Thread: Hercus lathe, clean bed ways?

Ken,
WD-40 is overated for many things, I would not rely on it being a light oil, it gums quickly as it dries, look at instruments that get a squirt of WD-40 to free them up. Works for the short term but after a couple of days they stick worse than ever. Its a good water displacer though and lubricant for milling ally. For your use with Scotchbrite (the fine grade, not sure of the colour) it would be fine, just wipe down when finished and coat with something like LPS 2 or 3 for longer term rust protection. You can also use Kero with scotchbrite for cleaning up, not sure which would be cheaper now.

I agree with the probs using WD40 et al,there are a number of better squirters about I am so impressed by Inox I bought a gallon of it and like the father of the bride in My Big Fat Greek Wedding with Windex use it a real lot. I prefer to wrap superfine steel wool in rag and soak it in Inox and gently clean with that Inox Product.It works for me.

My understanding is Kero makes a wonderful lubricant for me when turning aluminium,see your face in the glow,couldnt help but agree with you re the price of kero etc.

Lubricating lathe beds etc I use a top grade proprietory lathe oil understanding machine oil can not do the task properly.Camelia Oil is sold by CarbaTec to coat steel etc but the secret is not to just squirt it on but wipe it on a fine film otherwise it forms bubbles that rust under.So the Camellia Oil I use on the saw bench and router bench and mill drill bed and so on.

Have a happy new year. Peter

Originally Posted by neksmerj

Hi Guys,

I read somewhere, that to return the shine to the bed ways, use a scotchbrite scourer with a penetrating oil.

Wikipedia lists WD-40 as a good penetrating oil.

My bed ways are stained from very light surface rust, and I want to bring them back to look like new again.

Any comments are welcome on this stinking hot Melbourne day.

Ken

To get the stains out of the bed on my lathe I used 1200 wet and dry lubed with kerosine ,I wrapped the paper around a piece of scrap Jarrah and just rubbed the bed lightly along its length.
I had to use a very fine stone on a couple of spots where the previous owner had dropped the chuck or some thing on the bed and raised some little dings.
I've always used a chuck board to protect the lathe beds when changing chucks.Just a piece of ply with a cleat each side to fit the bed.

WD-40 is nothing more than fish oil with a perfume added to kill the smell.

Kev.