Welcome silenthope! Yeah the knowledge here for us newbie shopsmithers is amazing!silenthope wrote:Hello, I'm new to the forum. I have really enjoyed reading about all the restoration stories here on this forum...the knowledge here is priceless!rjent wrote:I hear you, this is the second time I have used this rig on the Mark 7. I run it at the 250 RPM speed which helps. It has worked perfectly again so far. I may have to make a "muzzle" on the free end to give the quill something to push against (had to do that the last time), but so far my "plug" is working like I knew what i was doing ....
I am in the process of restoring my fathers shopsmith and I'm interested in using your method for cleaning up the tubes. Can I ask how you secured the tube to the dowel at the quill end to keep it spinning? Also, did you just allow the other end just to free-spin on the plywood? You also mentioned a "muzzle" to push against the quill...??? Thanks!
The dowel I just turned as a taper originally hoping that I could "jam" the tube (with a hammer and block if need be) well enough to hold it while cleaning it up. It works fine, but eventually the tube will start slipping on the wood, and you have to jam it back on again. This time I turned a little more on it, and although you can't see it, I dipped the "dowel" into plastic dip product to give a good friction hold on the tube. Yes, it worked better this time and with no "hammer adjustments" needed. LOL
Some use the expandable plug idea, and I am sure that works better than what I did, but since my solution worked, I just kept using it (hard headed? ..
). The tube does free-spin in the plywood. I put a dab of wax on the tube while it is spinning for lubrication which seems to help. I also "cheat" by using a hand held belt sander with a 150 grit belt to get the rust off. Once cleaned, I don't worry about pits (aren't very many), I just use a sheet of 300 and up grit sandpaper (wet dry holds up better) to get the polish look.Also remember, I am using a PowerPro Mark 7 and I can slow it down to 250 RPM which is a good safe speed for this. I have not tried this on a Mark 5, and I do wonder how it would work at the speed the Mark V runs at.
It takes me about 30 mins per tube to get them the way the pictures show
Give us some pictures of your project! We love pics
). Regardless, I expect 10% of the gross revenues from the video and soundtrack, including residuals ..