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Thread: Restoring a mity mag magnetic base.

  1. #1
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Restoring a mity mag magnetic base.

    In the equipment I purchased were 2 of the old mity Mag magnetic bases. I like these smaller bases for most indicating work. Still strong and mechanically sound the plastic bodies had alot of chip burns and stains. I peeled this old coating off and cleaned the metal parts roughing them up good. Solvent cleaned and ordered some system 3 long cure clear epoxy and pigments ( black green and blue). Made a small card board form to 1/4" bigger than the magnet insert on a side. Blended the seams with tape and sealed with glue. Several coats of wax inside form. Poured out the resin in a mixing cup and added a small amount of the green pigment adding more to get the shade desired mixing as I went. I got a nice translucent green shade a close match to original. I then added the hardener and the 5 minute mix time ( a lot of stirring). I then poured this into the form and filled to height on mag insert. It looks very good in the form and whats let in the mixing cup. Lightly warmed for several minutes with a heat gun to release any air bubbles and its setting curing now. The #3 hardener gives a hour work time and 24 hour cure time. This should ggve a very hard durable finish thats pleasing to look at.

    This epoxy is meant for bar tops and surfaces. Very hard, It can be filed and drilled but sanding is hard. Also heat resistant so chip burns should not be an issue now.

    Tomorrow will peel form off and a couple wraps of tape 1/4" above top and mic more then finish top surface.

  2. #2
    Boolit Grand Master

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    The system 3 epoxy made a very nice coating. I did one with the green dye and other than the swirl pattern is a very close match to the original color other I did in blue and its a nice look also.. A little sanding and polish and both look better than new.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master

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    Interesting indeed! Pics maybe?

    I have 3 of those (one totally beyond repair) languishing in a drawer full of "future" projects such as end mills awaiting sharpening, etc, but unfortunately there are no round tuits in the mix and there never seem to be enough of those around my shop. I would love to see some pics of your tool restoration project(s) since I have been thinking of doing a few projects of my own. I have a 6" Kurt vise in pieces sitting in a crate awaiting restoration efforts in the very near future, this thing is actually almost new and shows no signs of wear or use but it is evenly covered in what I would describe as moderate to somewhat heavy "dry" surface rusting that shows no visible pitting at all. I fully expect a trip to my glass bead cabinet will easily erase this surface rusting and ready it for a new coat of paint, this thing was given to me free after being salvaged from a machine shop that was being closed a couple of years ago.

    I apologize for ranting on about my own projects but you have stirred my interest and reminded me that these have been languishing for much too long and I need to get started on them very soon, now where did I put those dang tuits?
    Statistics show that criminals commit fewer crimes after they have been shot

  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master

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    oldred. That kurt vise is a finely ground accurate piece of equipment. I would go near is with a sand blaster or bead blaster. if it is fine surface rust a coarse rag and light solvent should wipe it off or very fine steel wool. Bead blasting can stretch the surface and warp slightly. Those are great vises and dont Spring like the old bridgeport and other straight thread vises do. I have an 8" on my bridgeport and its a very good solid accurate vise. It takes very little tapping with a bumper to set the work tight on the parallels, it locks up tight and stays square. O have several sets of jaws made up for mile one with a vee for small round work, one with a .060 step in the jaws for thin work. and one set with magnets in the face ( third hand to hold parallels). and last is a set with raised center and vee the raised is 1" wide with a vee for round work you want to work both ends on together. Another trivk to remove fine rust is a square pencil eraser and rub with it

  5. #5
    Boolit Master

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    I was aware that sandblasting was a real no-no and I understand about the surface peening causing even something like a casting such as this to warp but I "assumed" bead blasting with glass beads would be ok, perhaps not. I used a phosphoric acid based rust dissolver and steel wool to remove some of the rust when I first got this thing and it worked quite well since this is just a "surface" rust, this was, according to the ex-employee of the shop where the vise came from, an almost new vise that sat untouched on an older BP mill for nearly ten years. It was never exposed to moisture other than just the shop humidity so there appears to be no heavy rust that would cause visible pits, just the even cover (on the unpainted parts) of a "dry" rust and lots of dust. Ok I won't chance even the glass bead and I will continue the mild phosphoric acid (Ospho rust remover) and steel wool. The rust is fairly easy to remove using that method and I mostly was just looking for the more appealing appearance that the bead blasting would produce but I will scrap that idea.

    He also gave me a 15 inch Bridgeport rotary table that was in much better shape appearance-wise in excellent mechanical condition and I just use it as-is other than a good cleaning/lubing, it's so darn heavy I use my 6 inch Phase II for most jobs requiring a rotary table but that big BP has sure been handy for a couple of jobs.

    When that shop closed they auctioned all the heavy equipment but just told the last few employees they needed to completely empty the shop by the closing date just a few days away so any shop equipment left only required a "carry out slip" and it was theirs for the asking. The guy who gave me the vise and rotary table also had four 3"x4"x 60" 4140 bars and 2 other bars of the same dimensions but of a very hard unknown alloy, he had no use for any of these things but he said he just couldn't stand to see them go to the scrap bin especially the 4140.

    Unlike the other items the steel bar stock was not free however, it cost me a new bottle of Bullseye, a set of 30-30 dies and a couple hundred small pistol primers and one hundred large rifle primers.
    Statistics show that criminals commit fewer crimes after they have been shot

  6. #6
    Boolit Grand Master uscra112's Avatar
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    Ground walnut shells instead of glass beads or sand. I think you'd be mighty hard pressed to measure any distortion of the vise parts due to surface peening. I've done hundreds of motorcycle parts in my day, and the only ones I ever had that trouble with were sheet metal.

    To clean up that sort of thin rust on old guns, though, I've long used Ed's Red and a kitchen scrubby-sponge (in lieu of the old-timers' burlap). Recently the Ed's Red has been supplanted with Corrosion-X.
    Cognitive Dissident

  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    Long Island NY used to be the hot spot for aero space and air craft developement years back. Companies like Fairchild, Grumman and Republic just to name a few. When they went south there were massive sales of just about any machine tool you could think of. At basically give away prices. My cousin made some serious money buying up various machine tools and reconditioning them. Before I left there all that was left were huge old buildings basically abandoned scheduled to be torn down. Really put a dent on Long Islands economy after that. Frank

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check