Crusty 87 LT40

[raycon]

Just saw a crusty 87 LT40 Power Feed, Power up/down.
Lot of surface rust Onan 20hp. Toe boards, manual winch, manual log turner. The cutting head was under cover but the rest of it looked like it been docked down at the marina.To me it looked like it had'nt milled a thing in a few years.  

I figured it to be worth around $5k is that in the ball park.

--
On edit I based the low $ amount on replacing engine.Its the original motor and the current owner could not start it plus the machine had the neglected for many years in salty New England look which can be easily enough undone --still a hassle.  

[Tom]

It's worth is actually what the fellow will turn it loose for, not to be funny.   5K's not bad if the head is in good shape.  Most of the bed could be fixed with some scraping (sandblast), paint, grease and use.   You will find that it will cut as good as a new mill of the same horsepower but the newer upgrades generally don't fit a mill of that age.  Not to say you can't make them work, you understand.  

[ElectricAl]

We did a WM restoration job for a guy on a 1993 LT40HDG24 a few years back. It had a lot of problems. It took 1500 bucks in parts plus labor.

It had sat without use for two years, never had been covered either. The rails were really rusted and pitted where the carriage had sat. We were able to clean the rails but the pits could be felt when sawing.

A 1993 sold for about $19,300 new, the second owner paid $16,500 in 1997 and could not cut a flat board with it. The second owner got mad and let it sit the 2 years uncovered.

If the main frame is not bent, and the round rails are not heavily pitted you should be all right. Plan on spending a grand or so.

Try to get the manual and figure out what revision letter and number the machine is.

[Paschale]

Electric_Al,

Just curious what method you used for bringing the rail back to usable shape.  I'm gonna start working on my mill, and rust on the rail is a major problem.  I'm thinking about just using some wire spindles on a grinder or drill, or possibly Rust-Free made by Boeshield, or perhaps a combination of the two.  Any suggestions though would be greatly appreciated!

Dan

[raycon]

I used a combination of soft metal wire brush, scotch brite and find sandpaper. Now I use a  spray bottle with tranmsmission fluid to keep it lubed.

[Paschale]

That sounds like it took a fair share of elbow grease too, Ray.    When you say you keep "it" lubed with transmission fluid, are you referring to the rail again?

[VA-Sawyer]

ATF ( Automatic Transmission Fluid ) is the rail lube of choice according to WoodMizer. I soak my felt wiper with the stuff. I've tried a number of other anti rust sprays but the ATF seems to work as well as anything else.
My rail needed a lot of TLC when I got my mill home. I used those Scotchbrite pads with the roloc mount in my little air grinder. I found the medium grit (maroon color ) to do a fair job of removing rust without removing too much metal. I also had to do a lot of work on the 2 vertical tubes of the carriage. The head didn't want to slide up and down very well.
It is a constant battle to keep the rail free of rust. Enjoy  

VA-Sawyer

[Paschale]

VA-Sawyer,

Thanks for the info.  Regarding the Scotch Brite pads, with the "roloc" mount, are these premade to fit specific grinders, or did you sort of just rig it up to fit yours?  Do you feel these work better than just a regular drill outfitted with a steel brush?

Thanks!

[ElectricAl]

Paschale,

We started with a fine brass wire brush on a 4 1/2" angle grinder.

Then switched to a medum and fine 2" buffing pads on an air tool.

Finished with 1000 grit wet/dry and ATF


There have been a few threads in the past on how to protect the rail from rust.

What we started doing when we were portable was spraying with ATF then covering with water pipe insulation. This worked fine if the saw is not moved. But I wanted protection when driving in the rain.
Bought some 1" PVC pipe and cut out a 1/2" strip,  then clipped the PVC over the rail. Never had one come off, not even at 80MPH Had to out run some 1.5" hail  

[VA-Sawyer]

Paschale,

I got my roloc adapter from the Snap-on tool guy. I needed it right then and he was there at the time. You can get them from some auto parts stores and most Industrial Supply houses. I get a lot of that kind of stuff from MSC or Graingers. The adapter will fit a 1/4" chuck or collet. My little air grinder has the 1/4" collet, so it works just fine. You can also get sandpaper disks in various grades with roloc mounts. My adapter is a 2" Diameter. I think they also make them in 3" and 4". There are two styles of roloc mounts. I prefer the one where the adapter has the threaded hole and the disks have short plastic threaded studs.
Yes, these are much faster than a drill. The little air grinders do use a fair amount of air is the biggest drawback. I can work for hours holding the little grinder, but my arm gets tired after 30 minutes of holding the drill. I'll try to get a picture of the grinder to send you. You can get them from Lowes and Home Depot as well.
VA-Sawyer
P.S.  Do you have an easier first name or nickname ? I have to go look up how to spell Paschale everytime.  

[Kevin_H.]

P.S.  Do you have an easier first name or nickname ? I have to go look up how to spell Paschale everytime.  

I had a heck of a time trying to pronounce it at the piggy roast...Ask him what it stands for...

[VA-Sawyer]

Paschale,

I'm really sorry if my ps upset you. I wasn't trying to be mean. Please tell me that you have a sense of humor, so I can get my foot out of my mouth.  

VA-Sawyer

[raycon]

I tucked the scotch brite into an old wooden  half round plane and used that as my sanding block on the rails I spent an hour  or so  top and bottom rails. The sandpaper had little effect.
I use lengths of PVC to try and keep the weather off the rails -- when I remember to put it on.

[Gilman]

41655-7VGA  
Central Pneumatic
   AIR ANGLE DIE GRINDER KIT  $19.99  

I think this is the die grinder VA mentioned. I have a couple of them and use them all the time.  Not quite like a Dynabrade, but for getting them on sale for $14.99 with the backing pad verses $415 for a Dynabrade aint a bad deal.

[Paschale]

Oh lord!...Kevin had to bring up my name!    

VA Sawyer, you don't have to worry bout me and a sense of humor--though I may never make anybody else laugh, I at least crack myself up all the time.  Though I do seem to have a problem understanding pygmy jokes  (still don't get that gem, Tom!)  

Okay, here's the story about my name.  When I signed up on the forum, I was stinkin' tired of every time I went to a new website, trying a couple of different names, and having to keep coming up with new ones to try, because all the normal ones were taken.  So...I just started using this random word I remembered from college, a latin word from my music classes--figured NOBODY would have this one, and whenever I go to a new website, I always get a login name on the first try.  Little did I know when I signed up here how much I'd enjoy the FF, and that at some point, a couple years down the road, I'd meet people who'd call me by that name!    One of the things about the Pig Roast was that when you introduced yourself, you used your online screen name (which makes perfect sense, actually, since that's how we know each other).  Going up to somebody at a gathering where I had never met a soul and, reaching out my hand and saying to them, "Hi...my name's Paschale" is one of the stranger things I've done in my life!   Oh, and VA-Sawyer, you're not the only one who has trouble spelling my name.  Poor Tammy had a heck of at time spelling my name right too (can't blame her) so my name was all sorta scribbly.  People would be squinting, looking at my name tag, trying to make heads or tails of my name--pretty funny, actually.  I think people just assumed it was my last name, or thought I was Italian or something, and some of the guys said to me, "oh, that's how you pronounced.  I always wondered."     BTW...it's pronounced pa-SKAH-lly.  For what it's worth.  

After awhile on the forum, I thought about changing it to something that actually had something to do with my name, or who I am...like Tbone or Dano, or TboneDano since I'm a trombonist in an orchestra, and the name's Dan.  Heck--it might make things a heck of a lot easier, so maybe I should,  since it's just a random name anyway.  But then again, now I've got that beautiful wooden nameplate from WV Hillbilly sitting on my comp, so how can I change now?    

But...if y'all want, instead of writing out my DanG unpronouncable, unspellable name everytime, you can just call me Tbone or Dan or something...maybe just P.  I also answer to "Hey You."  That usually works too!    Just don't call me a DanG Pygmy!    

[EZ]

My wife calls me EZ, my kids call me EZ, and now my grandkids are calling me, grandpa EZ. Its not like my real name is hard to pronounce.  
EZ

[Tom]

My!  What a sheltered life you've led, Tbone.

Here is a joke that is the corruption of a multi-part joke, that is actually a pretty dumb joke,  from a time probably preceding your awareness of such nonsense.

Before the days of the Volkswagen advertisements, when they were stupidly humorous, were the Mommy jokes.  

"Mommy, Mommy!  Why do I keep running around in circles?"

"Shutup or I'll nail your other foot to the floor."

...Or the cruelty jokes (not acceptable in most company)

"What do you call a paraplegic in a swimming pool?"

"Bob".

While these were funny, in a morbid sort of way, adults didn't think small children should be telling them. (Not in mixed age groups anyway.  We had to stay with our peers)

To compensate and make the adults feel better, somebody, God only knows who, or exactly when, came up with Elephant jokes. Such nonsensical situations are created as to make you not even want to question the logic.

"How many Elephants can you get into a VW?"
"Four".
"How do you get four elephants in a VW?"
"You put Two in the front and two in the back."

Jokes like that were generally told in a situation where they came like machine gun bullets between two or more kids practicing their social interaction skills,   usually when they were bored.  It's amazing how much stupid stuff a kids mind will hold.

THE JOKE!

"Why should you not walk in the jungle between 10 and  12?"
"'Because that's when the elephants jump out of the palm trees."
"Why are pygmies so short?"
"Because they walk in the jungle between 10 and 12."

(insert laugh track here.)



Put "Elephant Joke" in Google and you will find entire sites dedicated to classic elephant jokes as well as feeble attempts to create new ones.  The good thing about jokes like this is that; no matter how hard a person tries to turn one into a dirty joke, he can't.  They just aren't funny as off-color humor.

No, that isn't really true.  There are some colored elephant jokes   Like painting toenails and hiding etc.  Those are so real life that they almost aren't funny though. As hard as I've tried, I've never been able to see an elephant in the grass if he's painted his toenails green.

The corruption of elephant jokes is humorous in its own right. You have to be on your toes if you want to understand many of them.

"How do you know there's an elephant in the fridge?"
"Footprints in the butter."

(insert series here of painting the bottom of elephants feet yellow and hiding them in the custard. etc.)

"How do you know there are 4 elephants in your fridge?"
"There's an empty VW out front."

"How do you get 8 elephants in your fridge?"
"Put 4 in one VW and 4 in another VW and put both VW's in the fridge?"

"How do you get 2 VW"s in a refrigerator?"
"Easy!, Any fridge that will hold 4 elephants will hold 2 VW's."

You can get as convoluted as you like but the awareness of all of the jokes by the audience is important.  

That's the audiences job though.

[VA-Sawyer]

OK, I think I finally have it straight.   ' Paschale'    pronounced  pig-ME !
     

SO.............Just how short are you ?  Inquiring minds want to know ....  

BTW that picture of the little air grinder is right on the money. Buy 'em cheap, run 'em hard .

VA-Sawyer

[Paschale]

Well, Tom, the veil has FINALLY been lifted!    Yes, you are correct...I guess these elephant jokes are before my time.  WAY before my time.  

But I got myself an education in the history of elephant jokes, so thank ye kindly!  

So Tom...

Speaking of custard...have you ever seen an elephant swimming in the custard?  

Oh, and VA-Sawyer...I'm not so pigmie-esque...I'm a bit of a pig, though.  ;-)  Better not be behind me in the line at the trough!  Especially if there's cheesecake to be had!

It's good to know about that grinder.  It looks like it's an air grinder, and unfortunately, I don't have a compressor yet.  So I guess I'm stuck with an electric grinder.  I'm going to try and find those Scotch-Brite pads though, and try and make 'em work.  On my mill, the rail has the worst problem with rust on the whole machine, so I'm gonna tackle that first.

Tbone Dano Paschale Pygmy III, Esq.

[Bro. Noble]

Tom,

I didn't get that one about them two fleas swimmin'

P,

You coulda called yourself 'FORMADA"  that sounds like a military term  Someone would figger out you were a birdseye though
I've heard good humor is above the heads of the majority

[Paschale]

Noble,

That made me laugh!  

And made me think of what I should do.  Perhaps I should just use the sign of a fermata as my sign off name, and be known as "the member formerly known as Paschale."

Sincerely,



(Well, at least I make myself laugh...)  

[Bro. Noble]

Hold on Furmotter,

For an undertermined amount of time---------(keep your eye on that dude with the stick)

[VA-Sawyer]

Dan,

Yes, you do have a sense of humor. It sounds like it is just warped enough to keep us all laughing. I think we will get along just fine whenever we meet in person.  

Don't have a compressor ?  How do you get anything done ?
I would have a hard time without one. In fact I actually have 3 of them. The 4 hp/20 gal oilless unit that I started with, would do about 80% of the things I use air for today. It was portable, but not something you would want to carry up a flight of stairs. I have a 5hp/60 gal - 240V unit installed in the equipment room I added to the garage/shop. I recently bought a small easy to carry unit for small jobs using air nailers.  
You can get a nice 115V/20A unit for around $275. I think you will find it money well spent.  Just my two cents worth.
I also use a 4 1/2 inch right angle grinder with a sanding pad adapter for the heavier rust removal. You can get emery sanding disks in various grades that will fit them. I normally follow that up with glass-bead blasting before putting on a coat of primer.
VA-Sawyer

[Paschale]

Hey VA-Sawyer,

Hope we do meet some time, say...327 days from today?  

I can tell I'll be picking your brain quite a bit--nice to run into another 80's vintage WM owner on here who's already gone down the path of restoration!  

Sounds like I'm gonna have to start saving up for a compressor.    The wish list is already pretty big, a new router, bench top mortiser, drill press...and most important, a truck so I can haul the darn WM!  Or maybe I can motorize the thing.  Now THAT'D be a pretty hip mod!  

Noble...I'm still holding...