Thread: Hercus lathe, a splash of paint

Nice one! Where's the rest?
Look forward to seeing it all put back together.

Damien
PS. I've got an ancient FLOTT drill press that's got some sexy curves. Going to restore it soon too...

Mate you're a bastard. All your talk and actions of painting the lathe got me motivated enough to actually do some clean up on my Bridgeport clone.
Well let me tell you I am sick to death of the sight of filler and sand paper.

The foot pan on the mill was devoid of filler and paint whilst the vertical surrounds of the foot were heavily gouged and chipped to the point where it needed to be stripped bare. Some of the stuff they used originally is very hard to get a bind onto with filler or paint.

So to work I went. These castings swallow filler like Homer swallows donuts. Fill and sand and fill some more. I tried the paving paint. Yep it's tough enamel but the brush sucks and the light grey didn't work for me. So it was sand some more and then Killrust Epoxy Enamel in Grey which looks nice - maybe a white accent somewhere for contrast.

I have started on the knee now and after that will continue around the foot and up the pedestal. Fortunately the main pedestal is only lightly chipped in places so it will be mainly clean and spot fill. I bought some Hempel Epoxy Filler at Bunnings today. It will be interesting to see how it goes (they are clearing it out as discontinued so no dearer than Septone from Supercrap). It is extremely slow to set but is much more workable....wear gloves it's like baby poo. 20hrs from application to sand slows things down.

The head will be a killer as it will require disassembly to achieve a decent result...but that is ages away. At this rate I reckon main pedestal by Xmas or later. Ram by the end of Jan if my interest levels hold - hard to use them when you are painting and I'm more interested in making chips than painting.

Hi Craig,

Yeh, I'm a bastard, but a nice bastard. Restoring a piece of machinery is better than sex.

All layers of old paint are removed, rusty parts are de-rusted and polished, and things re-assembled without complaint. Something you can't do with the missus.

Get stuck into the Bridgeport clone, and give it a proud place in the middle of the living room!

Ken

Ken (ya bastard ) - feel like a holiday in Brisbane

I'll give you the key to the shed and you can have a load of fun.

My intention has alway been to give the mill a birthday (it's 17 years old) makeover but man is there some work in it. I guess once the worst bits are done things will speed up - right up to actually starting on the head anyway.

Not sure if I shouldn't look at stripping the step pulley head area and polishing it like you see on some restored bridgeports. Probably more work than filling and sanding I guess.

The best thing is that the spindle bearings are fine and there is minimal wear in the table.

Restoring a piece of machinery is better than sex.

Ken you mustn't be doing it right.

Nice work on the lathe.

You must have a good memory.

Peter

Dear members,

Progress is slow without a workshop, I am at the mercy of the weather, working outside. Lately it's been too windy, or raining. Can't complain about the rain though, we need more, a lot more.

As mentioned earlier, castings were stripped back to bare metal, masked, primed, filled, re-primed and top coated with Dulux epoxy enamel.

Lightly rusted machined parts, were de-rusted, buffed and polished.

Attached are a few more snaps of my Hercus, as the restoration continues.

Craig, I call the colour "Envy Green".

I appologise for the poor quality of the images, in reality, the assembled parts look far better.

Ken

Originally Posted by neksmerj

Dear members,

Progress is slow without a workshop, I am at the mercy of the weather, working outside. Lately it's been too windy, or raining. Can't complain about the rain though, we need more, a lot more.

As mentioned earlier, castings were stripped back to bare metal, masked, primed, filled, re-primed and top coated with Dulux epoxy enamel.

Lightly rusted machined parts, were de-rusted, buffed and polished.

Attached are a few more snaps of my Hercus, as the restoration continues.

Craig, I call the colour "Envy Green".

I appologise for the poor quality of the images, in reality, the assembled parts look far better.

Ken

Ken ,
The paint job looks good .
Did you use the artist's liquid mask yet? I was just wondering if it went ok on the bigger jobs that I have used it for.

Kev.

Hi Kev,

Yep, had a go with the artist's masking liquid, and gave it away. Could be I did not shake it up long enough, it was too thick, and went on really streaky. $10 down the drain.

Went back to using the 3M blue masking tape, it's hard to beat. For really tricky bits, I cut the tape into thin strips to get around corners evenly, then blocked in with full width bits of tape.

Thanks for your compliment.

Ken

Originally Posted by neksmerj

Hi Kev,

Yep, had a go with the artist's masking liquid, and gave it away. Could be I did not shake it up long enough, it was too thick, and went on really streaky. $10 down the drain.

Went back to using the 3M blue masking tape, it's hard to beat. For really tricky bits, I cut the tape into thin strips to get around corners evenly, then blocked in with full width bits of tape.

Thanks for your compliment.

Ken

The stuff I have (Windsor& Newton) can be thinned with water .
I dont use it much but check it occasionally to make sure it dosent go off in the bottle ,I just add a few drops of water and stir it in.

Kev.