Has anybody used the vapor hone to clean up cast iron? I’m specifically thinking for a table saw top. What was the surface finish like with the media DMS has (Aluminum Oxide, don’t know mesh)?
I’ve used it to cleanup cast iron. It simply medium grit. White bucket sold by northern tools. Works great. I would wait till we change the media. It is getting pretty slow to cut currently.
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My concern is blasting the smooth top and it becoming uneven or pebbly. Would you be concerned with that?
I wouldnt be. Can you post a picture of it currently?
The key here is light cleanup. Or switch to a glass media.
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I used it to clean the backplate for the lathe. You should be good
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Immediately after vapor honing anything steel, coat i/wipe down with thin coat of Boe-lube. The surfaces rust very fast.
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It’s cast iron. Still planning to boeshield.
So before I went thru the effort of vapor homing. I would get me a maroon scotchbrite pad and see how that worked. You may not even need to go thru the trouble. Also, bar keepers friend would enhance that.
Steel wool and green scotchbrite removed quite a bit from the top side shown in the pictures. I’m interested in the vapor hone to remove the paint from the edges and bottom (not shown above). Since it would be nearly impossible to completely prevent the top from being touched (unless you learn me some tricks!), I wanted to make sure the top would be fine if I went at the bottom with the vapor hone. Sounds like I’d be fine.
I’ve restored several old machines, (2 drill presses, a vertical mill, Unisaw, 2 bench grinders, horizontal belt sander). Most were done with a sandblaster at work (glass bead abrasive) I used the vapor hone on a rotary table for my mill last summer, the flash rust after the vapor honing is kind of a pain. I ended up scrubbing the rough cast iron surfaces with acetone and a purple scotchbrite to get the flash rust off before I painted it. With sandblasting I still had to wipe it down to remove any residual oil but it was less scrubbing. Here are before and after pictures.
This was small so I used a buffing wheel on a bench grinder and white rouge for most of the shiny metal bits.
For machined tops that you want shiny like on a drill press or tablesaw I use a green 3M bristlebrush in a variable speed angle grinder, I’m guessing 3-4,000 RPM, 10,000 is too fast. https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/376017O/scotch-britetm-bristle-discs-and-brushes.PDF&fn=61-5002-8009-6.PDF
Then follow that with a 6" purple scotchbrite pad in the angle grinder. Then use a gray scotchbrite if you want it really shiny.
I use CRC 3-36 as a rust inhibitor and it works great for me.
https://www.grainger.com/product/CRC-Multipurpose-Lubricant-4JB29
I used rattle can paint on my first few projects but now use 2 part catalyzing automotive paint. The rotary table is a BMW blue. I’ve used a Steelcase color that looks pretty close to Delta blue/gray on my Unisaw. Most of my machines I did with a cheap harbor freight spray gun, but last year got a 3M Accuspray with disposable tips and cups, wish I would have gotten that years ago.
Randy
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LPS 2 is what I used on the backplate. I also used it on my rear differential carrier after vapor hone.
https://www.lpslabs.com/product-details/561
Also I have heard of a pickle solution that you can put on & wait up to a year & then paint it. I don’t remember the brand or particulars about it.
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