Dunbar Press Restoration Tips

[Grasslander]

I lucked out and found a Dunbar, but it is fairly rusty. Hopefully it is on the surface, and not too deep.

I gave it an overnight bath in Dawn and lightly scrubbed it with a nylon brush. This removed most of the old gummed up oil.

The worst of the rust is on the main shaft. It appears to be on the part you can see, and not so much where the shaft rides in the frames pillow block. ( not sure if that's what you call it )

I have the bolts on the top soaking in PB right now, I haven't tried taking anything apart yet.

Anyway, what I am really concerned about is the Dunbar nail plaque. It is in good shape, but I'm worried about damaging it during the restoration. What would be the best way to approach this?

I think the rest of the work should be pretty straight forward, but this has me stumped.

Grant

[LUBEDUDE]

Congrats on your great find!

Assuming that you can not remove the plate without damage, you may consider using painters blue masking tape to protect the plate. That adhesive is very gentle and should not strip any finish on the plate.

[salpal48]

I have The same press working. > You can soak the Entire Press Or the bottom In Evapo rust . It will not Hurt Paint. . . I have got mine Loose with KROIL. that stuff work wonders. One loose the shaft comes out easy. Great find and a Great machine.
Sal

[Kevin Rohrer]

Here you go.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...ghlight=dunbar

You asked about the name plate. My second Dunbar has one, but I don't remember what I did to protect it. Am thinking I did not remove the old paint from the base. I just degreased it after disassembly, then covered the plate in Petroleum Jelly or another heavy grease like Lubriplate. I then primed and painted the base. After it was dry, I wiped off the grease and the paint underneath was fine, as nothing got thru the grease.

[Grasslander]

You asked about the name plate. My second Dunbar has one, but I don't remember what I did to protect it. Am thinking I did not remove the old paint from the base. I just degreased it after disassembly, then covered the plate in Petroleum Jelly or another heavy grease like Lubriplate. I then primed and painted the base. After it was dry, I wiped off the grease and the paint underneath was fine, as nothing got thru the grease.[/QUOTE]

Thanks guys.

Kevin I think you have the right idea. I've been stripping all my other projects down to bare metal, but just degreasing it should be fine. The grease on the name plate sounds like the way to do it.
I have managed to get it apart except for the guide bars, they are soaking now.
I will post pics when I get it done....probably next weekend. I hope it turns out half as good as Kevins...

[Kevin Rohrer]

For really stubborn parts, let them soak for at least two days in PB Blaster or similar chemical. I then took a hammer and *lightly* tapped on the Allen wrench until it moved and the bolt broke free.

[beeser]

FWIW, I've tried electrolysis on heavily rusted cast iron parts and found it to work great. All that remains is magnetite, a non-toxic residue, that can easily be removed with a stiff brush. Actually it just wipes away but a brush allows you to get into hard to reach spots. The process is cheap and does its work in a relatively short amount of time. As far as rusted bolts I've found that a 50/50 mixture of acetone and brake fluid works about twice as fast as PB Blaster. There is even a test somewhere online showing the effectiveness of various penetrants and this homebrew concoction came out on top.