I have an Index Model 50 that I bought at a yard sale about 20 years ago. It was built in 1948, and spent a good part of it's life at a High School in Oak Park, IL. It is 3 phase powered and I built a home made converter to run it on! I love how solid and powerful that old mill seems. It has very little wear, and everything works like new. I'm looking at the differences between your 40 and my 50, There are some that I can see right away. Watching your videos is making me think about cleaning mine up and making it pretty too! Thanks!

Thanks for the video keep on keeping on.

It's interesting to see the different methods manufacturers used to build these machines.

I like the private swimming pool for the table. That's a good idea.

Mark, it's good to see you reusing lumber. My shop is 24x60, and I covered a little over 1-1/2 of the walls with shelves made from scrap lumber. I got permission from folks at a couple construction sites to take and reuse deconstructed, but not necessarily de-nailed lumber. My shelves are 24" wide, and reach about 7'. They are mostly plywood shelves, but I was forced to use waste-of-wood, I mean wafer wood for some, but it was plenty strong.

Mark, lots of disassembly and cleaning, but it'll be nice to see it painted and operational.

Hi Mark, Cleaning and striping the old paint rust and gunk is the worst...but sure pays off. Evaporust is magic stuff, I've used the other methods, but on machined surfaces it's the best and safest....well worth the cost. I use a lot of oven cleaner on tough grease, it even removes most paint. It's toxic stuff PPE is required, can't believe Grandma actually used it on the oven..Lol. Enjoying the project, that's an interesting mill. See you next week, ATB.....

Doing the necessary work before the fun work starts! I think this series will be very rewarding for you as well as us.

5 decades ago I worked a summer helping rebuild Mack truck engines. We used a high pressure steam Genny with detergent. It stripped the paint and grease really fast. Because the part became really hot it dried in minutes. I have not seen a machine like it since. The heater ran on diesel fuel and had a blower like an oil furnace.

Nice work it take a lot of work to get the older machines back to what they should be. Thanks for the video. Your doing a great job!!

For Evaporust to work it should be free on any oil or grease & other things like that. I always wash it down with brake cleaner & let it dry.

On the drive screws, use the Dremel to slot the head, blade screw drive to unscrew. They are screws, they just have a fast pitch...

I am excited about this project. That is going to be a beautiful mill when it’s done. I’m a touch envious but I think that’s to be expected. If you’re up for it I have a shop recommendation that think you’ll dig. I recently mounted my 4x6 band saw on one of those 500Lb harbor freight hydraulic lift tables. I did it so that I could better fit the saw under a workbench but the final work height when fully raised if perfect for me and I’m 5’11”. I used some 5 inch risers to weld the bolt tabs to so that I could easily clean under the saw and for using some scrap rectangular tube It kind of ended in ergonomic perfection.

It was expensive but I bit the bullet and bought 10 gallons of Evaporust and put it into a dedicated container for soaking up to medium sized parts because it works so much better when the parts are submerged overnight. I haven't had to build a custom container (yet) but that technique's in my bag of tricks when it's needed. FWIW. I bought a water blaster kit from Valley Industries and hooked it to a pressure sprayer and along with Pool Filter Sand for an abrasive it does as good of a job as a sandblaster without the silicosis hazard. You do need a powerful pressure sprayer - the common homeowner class machines aren't powerful enough (mine is 3200 psi, 2.7 gpm and is just over the threshold of adequate).

Thanks for another amazing video.

nicely done winky

Looking good! I use evaporust all the time. I broke down and orderd a 5 gallon bucket, a little cheaper that way. See you on the next one!

looking good, following you along in this project, cheers from Orlando, FL, Paul

Thanks for the episode! I thought those helical gears in the spindle were interesting, I had never seen any like that. Your machine looks to be a really nice find. I personally may well have gone crazy finding the grease filled access screws in the screw. The flex coupling is also cool. Evaporust is the best non-destructive rust remover I have found. Mark, now you have me walking around the shop saying “I like it”! Love your content.

A very satisfying video, Winky these old machines have such a solid beauty about them.

Thanks for sharing

Looks like your head casting is broken the same place mine did, behind the quill clamp. Sure looks brazed to me, I think they all broke. I haven't seen many close up, but so far almost every one is broken there. I had to buy a whole power quill unit, as some of mine was missing. So i have a spare part or 2, if any of yours are messed up. Interesting how they drilled that lead screw to bolt the quill nut on isn't it? Ian showed that on his mill. I hope your going to engineer a power X unit, and some DROs I have not found anyone that will sell me a DRO with the correct length meters, and they don't want to open boxes i guess. If you find one, i am hoping to get a set on mine. Some people have drilled and put them on the back, but mine does not have the factory rulers, so that location is perfect for the meters. Only issue is the X is on the front, but i don't have an issue with it. Are you going to put some chip blankets on yours? Mine doesn't have it now.

I love restoring old iron! But it’s an awful lot of work! But so worth it!

good work Mark !

As long as you have the quill out, if you want you can send it to Wells-Index and they will regrind the taper from #3 Morse to R8, I had them do mine years ago

Great job again will be nice to see it finished I think it will be a good machine.👍👍👍

I have a Wells-Index model 645. They did major evolution of the design from your Model 40. I did purchase a copy of the manual from the manufacture in Michigan, but I'm really disappointed with the quality, they are copies of copies so lots of poor contrast pages, especially in the drawings. Mine has an R8 spindle taper, my memory say's these older models are Brown and Sharp. I know for a big $$ the factory will regrind it to R8. Might be worth calling them for a quote vs trying to find BandS tooling tapers. And this is probably why this machine was put aside unless you got all sorts of tooling with it. I did buy new spindle bearings 5 years ago from Locate Ball Bearings, and they were new olds stock New Departure. They had the matched set for the angular contact, as well the top bearing. It was $262 with shipping. Good to see old iron kept alive.

Your idea worked great 👍

looking at a Model 40 manual, that little Gal weighs in at about 1,250 lbs....looking great....Paul in Orlando

Looking forward to seeing the episode’s

Nice job 👍. Evapo rust works real good. I think you will be happy with it.

7:15...nice little swimmin' pool

For degreaser, use ZEP floor stripper. It’s miles better than any other product that’s actually labeled as a degreaser. No idea why that is, but it’s a fact lol.

Find a piece of pipe or Square tubing that will fit the piece you want evapo-rust that works pretty good.

TRABAJOS DE RECUPERACION PERFECTO

...that is a lot of work .

This looks like a great restoration. Will you have the bed reground? Is it flat and true as is?

a mix of citric acid an water works just as well just takes a little longer

What did you do to Index serials and speeds plates? looks brand new

16:00 that is a very serious look you have......

You need an ultrasonic cleaner if you plan on doing more restorations.

Any concerns about the Environment?

I am in oz so evoparust is foreign to me----is it solvent based---regards E

In Pennsylvania dumping any solvent, let alone all you did, into the ground is highly illegal. I hope you or your neighbors don’t have well water.

Please, please use proper gloves and arm protection when welding, particularly when TIG welding. Stick and flux core partly shields you from the intense ultra violet produced. But not completely. TIG gives no protection at all. Even if you don’t weld all day, this UV exposure is cumulative. One guy - Jimbo’sGarage, had cancer cut out of his arms a few years ago. I’ll give you a guess from what. Some guys tell me; “Well, well, I only do that occasionally, so it’s ok!” But it’s not. You don’t know what condition your skin is in regarding exposure to sunlight and other UV emissions. But the UV from welding is so much more intense than any of those, that it could be just enough to push you over the limit. It’s not worth the risk. As for EvapoRust, or any other surface rust removal method. Be careful about mating, sliding precision surfaces. No matter what some say, it does remove a slight amount from fresh, clean steel and CI. This will change the fit of those surfaces, as will any cleaning with ScotchBrite.