# New Acquisition Used Taig



## JohnnyTK (May 10, 2020)

Acquired this used Taig with a power feed kit that has to be installed and wood turning tools. Now to show it some tender loving care to clean it up. I was thinking scotchbrite to remove the rust on way and will sand blast the dials as soon as I receive my compressor. I always wondered when the jewelers blast cabinet would come in handy.  As always your input is appreciated to prevent a lesson learned the hard-way moment.


----------



## PeterT (May 10, 2020)

I don't have any sandblast experience other than a few tests with my baby airbrush type tool. It was able to +/- mat out machining marks so I'd be concerned of wiping out the shallow graduations on the dial (assuming it has them). Might be better to use wet/dry or fine grit scuff pad on the OD so the lines are preserved as much as possible.


----------



## RobinHood (May 10, 2020)

That is a nice little lathe.



JohnnyTK said:


> I was thinking scotchbrite to remove the rust on way



the rust is a ferrous oxide which is physically proud of the parent metal. If you use scotchbrite you may end up scratching the surrounding, good metal of the way.

 You might consider using a chemical process that just removes the oxide. One product that has worked really well is Evaporust (not affiliated). It “dissolves” just the ferrous oxide and does not touch the good metal. Follow instructions on label. I would soak a cloth in it and place it over the rust. Keep moist by covering with some plastic (or just drizzle more Evaporust occasionally). Depending how deep the rust is, it will dissolve in 15min to sometimes overnight. Not your case as it looks not bad. You can even just rub it with the wet cloth. You will get a black “sludge” as the rust is converted. Rinse with warm, soapy water. Dry. Immediately use a light oil to prevent (almost instant) flash rusting - I just spray it with WD40. You will have microscopic pitting where the rust was - it is only cosmetic and since it is below the way surface, you will have full functionality of your lathe. Just stone off any high spots after and coat in way oil. 

the dial is a little worse. Remove and place in a container, FULLY covering the parts in Evaporust (you will get a black “waterline” on the part if you have it only partway submerged) Scrub once in a while to speed up the process or just leave sit overnight. They will be black when you take them out; soapy water with a scrubbing brush will take that off. Repeat if not all oxide is gone. It should preserve any graduations on the dials.

Maybe try it on some rusty metal to gain experience with the stuff first. Then do your lathe parts.

PA for sure, maybe CT, Lowes, HomeDepot sell it.


----------



## Dabbler (May 10, 2020)

... before using the chemical approach (which I completely agree with)  use a nylon scrub - brush, pot scrubber, or one of those prickly cloths, coat with WD40 or other light oil like substance, and take the loose rust off.  That will significantly reuce the burden on the evaporust.

-- be sure to clean up the surface before applying the evaporust in any event.


----------



## Bofobo (May 11, 2020)

Vinegar for the rust and bakingsoda instead of sand for blasting media. 
HOLY MOTOR TIAG MAN lol over powered micro lathe


----------



## TOBARApprentice (May 14, 2020)

I use Evaporust (not affiliated) on everything. It works great and you can expect the rust to be gone. I had a bad experience with vinegar. When I first started out I spent $60 on 4 Starrett dividers that were a bit rusty. I put them in straight vinegar for an hour and there was really no change so I decided to leave them overnight. The following morning all 4 we scrap. The spring steel had split leaving very shiny Starrett “legs”. Evaporust is great and wether you leave the items to soak a few hours or a few days the only thing that suffers is the rust. Nice lathe! I started out with a Taig. 

Cheers,

Derek


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------

