The big decision was just how far I wanted to go with this. Did I want to just do a little cleaning, oil the right places, or get into something leaning towards a restoration project? I began thinking I just wanted to do a "reasonable amount of cleaning" and focus on quickly getting it into service, but as I began cleaning I realized that it really needed some serious attention and that assemblies needed to be removed to clean things properly. Then the decision was made to paint some of the covers and castings and away we went.

These pictures (and comments) may be helpful to someone else who tackles this kind of project. They may, even more importantly, be helpful to me when I start putting this thing back together!

On the subject of paint, bearings, and other aspects of restoring machinery, take a look at the Vintage Machinery Wiki. In particular, this led me to this interesting article on high quality brush painting.

Well, here it is -- I have already removed the motor and belt, as well as the headstock cover and the shaft and pulleys that the motor would drive.

Here are two "substances" that I am using or planning to use. Almost everything is getting soaked or scrubbed with kerosene and I am getting used to the smell. I picked out a light off-white paint, and as soon as I figure out how to get the oily lathe parts ready to be painted I will be brushing this on.

Here is a view, for the record, of the heastock and spindle. Notice that I have managed to remove the 3 jaw chuck, which was firmly stuck when I got it. A week of letting Kroil soak into the threads (and just a little bit of it) made this an easy job.

Here is a picture of the left side of the headstock, showing the "banjo". The idea here is that the leftmost large gear can be removed and flipped over to mesh with either the inner or outer gears on the dual cluster above and below.

Another view of the banjo.

And yet another view.

And here is a closeup of the motor pivot assembly from the left. Notice all the filth and crud.

And below is a view of the motor pivot assembly from the right.

Now we have removed the "quick change" accessory, which comes off quite easily (remove two bolts and slide it to the left) taking the banjo with it. This gives access to the pivot bolt for the motor rack, allowing it to be removed also.

A birds eye view of the headstock with cover removed.

A view from the front.

A view from the right.

And here we have propped a board securely in the rafters and arranged to use it as a hoisting point to lift the right side of the lathe. The idea here is to remove, clean, and paint the "stand" on the right side, then repeat the process on the left side (which will be distinctly heavier). There are certainly other ways to do this, and this did not (as I had hoped) prove to be an easy and convenient way to do this all by myself. Once I remove the "stand", I will probably lower the lathe onto some blocks of wood -- suspending it like this allows the screws that hold the base to be removed without flipping it over (dangerous, if not impossible).