Cleaning and caring for your new lathe

[tarmo120]

Hey guys. I have bought a brand new lathe. No, not the motor lathe The big one.

It has that protective oil or substance on the metal and I want to remove it.
What is the best method? I have googled and found out that kerosene is ok, but it needs alot of physical labor.
At home I have WD40 and brake cleaner.
I also found out that the WD40 is ok for cleaning but it leaves some kind of silicone residue on the surface.
So what should I use?

The environment is my garage. In the summer it is around 25C,winter as low as -25C
My other question is that do I need to keep the surfaces oiled or not.

[gas]

you can clean it anyway you what just keep a light film of way oil on bar metal and your good to go

[SMR 510RR]

I would hose it down with wd-40 and scrub it real good. After that is done take some synthetic oil (mobil-1 etc.) and apply a film over the dovetails, wd-40 is fine for everything else.

[tarmo120]

Originally Posted by SMR 510RR

I would hose it down with wd-40 and scrub it real good. After that is done take some synthetic oil (mobil-1 etc.) and apply a film over the dovetails, wd-40 is fine for everything else.

Sorry but as you may understand English is not my native language.
Could you please explain what a dovetail is.
And from your comment, I understand that I can clean the machine with WD40(and leave it on later) except for the dovetails.

[chevellian]

Check out this link, pretty much covers it.

Getting started

[tarmo120]

Thanks.

[docsrcrepair]

I have found that if you let the lathe sit the moisture in the air will get past the wd40. I use chainsaw bar oil , basically the same thing as a vactra 4 way lube. it will hang on the lathe longer and will help keep a good film on the way's to absorb the pressure.

I would also build a catchpan/splash wall, you will be flinging some chips and nothing is worse than climbing behind a lathe where cutting fluid and chips are building up. Make it so you can pull the bottom drawer out in case you drop something in it and/or clean the pan out.

[BigSki]

I use this, it works very well.

[SlickRockSpider]

Originally Posted by tarmo120

Hey guys. I have bought a brand new lathe. No, not the motor lathe The big one.

It has that protective oil or substance on the metal and I want to remove it.
What is the best method? I have googled and found out that kerosene is ok, but it needs alot of physical labor.
At home I have WD40 and brake cleaner.
I also found out that the WD40 is ok for cleaning but it leaves some kind of silicone residue on the surface.
So what should I use?

The environment is my garage. In the summer it is around 25C,winter as low as -25C
My other question is that do I need to keep the surfaces oiled or not.

The greasy stuff is cosmoline (not spelled right). I would clean it off with kerosene. Take your time the stuff is sticky. Next I use way oil to protect the ground surfaces. You should use way oil to lubricate the ways also.

Environment. If you dont use the machines every couple of days (not in -25c) you must keep the ground surface oiled.

I have all of my machine tools in a 2 car garage. I live where it rains a lot. I have a 20,0000 BTU air conditioner/dehumidifier/heater. The price was 2000.00 usd. Priceless if you are a machinist. So I keep my garage moisture free at what ever temp i want (68f degrees of course).

If the lathe is small enough move it to the inside of your house.

Read a lot about the lathe you bought. Some people use there lathes to cut of bolts to the right size. A lathe will make an amazing amount of stuff.

Good Luck

E

[foratm]

Ok so lathe cleaning and caring is fairly simple.
I am a machinist and work with a hand lathe and cnc lathe and also a cnc mill.

So i will give step by step intructions. This hand lathe has been in the business for the past 20 years. We use it to make punches and dyes which mean a tolerence of +- .0005 on a hand lathe.

It is very simple.
WD40 and Air hose are your best friends.

Check the oil level of the machine to make sure everything is properly lubed internaly. There should be a window with a fill line for ease of adding oil.

Pull the chuck off and apart (the cilinder part that holds the parts being cut) Blow out any chips that have been sitting in there with the air hose.
Next spray a lot of WD40 all over everything and wipe down with a rag. Do not worry if there is any film on the parts.
Put back together. Make sure every inche is wiped down. this will help out from rusting.

Next slide the tail stock all the way to the rear and blow with air under and around it removing every last chip in every creavace. Spray with WD40 no need to wipe except the surfaces that you will have to be handling.

Best thing to do is blow air every where and make sure all chips are removed and spray everything with WD40. Move the tool holder to the front back and rear making sure the go to there end points so eveything get exposed at least once.

Remember my boss has been using this method for the past 20 years on the exact same machine and still is able to hold +-.0005".

P.S. remember to blow out the gear section inside to make sure the belts and gears dont get chips in them.

[foratm]

Also if it gets cold where you will store this make sure it is well sprayed down and that you run it at a low rpm about 185rpm for about 15 minutes before putting a load on it to warm it a little bit.

[foratm]

Sorry also forgot to mention that you need to check the belt tension every once in a while.

[SMR 510RR]

Originally Posted by tarmo120

Sorry but as you may understand English is not my native language.
Could you please explain what a dovetail is.
And from your comment, I understand that I can clean the machine with WD40(and leave it on later) except for the dovetails.

A dovetail looks like this from the right side of the machine \ / its the part where two things slide also called ways. The will be 2 or 3 on a manual lathe depending on if it has a cross slide or not, those should all use oil and everything else just needs a skim of WD to keep the moisture out.

[huyrua]

Can post pictures of the lathe.