12/24/2023 0 Comments Ways to remove rust from cast ironIt amazes me every year how many cast iron items are thrown away or sold at yard sales for just a couple bucks. We then buffed paste wax onto the restored metal surfaces to help deter future rusting, bolted the saw back onto its stand, and made several test cuts.If you have a rusty piece of cast iron cookware that needs a fix, then don’t throw it out, bring it back to life! Learn how to restore a rusty cast iron skillet with a potato, some salt, and your self-cleaning oven!‘ That’s an important step because if the pulleys aren’t aligned, excessive vibration will prematurely wear out belts and bearings. The tune-up was completed when Romanski reinstalled the motor and used a long steel ruler to align the motor pulley with the pulley on the saw's arbor shaft. Next, we adjusted the sliding fence and its locking mechanism to ensure it locked securely and was perfectly parallel with the blade. With the blade at 90 degrees, the pointer indicator on the saw's tilt scale should read 0 degrees if it doesn’t, move the pointer to the zero mark. Tools grow dull, and when they grow dull they are set aside, and when they are set aside they rust.Īfter placing a new 10-inch carbide-tipped saw blade on the arbor, Romanski used a machinist’s square to ensure the blade was perfectly perpendicular to the table. We then mounted the wings back onto the saw and aligned them flush with the saw table by carefully tapping them with a dead-blow mallet. The cup brush removed the rust without marring the surface. We ran the drill slowly at around 500 rpm, and move it back and forth across the surface for several minutes. After letting kerosene penetrate for about an hour, we buff away the rust using a variable-speed drill outfitted with a 2½-inch-diameter nylon cup brush that’s embedded with 240-grit aluminum oxide abrasive. We started by wetting the surfaces with kerosene, which acted as a cutting lubricant. Now it was time to remove rust from the saw's table and extension wings. We used compressed air to quickly clear out of the saw’s cavity and undercarriage. The motor’s shaft and pulley were all in good shape, but everything was caked in dust and cobwebs. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that the saw had a commercial-duty motor with twin capacitors-one to start the motor turning and another to provide extra kick to the run winding. That’ll make it easier to reassemble everything later. Tip: Take photos of the saw and label each part prior to disassembly. Next came the tedious disassembly process: We unbolted the cast-iron wings from each side of the saw table and then removed the motor. We knew we had to move the saw to a warm, dry location, so we unbolted it from its rolling stand, hoisted it into a Ford F-150, and drove it down the street to Romanski’s studio workshop. But it only cost $80 and we knew we could restore it to good working order. Its table was badly rusty and its parts had been thrown out of alignment. We found the circa-1980 Craftsman table saw shown above at a church auction. And rust can affect adjustable mechanisms, too, making it hard to raise and lower the blade or tilt the blade for executing bevel cuts. The rust isn’t only unsightly, it also makes it difficult to slide wood across the table, which should be perfectly smooth. Then it’s only a matter of time before you start to see rusting and pitting. Moisture condenses on its steel and cast-iron parts because they’re cooler than the surrounding air. Ben StechschulteĪ table saw that’s kept in an unheated garage, shop, or barn will soon rust. Here’s a detailed account of how we removed years of rust from a table saw, some corroded hand tools, and a few dull precision-cutting tools.Ĭraftsman table saw, circa 1980s, purchased at a church auction for $80. And we discovered that all it takes is some basic chemistry, a little patience, and some elbow grease to restore old, rusted tools to like-new condition. We gathered a bunch of forlorn rusted tools and went to work in his studio, a cavernous former church in North Salem, New York. Or, had you borrowed it from a neighbor and forgot to return it? “Everybody has them, these little hidden jewels,” says contributing editor Richard Romanski, a fine woodworker and unrepentant tool collector. Perhaps you got it at a tag sale or maybe your father passed it down to you. The next thing you know, you're scraping away rust with your thumbnail, trying to make out the manufacturer’s name.Īs foggy memories flood back, you try to recall how exactly you came to own this neglected tool. They capture your attention and pull you in. If you love tools, you’ve probably experienced the odd, magnetic power that old, rusted tools possess.
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