Jointer + Rust = Mad!! (Update)

[lou sansone]

Well I would do things a little different than has been suggested so far, and it has worked for me on a number of machines. I like to use mineral spirits or kero and 00 or 000 steel wool to see how bad it really is. I doubt it is real deep. You can move to silicone carbide paper ( wet dry ) ~ 320 or 400 grit to start with along with mineral spirits. I am pretty sure the beds were ground ( not plained ) and if you "sand" in the same direction as the bed, you will not be able to tell the difference between the factory finish and your's. Back up the sand paper with a small wood block or hard rubber pad and you should be all set. I am not sure about the navel jelly idea. Sure if you have real deep pits you have to use some form of caustic etch, but It looks to me to be just light rust on the surface. I would think that the navel jelly would do more harm than good.

best wishes
lou

[Tim Morton]

Spittin' Fire??? ..... Not me! I would be ... ummmm outgassing extremely volatile and combustable vapor and it wouldn't be near as germain nor humain as spitting!

First of all, I would file a claim against these people. As this was a week ago, I would cancel all payment ASAP pending a mutual settlement. All proceeds should be placed in escrow. Escrow charges, etc. will be comming out of their pockets. First of all, as bad as the jointer is, I cannot believe you dont have even more subtantial damage in the ceiling.

In terms of the jointer. Got some bad news for you. If this jointer is a standard wedge bed, you should remove the bed and clean up the outfeed ways. You may also need to clean up the area around the cutter head.

For the tables, I would begin with a medium scrotchbrite pad and move up to some very fine scotchbrite pads. Apply a small area of navel jelly and give it a few minutes to work. DO NOT ALLOW IT TO DRY. If you do, you need to reapply with some wet stuff. Work this area with the pad. Wipe up with a paper towel. When done, wash completely with warm water and wipe dry. IMMEDIATELY following the bubble bath with water, spary all machined surfaces that were expsosed with WD-40. Get the oll on the table and smeared out over the work area. Leave the WD-40 in liquid form for some time as it absorbs any stray water still attached to the main frame.

I have always heard (never used it myself), that navel jelly will leave the cast iron a real dull (ugly) gray color....

[Chet Parks]

I acquired a shaper with a table that was covered with several years of rust from sitting in a shead with high humidity in the summers. I used this:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/G1956

with a Scotch brite pad and it cleaned up to where it looks like.

BTW, I apply a coat of "Butcher's Bowling Alley Wax" about once a month and all my CI tables still look like new.

Chet Parks

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

My old jointer was in bad shape when I got it, I used up a couple cans of WD-40 and then scraped it with a single sided razorblade, and cleaned it up again.

The I took my small angle grinder and put some pads that I got for it on the grinder, they were a fairly corse scotchbite kind of thing, then a medium, and a fine............



A before and after pic.

Good luck!

[Ryan Ricks]

Well, I have at least cooled a little this morning (not all the way though). We are making some calls to the contractor to get things sorted out, and I'll start on the jointer beds after work tonight. I'll post an update when I get a chance to dig into it.

-Thanks,
Ryan

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

They owe you the cost of a new jointer. Not an apology not a few dollars a whole new jointer. They also owe you additional money damages because the conduct was willful and dishonest, the harms you suffered were forseeable, and the harms could have been avoided very easily for little cost.

If you pay a service like servepro to come out and fix the water damage they'll also be obligated to pay for that.

This is not a situation where you should take it on the chin.

[Ryan Ricks]

Okay, all, I appreciate the help. Let me ask for more. I went with the WD40 and scotchbrite pad. That was not enough, and I went to 180 then 220 grit sandpaper. The results are attached. Better, but I am still not happy. In the picture you can see the "grain" where the rust was. The closeup photo shows this more. The jointer appears useable, but in this state I am afraid I will alwasy be looking at it and getting mad - life is to short for that.

Is there a way to eliminate the "grain"? Will buffing take care of it? More sandpaper? Just live with it? I appreciate any thoughts.

Thanks
Ryan

[Cecil Arnold]

Enough sanding and buffing and you can have a mirror, it just depends on how much you want to do. You might try some red compound and a buffer after you go through the grits. When I was making knives I would start with 40 grit to shape the steel, and finished up with something similar to white compound for the final polish which gave stainless an almost mirror finish.

[Doug Shepard]

I've bought a few used machines in the past where the cast iron was that bad. Fortunately the biggest of these was a Delta Sanding Center and all the parts (even the table) was small enough to let them soak in WD40. That's not practical with your jointer tables but you might try building a dam out of something so that you can put a 1/16" to 1/8" layer of WD40 on them and let them soak good for a few days. I was able to get stuff cleaned up good after allowing them to soak before doing the sandpaper and more WD40 effort.

[Tim Morton]

Once I got to this point on the jointer I did, I took some MDF and made some sanding blocks with 220 grit and wd-40.....but my jointer was 10 years old and I bought it with lots of rust. Yours looks brand new and it was not rusty before the plumbers messed it up...they have insurance, I think I would demand that they replace the beds.....

[Bruce Page]

Ryan, I’ve used this trick to clean up some really nasty rust in the past with good results. If you have a hook & loop ROS, cut a piece of maroon scotch-brite into a 5” (or whatever size your ROS takes) disk and with some WD-40, work the tables with it. If your ROS is VS, set it to the slowest speed and use care not to dwell in any one area too long. Follow up with some grey scotch-brite. This is a messy process but it will clean up just about any rust problem, shy of heavy pitting.

[Al Willits]

Biggest thing I think is to have patience, douse the bed with WD-40 and take a break, let the stuff work on the rust for a while.
I once spent over 20 hours on a end mill table, not steady, but every hour or so I'd go back at with with another coating of WD-40 and elbow grease.

Good luck.

Al

[Shaun Wilson]

Ryan,
Like a few others have said, you basically have to "go through the grits" until you get the finish you are happy with. A few tips I've learned; an ROS (random orbit sander) will save you tons of time over hand sanding with a block, but there is a definate technique to it. Don't stay in one place too long - in fact, it is best to keep it moving back and forth lengthwise with the beds at a fairly good rate; every 2-3 seconds or so - back-forth-back-forth as you slowly work from one side to the other. Stroke length should be about 8-12 inches, depending on your arm length. Start at the cutterhead side of the table and work your way across and then down towards the end. Be careful not to overlap the sander too much with the edge of the table or it will slightly round the edges. It is mostly cosmetic, but you end up with a "soft" appearance that does not quite match the rest. When you get to the end don't stop the sander. Instead lift it up as it is moving off the end of the bed. It doesn't really matter much what fluid you use, WD40 is good and cheap, just that you use lots of it to keep the sandpaper from clogging up. Once that happens, your progress will pretty much stop until you relube or switch paper. I suggest starting with 220 grit, and then work your way DOWN until you have a uniform finish, then start working back up. If you start too fine, it will take forever - or never get there at all. Going through the grits starting at 120 or 150, you can clean up both beds of an 8" jointer in about an hour and end up with a mirror finish. Be sure to completely wipe off all residue between grits, otherwise you will be smearing grit from the previous cycle around and it will be less effective, especially at the finer grits. Silicone carbide paper works best on cast iron. I like to cut circles from sheets to fit my ROS, then stick them on with carpet tape. If you decide to go with a really fine/polish finish, work up to about 1200 or 1500 grit, then do a final pass with 1500 dry (no lube) with a previously used sheet. Using it dry will allow it to clog a little, which will give a really good polishing action. Please PM me if you have any questions, I'm glad to help.
Shaun

[Gary Breckenridge]

Small Claims Court

[Steve Clardy]

Wheeewww. What a mess. I'd be somewhat po'ed also.