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With the little mill pretty much taken apart, I started in on the task of cleaning decades of grease and grime off of the parts in preparation for painting and reassembly. I started out with 3 gallons of "Purple" degreaser in a rubbermade tub. I rotated parts through the degreaser bath and worked on them with a scrub brush to remove as much grime as possible.
It appears the mill had been painted over at one time, as I've found areas with a darker gray, with a blue tint to it under the gray paint. So now I don't feel quite as bad about repainting it myself, as it wasn't original anyway.
The knee sharing a bath with some other parts and pieces. The purple cleaner wasn't all that purple by this point, more of a brown, rusty color.
The knee after it's first round of cleaning. A lot of progress, but still a way to go, especially on the inside near the miter gear mount.
The table after a round of cleaning. Much better. In the background, 2 of the lead screws and the Z-axis crank shaft housing after they'd been cleaned.
The base after some cleaning. The base was probably the dirtiest piece of the bunch, having caught cutting fluid and who knows what for all these years.
The serial tag removed from the column. I nicked it up in a couple places while trying to grind off the drive screws. The paint and lettering were in such good shape, there was no way I'd take a chance with the brass tags in the degreaser bath!
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