Hello everyone!
I've been wanting to join this site for some time now but finding the time to play around on the web is difficult. Anyway Im 21 years old and I'm just now getting into the trade. Im currently half way through my two Associate Degrees (Manual Machining/CNC Machining) at Sinclair College in Dayton Ohio. I already have two Associates Degrees from Sinclair (Electronics Engineering, and Computer Engineering). Im trying to become a "Jack of All Trades" so that I can get my business up and going to support myself. I found a job through school that has come to teach me a lot about the trade. I started there back in December 2012 as a manual mill operator at a small machine shop. The owner saw that I had potential to grasp new ideas very fast. So I progressed up to a ProtoTrak Mill along with a raise, few months later moved up to a Hurco KMB1m 3 Axis CNC Mill along with a raise, and now currently since April 2013 I have been moved up to his biggest/nicest machine in the shop, the HAAS TM2 along with a nice raise. My job has become almost a hobby for me and I really enjoy it. However I still want to push getting my business going.
So I acquired a old lathe for free. Im not sure who makes it. Has no markings on it what so ever. Only who it was inspected by and that it got a grade "A" stamped on the ways back by the tail stock. I have posted some pictures of that old machine so If anyone knows what it is please tell me! This lathe had been sitting for years in a gravel floor barn. The guy that had it covered the machine with old motor oil when he parked it to sit. In hopes to keep it from rusting and pitting. Well that did help prevent the rust but it alos allowed 20 years of dirt and dust to collect and cake on to it like glue. The carriage and cross slide would not move from all the dirt crusted on the ways. The guy said it was a working lathe before he parked it. So I knew I could get it working, it just needed rebuilt. So thats where Im at now. I've tore everything off the machine and began stripping it down to bare metal with a wire brush on a angle grinder. I hit every surface besides the ways and precision surfaces. I scraped the dirt off the ways with a razor blade and then used a scotch brite pad on a die grinder. Once everything was cleaned up I wiped it all down with paint thinner. Which is where I'm at now.... Painting the machine. I got some Sherwin Williams Industrial Paint left over from work. So far all I have spayed is the bed. I plan to do some more painting today. Im getting close to the putting back together stage and thats what has brought me here to ask some questions. I would like to either lap or scrap the ways of the machine. I've read so much on the internet of people saying dont do it or go ahead whats the worst that can happen. The ways on the machine are not beat with heavy gouge marks or anything. It looks to be in good shape. However they still have scale on them that is going to affect its ability to move smooth and free. I realize this machine is old and worn but I want this machine to be as accurate and tight as I can get it. My boss said to get some "Clover Lapping Compound" I need to do something to the ways to polish them up again just what should I do?
Also I recently bough a WT Tool ZX45 bench-top mill that I plan to CNC. So after I get this lathe put back together I will be starting a thread on it.