Bed is primed

I got to a coat of primer on the lathe bed today. The hardest part was smoothing the ports. The casting is actually rather rough and the ports are not always even. I used body filler to smooth them out. I ordered some Evercoat Rage Gold and found it much easier to use. I've tried several body fillers including Bondo, Napa lightweight filler, and USC Body Icing. In general, I've learned not to go to an auto parts store to buy body filler. The professional stuff is just so much better. It mixes easier and is much smoother and easier to apply. And, it sands so much easier than the other stuff I used. The USC Body Icing is probably good stuff, but I think the tube I got from Napa was very old. It should be thin, but mine was thicker than Bondo and too hard to use. I bought some Evercoat glaze to use as well. Also much better than the tube of old body icing.

Tailstock pedestal shelves are done

I finished the tailstock pedestal shelves. They are mahogany with quite a few coats of wipe-on polyurethane. I screwed them blind from the bottom so no hardware shows. If I ever have to remove them I'll have to either lift the lathe really high or remove the pedestal. I don't know why they did not originally have a bottom shelf.

I fixed some imperfections in the chip tray finish and re-coated those places. I've found it's best to let the paint dry two whole days before over coating. I've had some problems when I repaint after only one day. So, I'll do the final paint on the chip tray on Sunday. I also worked on the risers. They have a very rough finish on them, so I'm smoothing it with body filler to get a super smooth, shiny finish. Again, I think this will make it easier to keep clean.

Pedestal shelves and painting progress

I have a left-over piece of mahogany and I'm using it to make the shelves in the tailstock pedestal. It originally had two particle board shelves, but they are in poor shape and pretty ugly. Once stained and finished, this will look pretty nice. I'm going to screw them in from underneath so no hardware will show rather than the headless bolts they originally used. I did put a bottom shelf in as well. Not sure why they didn't other than the problem of cutting notches for the bolts, which was pretty easy to deal with.

Aside from that, the door and the bottom of the chip tray are done. I'm flipping the chip tray today to do the top.

More painting: door and chip tray

I've been busy with work and have not gotten as much done lately. I did get another coat of paint on the bottom of the chip tray and the tailstock pedestal door. That door has been my nemesis for some reason. It's the only place I've had problems with paint wanting to wrinkle on me, always when putting the clear coat on. I had to really sand down to remove a bad coat, so I'm giving it extra time between coats. This is hopefully the last pass of the almond. I can't get back to this until Sunday, so that gives it a few days to ensure the almond is completely dry before I try the clear again.

I'm also starting to look at assembling the pedestals. I bought new pads from Enco and I'll try to get them installed pretty soon. I also have a nice piece of mahogany left over that I plan to use for the tailstock pedestal shelves.