Powermatic 1200 restoration

[Woods_Wanderer]

Well, not 2 months since I finally finished restoring my 1964 powermatic 1150 drill press, and here I go again. A couple days ago I found a Powermatic 1200 on a single-head production table just sitting out front of a fab shop out in the countryside. Turns out the work shed it was in collapsed during the Texas Snowpocalypse last year and it has been sitting there ever since.
For $300 it came home with me.

The bearings all still seem good but the quill is stuck up-that will be the first priority.

I'm torn between Evaporust and electrolysis to clean up the rust-what's your opinion?

 

[Woods_Wanderer]

Off to a good start! Despite being very thoroughly stuck, there's no serious rust on the quill, and everything seems to be present and intact except the head lowering gearbox, which was in pieces when I bought it.

 

[PoorUB]

Good luck with the project. It looks like with a bit of love it should be a nice drill press.

No help on the Evaporust versus electrolysis question.

 

[driftpin]

What about cleaning vinegar? Cheaper than E-rust & does a good job. When I use it for rust removal I have had good results.

 

[Davefr]

I'm torn between Evaporust and electrolysis to clean up the rust-what's your opinion?

Evaporust will cost a fortune and it'll take a very large tub to do electrolysis.

If there's no urgency, molasses is the best rust remover there is. It's cheap at a farm store and you mix it about 10:1 water/molasses, dunk your parts for about 30 days and they come out rust free.

 

[RTM]

I'm torn between Evaporust and electrolysis to clean up the rust-what's your opinion?

For either method, you can reduce the material needed. For your table, a heavy plastic lined box can be used for electrolysis, use a shower pan liner.

To use Evaporust, but it in a heavy plastic bag with some Evaporust, and submerge it in water. It will conform to the table shape, pressing the solution against it.

Remember that any of the acid methods are indiscriminately removing metal, which may be a problem on the column.

Anything large, I would use electrolysis, saw a vid of a guy doing a car fender once.

 

[Firebrick43]

Electrolysis. I have done bridgeport castings in a rubber horse tub. Easy peasy. If you use lye it will take off all the old paint and degrease it all at the same time to.

Molasses gets to stinking and attracts flies.

 

[paulsomlo]

I think electrolysis is the cheapest, fastest method - that much Evaporust is going to be expensive. I just went through a similar process with a wood lathe. Here's a link that may be helpful when it come to derusting the table: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/electrolytic-rust-removal-no-tank.497772/

 

[Woods_Wanderer]

Finally an update post. The original table has been painted and is in our shop at work. My table at home has been painted and I added a vertical reinforcing post before mounting the column.




I'm currently grappling with how to take apart one of the Reeves drive pulley assemblies, and may have already trashed the shaft trying to press the mounting bracket off in the wrong direction.



Anybody know how this is *supposed* to come apart? The exploded view in the manual is not very detailed.

 

[Woods_Wanderer]

Well after going months at a time with no work done on it, I think I can finally call this project finished. Total cost including the machine was about $650, but I hate to think how many hours I've got into it!

 

[Woods_Wanderer]

A few more pics from the rebuild.

 

[250]

Certainly came a long way from where you started. What did you end up doing with the table?

 

[loganb]

Man am I glad I tagged this thread to watch!

@Woods_Wanderer would you mind sharing a pic of how you mounted your magnetic pickup for the speed sensor? I've got an 1150 I'm using while upgrading and have the exact same thing planned and even planning on putting it in the exact same spot. Components are sitting around(hell the read out is next to me on my desk)...but haven't decided on the right spot for that sensor....assuming you've got it on the bottom side of the Reeves drive/variable shiv?

 

[Jayman17]

Great job on this restoration!

 

[Woods_Wanderer]

Man am I glad I tagged this thread to watch!

@Woods_Wanderer would you mind sharing a pic of how you mounted your magnetic pickup for the speed sensor? I've got an 1150 I'm using while upgrading and have the exact same thing planned and even planning on putting it in the exact same spot. Components are sitting around(hell the read out is next to me on my desk)...but haven't decided on the right spot for that sensor....assuming you've got it on the bottom side of the Reeves drive/variable shiv?

Here's a top-down view.
The magnet is superglued to a small piece of aluminum which is itself glued to the top of the pulley. The sensor is mounted to a piece of flat stock bolted through a preexisting hole in the pivot crossbar for the Reeves adjustment wheel.

 

[Woods_Wanderer]

Certainly came a long way from where you started. What did you end up doing with the table?

I cleaned up and repainted the table, it's at our shop at work now.