[wizard]

Not a huge update but I stitch welded some 10x65 flatbar to the top of the base to provide a solid mounting for the rails.



By a huge stroke of luck I've found some 25mm profile rails and carriages at work leftover from a previous project but they have some corrosion on the tracks. Is this something I can just scotchbrite off? What would be the best method for removing the rust without damaging the rails? In places there is no rust and elsewhere it looks pretty bad. I may be able to just chop out good sections to get what I want.

You most certainly can scotch bright or maybe better yet a chemical rust remover. I look at it this way, If you get a year or two out of them have you lost anything at all? Rust will only be a problem if it has resulted in deep pitting, in that case the rials may be useless. However don't throw out the carriages, you might get lucky and find them protected by grease. Given that the rails are a common size you might be able to find new or used ones that fit the carriages fine on E-Bay.

In the end it really comes down to how bad is the rust. Rust will most certainly impact rail life and maybe make the rail unusable but you will not know for sure unit the rails are cleaned up.