Let’s start by restoring the tailstock, which seems to be in pretty good condition. Tailstock is unusual since it is designed in such a way that the barrel remains fully supported despite its position. It’s a typical construction of some precision machines. The tailstock is fixed to the bed using a lever that acts on a cam lock. The spindle is locked by classic crescents. The fit of the barrel is very good, especially in the first part of the displacement. After fully disassembling it:

Once disassembled, some small anomalies are observed. There is some wear in the area where the adjusting nuts they rub on their support. This is the point where pressure is applied when, for example, it is pressed against the part being machined. At the moment we will write this detail on the “pending” list and will address it further.

We proceed to carefully clean the metal parts. We followed the next technique so as not to damage any of the original textures such as roughness of the original machining of the parts:

  1. Degreased with equal parts diesel+gasoline mixture.
  2. Cleaning the oxidized surfaces with vinegar (carefully) and the help of rags and occasionally very fine steel wool.
  3. Application of white oil (type WD40) to protect the surfaces.
  4. In the parts that require a better finish, I use polishing paste applied with a cotton disc. First, an application of fine roughing polishing paste and, after that, using a different disc, finishing paste.

Then we go on with the coating. We removed the old paint with coarse sandpaper. We applyed a quality synthetics primer that supports the finish layer. We applyed 2K filler and we smoothed it. At the end we conscientiously sanded the surface to a good finish. Finally, we applyed two-component polyurethane enamel, which is remarkably resistant and has given us very good results in other restorations.

The supplier of paint products was Torrents Autocolor. The paint hue chosen is RAL 7031, after checking the original color. The paint must be tinted exprofeso with a tintometric machine. After applying the finishing layer with a brush and assemble the tailstock again: