Can't lift grime of table saw

[Swingman]

Firing a 1000m HOB of "Willy P" on a grid intersection saved my ass on many an occasion ... poor man's GPS! :)

[EXT]

You don't say what type of grime you have and what the saw table is made of, but the saw table looks like the one I am using today. Mine is cast iron with a rough milled surface. I use mine for many things because I am short of table space. Often the top gets a little rust, paint splatters and who knows what on the surface. With the not-too-smooth milling on the surface, the stuff really bonds. I have found that a good solvent such as lacquer thinner will remove the dissolvable materials and a run over with a belt sander with a 120 grit aluminum oxide belt cleans it up and even smoothes the milled surface without taking off more than a fraction of a thousandth inch of iron. Don't use a belt intended for metal grinding as it will be too aggressive, aluminum oxide is good as it will wear down on iron before it does any damage.

[Steve B]

I was just throwing gas on Jim Yanik's gas paranoia fire.

Steve

[Stormin Mormon]

If a stopped clock is right twice a day, what is a stopped clock construction project?

[Max]

I surmised as much. I thought I would add a little fuel.

Max

[Joe]

The hairiest solvent commonly available is methylene chloride. Non- flammable, volatile, causes cancers in California. Buy it at your paint store in bodied formulations such as StripEase paint remover. Follow directions. It will cut old roofing tar/cement easily based on my experience. The resulting goop will need lots of paper towels preferably placed in the outdoors trash can ASAP. Buy the smallest amount you can as the stuff does tend to corrode the metal cans if some casual moisture is present. If this sounds too scary, try some of the solvents made by 3M and found at autobody supply stores. The pros that refinish cars have some really heavy duty stuff for cleaning prior to paint.

Joe

[-MIKE-]

LMAO!

[Steve B]

How in the heck did we survive? Lawn darts. Lead paint. Spud guns. Stuff they have taken off the shelves and now you have to pay big bucks on ebay. We've protected the current generation from so much harm and evil and dangerous things.

And look at the results. Now instead of your brother stapling you with the Arrow T50 stapler, they go pay fifty bucks for someone to do it to them.

Steve

[Nonny]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I've always considered that lead paint was a leading cause of our current batch of politicians and the people who elect and support them.

[CW]

No need to pay. I did my own.

[willshak]

Sam Takoy wrote the following:

Lacquer thinner.

[Mike Marlow]

Only ungrounded PVC piping...

[Max]

Whooosh.

Max

[Stormin Mormon]

Well, gee. The whole State of California knows that it causes cancer. Says on the label.

[Mike Marlow]

Nooooooo... I was chiming in with the standard PVC dust collection paranoia.

[Max]

Un-whoooshed.

Max

[Bruce]

On Fri, 1 Jan 2010 08:14:21 -0700, Max wrote (in article ):

I used gasoline as a degreaser when I was a kid in the 60's/70's. The then 'new' unleaded was like using water. A real disappointment!

[Max]

I read somewhere that it was intended for internal combustion engines. :-)

Max

[Twayne]

Have you tried just a heat gun and putty knife?

Xylene seems to get about anything IME. Pour it on, let it set, pour some more on, scrape, then use medium steel wool. Most hardware stores/paint stores carry it. Very explosive! Keep good ventilation in mind.

Twayne

[Stuart]

I'm a volunteer with a charity called "Tool With a Mission". We collect old, unwanted tools, refurbish them and ship to Africa, where they are used, with some training, to give someone a trade they can get a living out of.

Tools come in, often in a terrible state with all sorts of detritus on them, apart from rust, including paint, tar, glue and who knows what. (Sometimes it's better not to give too much thought to what the goo might be)

My favourite tool for cleaning stuff up is an angle grinder fitted with one of those heavy-duty, twisted-wire, cup brushes. It's not been defeated yet but do wear proper eye protection, (I prefer a full face visor because I don't like the stinging sensation when bits of wire brush hit my cheek) having a piece of wire brush pulled out of your eyeball at the local hospital is a rather unpleasant procedure.