Thread: Neglected Table Saw - return to glory recommendations.

Brown vinegar and hot water, let it soak, then a single edge razor blade in a holder. Then go over it with one of those Festool scotch brite pads in a random orbit sander, then paste wax and burnish it in.

I would have done it the other way.

Scrape as much of the rust off as you can, then any preferred method of rust removal will do the trick.

it doesn't look bad and should come up nicely.

In terms of who can service your machinery, give Carbatec a call, they should have someone in your area that will be able to give it a good once over.

On the other hand, there's not much complicated about a table saw, if you take a look inside the cabinet you'll see all the gears that move everything about, give them a good lube and you're good to go. Of late i've been using a rag with silverglide. Doesn't last as long as say a wax lubricant, but is also easy to reapply. In terms of electronics, you'll know if there's anything wrong with the saw.

Stay away from the 'rust converter' type products. They only work where there is rust, and convert it to a hard black substrate that is fine to paint over, but looks ghastly as a black polka dot pattern on nice clean cast iron. The substrate is hard to remove without heavy duty sanding, and that will destroy the flatness and smoothness of the table.

Also stay away from any silicone based preparations as they will get into timber passing over the saw and create issues when finishing.

I would suggest an initial dry scrape with a utility knife blade at low angle, and a light polish with fairly fine steel wool. When satisfied, finish with a wax or silver glide to preserve the finish.

To scrape the initial rust off it might be worth getting one of these. It has 4 nice sharp edges that can be rotated into position when one gets blunt and the large handle allows you to put downward pressure on it easily. I have one for removing dried glue from a joint after glueup and it works really well for that due to the sharpness. Get rid of as much of the rust as you can before you start with the other products and they will last longer instead of clogging with the rust particles. You might need to start off with some 80 grit then 120 grit sandpaper to get the worst of the roughness off and then those Scotchbrite pads should work well, so start off with the coarsest and work your way down. Even though I don't have a rusty table I use the Scotchbrite pads to remove anything that accidently gets on it.
That saw has the same fence as mine and it works well so at least you have that in your favour.

Thanks for all the advice.

I have purchased a scraper and will be getting a tube of elbow grease to go with.

I had read that "mineral oil" was a good lubricant to use when cleaning with the sander and all I could find to match this was "paraffin oil" - not sure if this is the correct stuff or if it will work or leave a nasty residue. Lots of people said WD40 to clean it with but the smell lasts forever and I was worried about it staining the timber if not completely removed.

I had also bought some FraPete Slide & Protect Machine & Tool Wax - Paste Wax for a band saw which I had forgotten about - will probably finish with that. (Slide and Protect Tools Wood Metal 250 mL - FraPete)

Some individual responses:
Not sure how to soak the top in water an vinegar - do you mean just spray/mist it on and let it sit for a while? The table is not perfectly level (because the shed floor is not) and I couldn't keep a decent amount on the top to 'soak'.

I have read that rust converters leave marks. I was not too concerned as it is not a beauty contest in the shed (especially when I am working in there but I had also read it can make the surface uneven.

Local green shed was out of the 4 side scraper but I got a standard scraper with some carbide blades.
I've been happy with the fence so far - seems to be a positive lock but the existing measuring tape on there is off by a bit when locked.
I have some other bits and pieces that came with it that I don't even know what they do - seems to be a sliding table type attachment and when I have some more time I will investigate.

I might try Carbatec for the service or maybe the local men's shed might know someone.

Thanks everyone.

Mineral oil is Paraffin Oil also called Liquid Paraffin.

The smell of WD40 doesn't hang around for long and it won't effect the timber if there is any left there. WD40 is easy to remove with paper towel or rags and I'm not sure if the same can be said for the oil.
If the ruler is out a bit you should be able to loosen the 2 screws that hold the curser on and slide it to the right spot. I replaced the plastic curser on mine as I found that the small magnifying section where the curser is made it difficult to see exactly where the line was in relation to the scale. I made another one out of Perspex and made it so that it sat closer to the ruler and it's much easier to line up now.

Maybe have a read of this thread
A tale of two Woodfast combination machines
All of Anorak Bob's machines end up looking like swiss watches.