Rockwell Mill Refurb

Glad to see you are comfortable stripping them down and rebuilding them! Looks great!
 
Both the mill and the lathe look beautiful!

I am resisting the urge to strip/repaint the Logan lathe I bought in December (a 12x24 2555VL) and the Bridgeport clone (Rutlands/Long Chang LC-1) I bought in April and have just been doing a disassemble/clean/reassemble/adjust on them (Well except for the quill portion of the mill, someone put plain ball bearings on the spindle).

I'm not familiar with Rockwells, but a lot of the import machine tools (mills, especially) come in a kind of off-white. Maybe they were trying to match it to other equipment they had.
 
Rennkafer said:
Both the mill and the lathe look beautiful!


I'm not familiar with Rockwells, but a lot of the import machine tools (mills, especially) come in a kind of off-white. Maybe they were trying to match it to other equipment they had.
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Thanks for the kind words.

No, I think the beige was just something they found in the corner. They did very little masking.....just sprayed away. The original Rockwells were gray....some two tone gray.

Steve
 
Did you brush or spray the finish on those machines? Also, if sprayed did you use epoxy enamel, rattle cans, or hardware grade like Rust-olem? If you did use something like Rust-olem did you buy it is the can, thin, add hardener then run through a gun to paint it? Just curious, both are simply beatiful. Making them look that nice is so addicting too. Where did you come up with the mill, local to KC area?
 
Uncle Buck said:
Did you brush or spray the finish on those machines? Also, if sprayed did you use epoxy enamel, rattle cans, or hardware grade like Rust-olem? If you did use something like Rust-olem did you buy it is the can, thin, add hardener then run through a gun to paint it? Just curious, both are simply beatiful. Making them look that nice is so addicting too. Where did you come up with the mill, local to KC area?
Click to expand...


Buck,

It's Rustoleum Professional in Smoke Gray. I bought a gallon and still have about half left after doing the lathe and the mill. I used Rustoleum white primer first, again brushed. Everything is right out of the can - no thinners, hardeners, etc. It takes a minimum of two finish coats and lots of things have three or four coats. The Rustoleum flows well. It's a little slow to harden, but once it does it seems pretty durable.

It's kind of tedious but I enjoy putting some tunes on and painting away. I think the largest brush I used was 2". All the smaller parts and nooks and crannies are done with small artist type brushes - nothing expensive.

I got the mill from a fellow up in Leavenworth. He's just a hobbyist, but has 4-5 other mills and 17 lathes at last count. We had quite a time looking at all his stuff and chewing the fat. Nice guy. He has a couple other things (including an Atlas shaper) that I've tried to talk him into selling but no luck.

Hope that helps.

Steve
 
Nice job Steve! It looks like you took your time and did a fantastic job.

Paul
 
stevecmo said:
Buck,

It's Rustoleum Professional in Smoke Gray. I bought a gallon and still have about half left after doing the lathe and the mill. I used Rustoleum white primer first, again brushed. Everything is right out of the can - no thinners, hardeners, etc. It takes a minimum of two finish coats and lots of things have three or four coats. The Rustoleum flows well. It's a little slow to harden, but once it does it seems pretty durable.

It's kind of tedious but I enjoy putting some tunes on and painting away. I think the largest brush I used was 2". All the smaller parts and nooks and crannies are done with small artist type brushes - nothing expensive.

I got the mill from a fellow up in Leavenworth. He's just a hobbyist, but has 4-5 other mills and 17 lathes at last count. We had quite a time looking at all his stuff and chewing the fat. Nice guy. He has a couple other things (including an Atlas shaper) that I've tried to talk him into selling but no luck.

Hope that helps.

Steve
Click to expand...

I don't suppose he has a twin for your machine he might be looking to part company with?
 
Yup that's a pretty cool old mill. You did a great job on the refurb, now I want one of those too! It's a sickness.
 
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