The cleaning is slow. I've been using zep's industrial purple degreaser, brake cleaner and citrus strip. Scotch Brite is working well and copper wool helps with the stubborn areas. I've heard others have had good luck soaking the parts in a degreaser bath, I may try that.
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- Joined
- Oct 31, 2015
- Messages
- 462
I've been down the same road. It takes a while, but you'll be happy in the end. Be careful with the purple stuff, as it can remove paint (which is useful, if that's your goal). Various things I used were Zep Fast 505, mineral spirits, scotch brite, various brushes, a pressure washer for the big stuff, a parts washer for the small stuff, and copious amounts of foul language
.Everything but the column has been stripped and cleaned. Gettting the spindle pulley off was a fight. I chipped the bottom with a crowbar, then bought a gear puller to pull it off, but there wasn't enough clearance around the pulley to fit the puller. I ended up drilling two holes in the pulley so I could put bolts through, which worked wonderfully. Here some in progress photos.
And here it is currently. Column isn't quite done yet. I don't think I'm going to try to get the whole column down to bare metal. I gave it one coat of Citrus Strip, took the lose stuff off. Now i think I'll just sand the rest smooth. 
I found a few more numbers on the motor mounting plate.
I found a few more numbers on the motor mounting plate.
I'm thinking I'm going to use Sherwin Williams Industrial Enamel and a metal primer. I know there are more durable two part paints out there and hardeners to make them tougher, but this machine isn't going to be seeing hard use. I also like that the single part enamel is relatively safe to spray in my garage with just a respirator. I wiped all the parts down with engine oil after i cleaned them to prevent any rust between then and painting. I'm not sure if I should dunk them in industrial degreaser again to get that oil off or just wipe them with rags and brake clean.
Back tracking a bit. I plugged most of the holes in the column with bolts. I put some lock tight on them, screwed them, cut the head off and then ground them flat. It seems to have turned out pretty well. I left 4 holes on each side, the holes that held the brackets on in my earlier pictures. 
