that sort of stuff, sounds like his shop is only about 20min from me.

I will for sure get some new way wipers, I was actually just on the phone with Wells-index today about getting some and a new bronze X&Y nut. They are suppose to be sending me an e-mail with pricing soon. Really cool that they still support this machine that they sold way back in 1969!

I am fairly new to machining, and was wondering if you could tell me how you knew the 1/2 moon flaking is not original? so I know what to look for in the future.

Thanks again for taking the time to give me such helpful tips.
 
A professional scraper tech can flake and the lines are even and straight. Even when doing it by hand. There are 2 ways of doing it. By hand or using a Power flaker. Both ways can produce a straight line. Go to You Tube and search Jan Sverre Haugjord 1/2 moon flaking.
Jan is one of my students and has several great shows on scraping. Jan is also a good friend and is the co-ordinator of all my Scandinavian Classes I have taught there. Must be 6 now over the last 10 years. He is an Engineer and his hobby is scraping. Shane also took 2 of my classes. He has a complete repair / rebuild shop. Go there and you will be quite pleased. He will probably charge more then a beer though...lol

PS: on the brass nuts you can check out http://www.greenbaymfgco.com/ACME-nuts.php and Wells to get comparison prices. I just bought a nut from them 2 weeks ago. it was a 3/4 / 5 cast iron nut that I had to machine the OD. It cost $46.00.
 
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Thank you again Richard for the great info, that is super helpful. I had a look at a few videos they are very informative. I will definietly be giving Shane a call. (I also have an old south bend 13, I want to talk to him about, but that is a whole other project). Thanks so much for the info about the brass nut that is another great option for me to consider if the wells-index part is too costly. Thanks a million for all the great info!
 
The next step in my restoration is to deal with stripping and repainting the coloum/base.

Just a note on personal safety. Given when this machine was manufactured there might have been lead in the original layer of paint, so I used a full face mask with a filter approved for removing lead paint and asbestos. I also tried to keep as much of my skin covered as possible. I had the base on a pallet jack so I was actually able to roll it outside (on some 2×10's) and did everything with a fan blowing any dust away from me. I would then just roll it back inside when I was done for the day. As far as painting goes I have full facemask supplied air system so I don't breath in any fumes.

Here's the base/coloum in a pallet jack ready to be stripped.

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The process of stripping the old paint and filler took many, many hours and was a nasty job but I wanted to be sure the new paint would have good foundation, I was worried the old paint/filler would be oil soaked and lead to adheasion problems.

I first used an aircraft paint stripper to take as much paint off as possible, next I used a scrapper to take off as much filler as I could, then another round of stripper. What was left I used a wire wheel on my 7in grinder and an air sander to remove until I had nothing but bare metal left. Here is is some pictures of the process.

20180405_132808.jpg20180405_132816.jpg20180405_161928.jpgAnd finally just the cast iron was left! I sanded the cast with an air sander and 80grit paper to make sure the primer had something to bit into.

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I was a still concerned about oil soak in the casting so after I had it down to bare metal I spent maybe 2 hours scrubbing it with solvent. Then I took a little blow torch and tried to just mildly heat up the surface of the casting and then wipe each area wit solvent, giving the ways a wide berth of course. O then left the base and knee with heater blowing on them and I came in twice a day and gave all the bare cast parts a through solvent wipe down. I did this for 7 days until not one part was showing any trace of oil during the solvent wipes/scrubs.

Now I finally felt confident that I have a good foundation to start the paint/filler process.

More updates to come.
 
Make sure you're sitting down when you price that nut from W-I ;)
 
Before I painted a raw casting I would wipe it off with a high quality lacquer thinner and I used Sherman and Williams fast dry primer. I used an Wagner airless sprayer too. Worked good and no air bomb and very little over spray.
 
Thank you for the very sound advise Richard. Yes for sure I will be uing only quality automotive grade paint meant for metal I won't want to put all this work in an then use a cheap paint. I did give it a through wipe with some dupont final prep solvent meant to do a final clean of surfaces before paint.
 
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