MBF Rel230 teardown begins

I have now begun the rebuild process for the first of three MBF's that I hope to get three perfectly functioning machines from, but I'll settle for two. One of the MBF's waiting to be worked on is actually in extremely good physical and mechanical condition so I am leaving that alone for now. It is the one on top in the photo below.

Once I complete the MBF's I will be restoring a GW-2. Here it is dis-assembled and awaiting its turn.

I started work on MBF #1 by removing the end cap from the arm so I could remove the yoke and motor. It's best to take off the blade guard next. The cords will be replaced, so I cut the cord to remove the yoke and motor assembly in its entirety. The base and table can now be taken apart from the column base. The column base is held by four bolts, most of these bolts require 1/2" rachets or wrenches to remove them.

Most importantly, like a forensic investigator I bagged and labeled EVERY single item I removed from the machine since its likely this will take a few weeks of work as I can't work on it continuously. This way my memory won't be taxed. I am also taking many photos for the full article i intend to write on this process. I will post some in the blog as well.

As the motor and yoke assembly will require the most work, I decided to take the column apart first.
I sprayed PB Blaster on all the hardware and let it sit during dinner before I attempted to remove the hardware. The column base comes off first. BE CAREFUL HERE, there are two set screw dog bolts that have lock nuts on them gently loosen the lock nuts first then you can remove the set screws using a 5/32 Allen wrench. You should have a helper to hold the arm while you remove the column base so as NOT to bend the base or dent the column as the arm falls forward!

There are two normal bolts that come off next. The base should slide off the steel key easily unless its rusted, this one came off easily after some light twisting of the base. Then I removed the steel key-way from the column, it comes off easily, there are three Philips head screws that hold it in place.

Since I was anxious to use the sandblaster I decided to blast clean the MBF base, the column base, end cap and blade guard. The MBF base is a LOT of work as there are a lot of sides given all the interior support steel.

These are primed with Rustoleum professional grade metal primer (rattle cans). You may notice the blade guard is metallic silver (if you can't, then just trust me on that). The color scheme for this machine will be gloss black with a metallic silver trim (end cap and blade guard).

I had vinyl decals made to match the warning on the blade guard. The DeWalt on the end cap will get the same red as in the warning decal. I am also going to attempt to match the balls and pulls to the same red.

This was three days work, nights really. One night to take apart everything noted above, sand blast the column base and blade guard. I then wiped the guard and base clean with acetone, let them dry for an hour and primed them with the first coat. The second night I sandblasted the end cap and the base, the base took over an hour and a half!! There are 13 outward facing edges, and 17 inward facing. I am not looking forward to doing this two more times! I then cleaned those parts with acetone and primed the prior two with their second coat of primer. I gave the newly cleaned parts their first coat of primer. Tonight I primed the second set of parts with their second coat of primer and gave the blade guard its first coat of metallic silver. The rest of the night was spent dis-assembling the GW-2 so I could bring it downstairs to the shop.

I'll have another update in the next day or two.