Benchmaster Rebuild - Page 9

Painting of the parts continued. The underside of the base was painted gray to seal it up. The column was stripped of all the old paint to prepare for painting. Also, I drilled and tapped #6 sized holes just below the old drive-in screws (or the nubs left over) that held the serial number plate and distributor's logo plate. The original drive-in screws had to be ground off to remove the plates for degreasing, paint stripping, etc, so they'll be replaced by pan head, stainless steel screws. Once that was ready, the column was moved into the basement, primed, and painted.

While waiting for the primer to dry, I also finished cleaning out the tapered roller bearings and repacked them with fresh grease. The spindle was installed into the housing and brand new SKF seals from Ebay were installed to replace the original felt seals that had disintegrated over time.

The column with a coat of smoke gray paint. Looks pretty good compared to where it started.

The spindle housing with freshly packed bearings and new rubber seals installed along with the overarm mount.

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