Polishing the way tubes

The tubes on this unit were really rusty. Not pitted and flaking, but rusty nonetheless. Faced with the task of derusting with chemicals or using abrasives or finding replacements, I decided to use abrasives.

I bought several sheets of wet/dry sandpaper, the type typically used to prepare cars for paint. Starting with 80 grit for the worst areas and moving up to 800 grit for the final polishing, I dreaded the task of hand sanding. But I dreaded using chemicals even more.

Then, I got an idea.

I have another Shopsmith so I bought a 1 1/2" expansion plug in the plumbing department at Lowe's. This fits inside one end of the tube. I replaced the bolt that came with the expansion plug with one about an inch longer so it would tighten in the chuck in the headstock. You can rig up an electric drill to do this if you don't have another Shopsmith or lathe.

Then, I had a length of heavy cardboard tube leftover from a replacement sliding door track. The way tubes fit perfectly inside the cardboard tube. I made a jig that would fit into my Workmate. I tightened the expansion plug in one end of a tube, tightened it in the chuck, and put the other end into that cardboard jig. 

Running the motor on its slowest speed, I used successively finer grits of wet/dry sandpaper and gradually polished them. They are not perfectly polished like might have come from the factory. They are, however, very much presentable. As with all bare metal parts, seal them with Johnsons Wax.