1940s Walker-Turner 900 Restoration

[SCREAMINYELLOW]

Figured I should start my own thread to document my restoration process. Hopefully can serve as a spot for some tips and tricks I come across to share with others

From what I can tell with some process of elimination, it is a 1940 Walker Turner 900 series 15” DP. My father found it for me after I asked him to keep an eye out for any deals on small drill presses for my small townhouse garage. He thought it’d be funny to show up on his next visit with “a **** pile.” Must’ve forgotten that I enjoy taking things apart and obsessing over small details.

Anyways, here’s a few before shots:




I have some pretty severe OCD with my projects, so the drill marks (while minimal compared to some I’ve seen) aren’t gonna fly with this going through a full tear down restoration. I think I’ll repurpose it as a shelf/table as these aren’t too common. May try to have it resurfaced down the line. So, I’m using an old pristine surface Craftsman DP table as I had seen another restoration done with one subbed in and thought it looked fairly nice. Of course, if a pristine surface WT pops up anywhere I will swap it in.

Progress pics so far:

 

[SCREAMINYELLOW]

Been pretty busy lately, so trying some “lazy” methods to keep things moving.

Stripping paint *****…however… soaking painted parts isn’t so bad and can be done incredibly cheaply. $4 Orange 5gal HD bucket, $6 (Made in USA) screw-on bucket lid, ~$20 for 3.5gal of Purple Power degreaser concentrate. Purple soup! Table lift, motor mount plate, and depth stop collar added to taste.

Only do this on cast iron! Heavy degreasers like this can eat brass, aluminum, babbitt, bronze, etc.




And thanks to another thread I stumbled upon here, I was made aware of the magnificent 3M EXL (9S Fine) deburring wheel. This thing has a pretty hefty price tag, but I promise you it’s worth it. I’ve never been a fan of wire wheels on bench grinders which tear through the piece, wear down/shoot bristles, and sometimes simply don’t do a great job every time. This won’t completely replace a wire wheel 100% of the time for things like cleaning screw threads, but for removing surface rust and paint, it’s INCREDIBLE. It’s like a wire wheel and a buffing wheel in one.

Here’s a mid-progress pic after about a minute and a half (untouched area in the middle for comparison):



Soak results after ~24 hours:




I think this just might be my permanent method of stripping paint for restorations.

Motor mounting plate had the most coarse casting and thickest paint, so it still has some more soaking to do. All of the other parts will remain in the purple soup until I have the time to rinse in acetone, mask, and prime in red oxide primer. Weather isn’t looking too nice for the weekend, so not sure when that may end up being…

 

[SCREAMINYELLOW]

Was able to make some more progress during the breaks in the rain. Finally have all parts primed and ready for paint. Going to let them cure indoors for a few days prior to painting the color coat.

 

[1930artdeco]

Geez, if the paint looks as good as your primer then they will turn out great!

 

[SCREAMINYELLOW]

Geez, if the paint looks as good as your primer then they will turn out great!

Sure hoping so! Have off on Thursday so plan is to get first coats done then, then wait the 16 hour re-coat time/do second coat Friday and the weekend

 

[SCREAMINYELLOW]

1st coat of color is on! Hung the pieces up in the spare room again for good drying conditions.




Back and neck muscles were a bit sore while painting. Paying the price of heavy head-banging from the Metallica concert last night at my alma mater



Second coat is planned for this weekend as I’ll have the house to myself. Stay tuned!

 

[Old Steamer]

Looking good! I like those old Walker-Turners.

 

[SCREAMINYELLOW]

Looking good! I like those old Walker-Turners.

Thanks! I really love the color. It’s color matched to the original paint. Used the same paint mix as @Hoorn used, and it’s CRAZY just how much the color seems to change with the lighting. Aggressive/bright lighting and it’s more green, in the dark it’s more gray/blue.

 

[Hoorn]

@SCREAMINYELLOW I concur, the color changes on lighting quite a bit. Can't wait to see your finished product.

 

[seagiant]

Hi,
Looking good!

Working on a Delta Homecraft 11" DP as we speak!

Had to make a new Bushing so I could use a present day Timken 6205 ZZ Bearing in the upper Sheave.

The Quill Bearing was still available even though the number had changed!

Those WT Drills have always impressed me, but $$$ in my area!

 

[SCREAMINYELLOW]

Thanks @seagiant !

I’ve got a set of replacement bearings I’m going to try out, but I am certainly keeping my original bearings as they were in fairly good shape after cleaning them up in the ultrasonic cleaner. Have them packed with fresh grease and sealed up in a container to preserve them in case I’m not happy with the replacement bearings (only got the replacements as I had it completely torn apart already)

Here’s a pic of one pair of my originals prior to sealing them up



Did the same with the quill bearings, but apparently didn’t take a photo.

Only repacked them with about 1/3 - 1/2 full of grease and spun them a few times to get out excess

 

[seagiant]

Hi,
Yep, have actually seen a Bearing burn up cause it had too much grease.

Both my bearings were shot, but the original Delta 1/3 HP motor had new Bearings already, but still needed to be cleaned and painted.

Refurbing this old equipment is a hobby in it's self, but rewarding!

 

[SCREAMINYELLOW]

Made some more progress today. Got the final coat of paint on:



Also, I managed to find a new emblem tag in better shape (but same exact tag) and gave it a little refresh and protective coating. Here’s a before and after:



To seal the paint in the orange area and the black lettering, I use a Cerakote product. It’s a clear resin that is EXTREMELY durable which I use on my cars. Once it has cured the full 30 minutes, I spray and wipe it with a ceramic coating to keep the metal from oxidizing.