Thread: Well, that went well, not!

Moving along, I'm onto stripping the Hercus lathe bed. Using a wire brush in an angle grinder, is a pain in the *rse.

Vibrations from the out of balance wire wheel, make your hands numb, and the flying wires make your pants look like a porcupine, not to mention the dust.

I've decided to use the electrolysis process. With this in mind, I knocked up a 3D drawing of a trough in 25mm MDF, and showed it to a cabinet maker.

$180! I think not, that sort of outlay is too much for something I'll use once.

Let's get creative. How can I construct a cheap and cheerful dam to hold the lathe bed. I've had a couple of ideas. Dig a trench in the back yard and line it with polythene, or

construct some dam walls around the bed with bricks, and line that. Your ideas are welcome.

Ken

Why not use a plastic barrel cut in half,might not get the whole lot at once,but possibly cut and join with salastic or similar.

While I dislike the brick idea and like the trench idea. How about an old bath?(I assume the boss would be a little unset if you used the one in bathroom

Stuart

p.s. How about standing it up in 44 gallon drum? piece of wood on the bootom and some rope at the top to keep it standing up straight?

Kiddies wading pool? I think the trench and tarp idea is good, even just a few boards in a box shape lined with a tarp.

Hey Ken,

If you do manage to exit this morass with a bed suitable for repainting, then I might have come up with an attainable over the counter colour match ( well if not an exact match, close). I brought home an RAL fan deck thinking Reseda Green 6011 would be something like the original green on our lathes. Too bright and clean looking. Then I compared the colours on a Taubman chart. Wilderness, a Colorbond finish looks good. Taubmans and White Knight are manufactured by PPG Architectural Coatings so I imagine it shouldn't be difficult to have their Rust Guard Epoxy Enamel tinted to match.

And I asked one of the interior designers at work about the Dulux Green Freeze. She reckoned she could find no reference to that colour.

BT

Ken, just use your rubbish bin for electrolysis. Its the perfect size and its free. The last big job I did used a few chunks of rebar wired together for the electrodes.

Greg

Originally Posted by Greg Q

Ken, just use your rubbish bin for electrolysis. Its the perfect size and its free. The last big job I did used a few chunks of rebar wired together for the electrodes.

Greg

+1 on the rubbish bin. I used one to clean out a engine block in caustic soda and hot water

A few good ideas there. Not sure about using a bath or wheelie bin due to the volume of water and amount electrolyte that would be needed, and with the wheelie bin, only half the bed could be done at a time. Man handling the lathe bed by myself, would be beyond me.

I have an outside sturdy timber table that I'll attach some boards to, then line with polythene.

I don't know the chemistry behind electrolysis, so ask, do the positive electrodes need to be steel? Could aluminium foil be used as a substitute?

Ken

Hi ken,
I think you would end up dissolving the ally pretty quick, and it may even coat the steel depending on polarity. Remember electrolysis can be use to brass/tin/copper/gold/silver (as well as many more probably) plate items. Electroplating is really just electrolysis in reverse.....

collar tank.jpgThis 10,000L portable collar tank may be a little on the large side but think of all the other stuff you could do at the same time!

Simon

Buried under a pile of partly dismantled push bikes, in a corner of the garage, was a book case unit, perfect. I honestly didn't know it was there.

After a quick trip to the hardware shop, I returned with a piece of polythene sheet, some kero and a brush. Thought it would be best to get rid of as much gunk and shavings as possible.

It didn't take long to wire every thing up, get the box level, and fill with water. Hooked up to the Arlec, no current flowed as expected.

The next step was to mix some washing soda and caustic soda into a solution with hot water, and add it to the mix. Immediately, the amp meter climbed up to 4 amps on 6 volts.

Edit: Had to add more fresh water and remove one of the electrodes to prevent the Arlec charger from tripping out. Maybe it's the hot weather.
Edit2: Put the 4th electrode back in, The Arlec is tripping out every 30 seconds or so, but then switches itself back on. Has to be the 30 degree heat, this thing should be good for 6 amps at least.

Here's a few more pics.

Nice one!
I'm very interested in this as i don't really want to strip another machine with a wire brush and grinder like i did with the shaper. Although making a trough to fit the 8' long leblond bed would be ridiculous, i would like to do the rest of the machine and even maybe make a very shallow tray to put the bed in just to do one side at a time.

Does anyone know if cleaning a part with a bronze bush or brazing on it would be ok?

Guess what the "4" in "Charger 4" means?
And yeah the heat will knock it about.

Am I seeing things or are things starting to happen in the fourth picture?

Stuart

Hi Stupots,

Please explain! You have lost me.

Are you referring to the nude sheila in the background, or the cat drinking out of the trough?

Ken