Cleaning up my old lathe

[dallen]

dam up around the slot with clay, fill with salt water and hook up the old battery charger to it with the positive lead in the slot and the negitive hooked to the carriage, their rusted in right, use a big high amp battery charger so you can watch it and it will work fast.

DA

[Mayhem]

I had wondered about reverse electrolysis.

[Highpower]

Wouldn't you have to connect directly to the rusted chips?

Connecting between the t-slots and the carriage sounds like a dead short to me, and a good way to let the magic smoke out out of your battery charger.

[Mayhem]

I figured that is what Dave meant Willie and my thought was to make a probe and insulate the sides with some rubber hose. Sort of a (very) poor man's version of EDM (sort of). However, given that the chips are rusted to the inside of the slots, it most likely will be a short. I'll wire a lamp in series which should provide sufficient protection.

[dallen]

no more so then the set up that Mayhem already has for removing rust by electrolysis, just build a dam that will hold enough liquid to keep the anode off the carriage

[Highpower]

Ahhh... I see now. I misread Dave's previous post.

The anode would be suspended in the electrolyte running down the center of the t-slot. Insulated from - not connected to the t-slot.

[Mayhem]

Don't worry Willie - it's obvious I didn't read it correctly either But I was checking in on my phone (so that is my excuse). I probably will still insulate parts of the electrode to safeguard against any shorts. Won't be trying this until I have finished the drilling on the steady rest, as I need to strip down the set up I have in place first. There are just too many things to do...

[Mayhem]

As you may have already read in this post, I redesigned the drive set up, as the previous owner had used a rather scary system to replicate the overhead line shaft that was the norm when this lathe was made.

Whilst I am very happy with the solution I came up with, I soon discovered that the flat belt rubbed on the back gear when in high range. I finally got around to making a roller to change the belt path, so that it doesn't rub. The bearing holders were made out of some scrap and the roller was turned from a roller from a photocopier.

I had to modify the pivot point on the drive frame, as the head of the bolt I was using fouled the bearing holder. I will remove it and paint it now that I have tested everything.

   
   
   
   
   

[f350ca]

Nice work, noticed what look like lead in's on the bearing carrier, are they cut with a laser or water jet?

[Mayhem]

Thanks Greg - I get the off cuts from a laser cutting place, which is why the lead in holes are in my parts.