[helocat]

Just pulled my vices off my Haas TM-1, they have been on for about 5 months. I noticed some rust shadows on the mill table. Also I have a few CAT40 tool holders that are showing a few spots of rust on them as well. What is a safe way to remove this light rust? 1500 grit wet sand paper or steel wool (0000. very fine) Just lightly polish it out?

Yes changed my coolant and checked it.

Mark

[G0G90]

Just pulled my vices off my Haas TM-1, they have been on for about 5 months. I noticed some rust shadows on the mill table. Also I have a few CAT40 tool holders that are showing a few spots of rust on them as well. What is a safe way to remove this light rust? 1500 grit wet sand paper or steel wool (0000. very fine) Just lightly polish it out?

Yes changed my coolant and checked it.

Mark

Try using some Scotchbrite (RED, not Green) and some WD40 or some Kroil.
Works on the tools.
Light oil and a fine stone after the Scotchbrite for your table.

Oh, ... plus a little elbow grease

[Geof]

Don't try to polish away all visible evidence of rust. Doing this means you are removing metal. All you need to do is polish away the loose rust and this is possible with just a piece of cloth or the least abrasive Scotchbrite you can get.

[ironDigit]

first a gentle acid and neutralizing using baked ? soda.polishing sanding etc. remove "random" material instead of attacking the actual rust.

this is the only way a purist would accept ,before assuming that the actual rusting / development of more rust is stopped.
I would on the mill table cause it probably will / should outlast the toolholders as they might not be around long enough to get critical.A rusty table sure doesn't improve the value of your machine ,does it ?(maybe if you throw the rust in for free)

its a long time since i saw this discussion in here but it has been several times.i hope the connaisseurs have something to say cause rust is always an issue in this moist climate.

[T.W.O.]

With Loctite 7500 you can transform the rust (Fe2O3) into magnetite (Fe3O4).

[underthetire]

Be careful with tables, as you can get the aging off the cast iron, and allow even more rust to build up. If it just shadowing, I would just ignore it. If its actually rust, you can wipe with a little naval jelly and clean it up good. That will help prevent rust from coming back. Make sure you grease under vises, that will help in the future. A little light grey scotchbrite and some light oil on the holders if they need it. Keep wd 40 away from all this. Wd40 can make things worse on a wet environment. We call wd40 the machine tool destroyer in a can. We only use it to remove sticker glue, or clean grease off.

[fizzissist]

A caveat with naval jelly.....you need to clean it off VERY well and ideally neutralize it, then oil to prevent any possible residue from rusting it even worse.

We've used bulk WD40 for years as a cutting fluid for aluminum...brushing on, that is. It's also great as a machine cleaner, often working better than the water based soap cleaners for cutting through built up grunge...depends on the specific grunge though..

Don't use it on your Cat40's except to gently clean with the scotchbrite. Wipe it off thoroughly. Then, according to at least one manufacturer of toolholders, and a machine tool builder, wipe the taper with a lint-free towel coated with a very light spindle oil...just enough to leave the thinnest coating.

WD40 is a great electrical contact cleaner, btw.. (power OFF, dontcha know). It dries and leaves a very fine dry coating that doesn't compromise sound quality (for you audiophiles.....this has been verified)

As underthetire mentions too, it's great for removing certain adhesives that alcohol doesn't touch.

WD40 comes in an attractive yellow and blue can, a tasteful addition to any decor. Otherwise, it's perfectly useless.

[doorknob]

I have used WD-40 as a wasp spray as well...

But this is the first time that I've heard it referred to as a machine tool destroyer. I may have to recalibrate my thinking.

[wizard]

I have used WD-40 as a wasp spray as well...

But this is the first time that I've heard it referred to as a machine tool destroyer. I may have to recalibrate my thinking.

People think that WD40 is a lubricant, in a sense it is but sadly it seems to change state or dry out leaving a layer of something. The last thing you want to do is to get WD40 into places that need real lubrication. That being said it can be very useful around the shop. As mentioned above it seems to work extremely well when machining aluminum but is completely the opposite when doing other materials.

WD40 is strange stuff. You don't want to be without a can but you need to know its limitations.

[underthetire]

WD40 is great for tennis elbow as well.
WD40 is also great for removing old oil varnish.

There are two major problems with WD 40 in machine tools.
It will dry out rubber, like waycover seals and wipers
It will displace moisture in castings (kinda what it's supposed to do), however, it can actually cause cast iron to rust faster, since it removes the surface aging of the casting. Not a real problem if you don't use coolant.