Sidney Lathe

Sidney Headstock, Tailstock, Tailstock and Steady Rest

Work continues on the headstock.




















I had the steady rest in the electrolysis tank earlier, maybe did not leave it in long enough.  Opted to strip the paint from it and the tailstock by cooking them in the heated parts washer.  But first I had to remove the base from the tailstock. It contained shims both front and back.  Warped the shims with plastic wrap to keep the front and back shims separate








The cooking did a decent job loosening the paint.  Like every other method except a wire brush the paint still needed to be brushed or picked off.  In this case after the part has cooled down enough to make the Japanning more rigid. 

Wire brushing by itself leaves lines in the Japanning.





Tailstock and steady rest after paint removal

Sidney work continues.

The headstock base is finally in paint, but I added a bit of thinner and it may get a 2nd coat.

The 2nd leg is painted but it looks a lot like the 1st leg.  So no image.

Started work on the headstock base.  Seen here with the first application of bondo.  About the only thing left are the bearing caps.   There is also the gear cover but it will not get painted until after it is brazed back into one piece.   There are a few gears and other small bits but they only need cleaning and painting as a rule.

Rearranged things a bit in the afternoon to move the lathe bed.   Wanted to set the bed down to free up the cherry picker and move things around to make more space.

Did more cleaning on the MM 8 Versa Mil.

MM8 Identified and more work on the headstock cover

Spent most of the morning refining the edges and to some degree shape of the headstock cover.  I figured I was about done with it but did not like the way it looked.  Lines were already blurred the factory Japannig. What can I say.

The lip along the bottom of the cover was filled in.   Rather then remove lumps of iron they just japanned over them.  So I filed em off and lowered the surface in places.   On the right you can see a flat spot, shrinkage maybe.  Going to add some bondo the smooth the curve.

The MM8 is a VersaMil aka VersaMill.com.  Thanks to Chirpy for that id.  Prodded me enough to tear it down for cleaning.  The top nuts and ball crank were in the evapo rust.

Found one on ebay for $2K with more accessories.

Sidney, First Assembly

This morning I put the rack on the bed.  Cleaned out the pin holes with a round file and put anti seize on the pins.  Cleaned the bolt in the ultra sonic cleaner.  Chased the threads on the bolt and the holes in the bed.  Anti seize on the bolts.

One or both of the racks are bent slightly from the prying needed to remove them from the bed.  But the bolts pull them flat.

Previously I assembled the carriage but it will have to be disassembled to move it onto the bed.  And there will be lots trial fits to get the shims just right.

Sidney Photos, legs and the headstock cover

Started snowing about 8AM but did not amount to much.




Skim coated the visible part of the first leg.


















Removed the excess with a 40 grit 5" random orbital sander.  This is quite an improvement over what it was.

Primed it again and set it aside for paint day.































First image is after sanding with 40 grit on the RO sander.  The following image is after body putty and another coat of primer.  Adding glaze to fill some defects and refining the shape in a few places.




Did a bit of bondo on the bed and lots of glazing to fill small holes on the backside.

Shop was getting cold so I shut down for today.

Sidney Photos, Painting the Bed

I have to ask myself why I putting this much time into the paint job?   Can't rightly say.  maybe because I can.   Maybe because when its done I will feel better about it if it looks good.  Maybe I just love rabbit holes.

Applied bondo over primer.

Sanded bondo and added glaze to a few imperfections.  After sanding the glaze it looks about the same as prior to adding it.

The bondo was then spot sprayed with primer.

Sanded the tailstock end of bed and primed it.  No images. 

Both legs now have a coat of primer over the Japanning.   It takes days for that first coat and the Japanning to dry.  The first application of Citric Strip takes most of the pain off.  Then you wipe what with a petroleum product, I use Kerosene.  Not a good thing as the Kerosene and any additional application of stripper makes the Japanning mushy.   Need to work on this process.

Went back over after dark and painted the front of the bed.  

December 13

A few days ago I stripped the paint from both sides of the bed.  Flipped the bed over, sanded and primed it.

Also primed the headstock casting and its cover.




Done for tonight.