Garage Hangout

That hard part for me would be handing that chinese junk over to people , boy am i sick of the quality of stuff now, find myself hunting NOS stuff.
Good luck.

Long story short, I got talked into taking a counter sales position at a local parts store franchise (Canadian one, don't think they're part of any US chains most of you would recognize).  No previous experience, I guess some of the guys in there recommended me for the job.  Anyhow, started there yesterday...part time, 3 days a week.

Interesting so far, good bunch of people in there and a steep learning curve to keep me on my toes.  Should be interesting!  My biggest challenge (apart from learning the system and where stuff is located in the store) will be to avoid being one of those guys that drive you crazy!!!

My car has a drinking problem, gotta start saving for next summer's gas money :-)

And can't complain about the discounts on parts and tools, either!

Quote from: jabberwoki on Nov 09, 2025, 09:09 AMOk i`ll watch for an update.

I'll let you know ow how it worked in a few days.

And the lathe bed is on the table!


And now I have my work cut out for me cleaning this thing. Man is it dirty, along with being covered in the cheap paint that everything else is.


There is surprisingly little damage to the ways, considering it is 80+ years old, and has been sitting in a barn for who knows how long, just a little damage under where the chuck sits. Not too unexpected, and shouldn't affect operations with it.

Ok i`ll watch for an update.

And I just sold the chuck for more than I paid for everything. It would have been oversized for this lathe, and I already have a four-jaw, so happy to move it along to someone in need.

First flight on my way home.

Quote from: jabberwoki on Nov 08, 2025, 08:10 AMIve done 1 gal of vinegar to 1 cup of salt..
I`ve had excellent results obviously you have to degrease the part completely.
The rust just washes away under water.
I do then soak it in bi carb soda and water to neutralize and acid remaining.
Best part ingredients can be bought at the $1 store.

I assume you did this with regular household vinegar, inexpensive 5% stuff. I didn't know anything about adding salt. Maybe that would have helped.
I am talking about using 30% vinegar,  six times as potent, aggressive and hazardous as 5% vinegar.
I stopped by a neighbor that is a retired HS chemistry teacher of 30 plus years and discussed my concerns with him about doing this safely. I now intend to use goggles and heavy rubber gloves as a precaution. I will pour about an inch of the 30% vinegar in the pot and set it outside and see how that goes. If I have good results with that, I will totally fill the pot and go after it much more aggressively. This will set outside as a safety precaution due to the gasses produced by this more aggressive vinegar.

You really made out on your accessory score. Added a lot of value to the machine with that purchase too!