Refurbishing a uss-8-64 (Photos)

[SquareTopCollector]

I picked this machine ( Middle one in pic) up at a yard sale for 40 bucks a year ago and just sat on it. The compressor was shot and I felt the machine was not worth the investment of a new one. Last week I picked up a working uss-8-64 and removed the cooling unit and parted out the rest. ( thanks Joey and Pat for doing business with me). I always liked this model of the uss-8-64, I think its the last year of the bottle door cavaliers. I am refurbishing this machine not restoring it because I feel its not worth restoring a machine that isn’t worth much but I do like it so I would like to see it functional and halt any further rusting. There is still the possibility that I will restore it because I have access to a commercial sand blaster and paint booth but I am looking for a round top to invest my time and money on.



I started to break the machine down on monday and found out that the bottom of the machine was really rusted out underneath the paint. I still had the other uss-8-64 case and I did think about cutting it in half and welding the two halves together but again thought the machine was not worth that much time. I then thought about cutting out the entire piece and welding in a new sheet of metal. I was about to do that when I had the idea of taking a copper brush attachment for a drill and removing as much rust as I could then taking Great Stuff foam in a can and filling in the gap between the drum and the rusted out metal to re enforce the metal sheet and add extra insulation. It ended up working great and the problem piece of sheet metal is very sturdy now. When the foam drys I am going to use a product called fast steel to cover the holes that expose the foam. I will then grind down the fast steel and paint the whole thing in rustoleum.

Bad rust


clean up



French fry break



back to work cleaning up




you can see how bad the rust was

Foam injection








Thats all for now. I will have to resand everything down tomorrow when the foam is dry then I will apply the fast steel

[collecture]

You might check out POR 15 - I have had good luck with it sealing small pin holes and have only heard positive feedback about it.
I believe it can be brushed or sprayed on.
Not sure how it would react with the foam though?

[halehouse]

POR 15 and FastSteel, are these typically available in auto supply stores and/or hardwares?

[SquareTopCollector]

I found the product at Homedepot

[collecture]

POR 15 website:
http://www.imperialrestoration.com/

I got the kit:
http://www.imperialrestoration.com/products.php?category=13#49
Get the Stirling Silver

[SquareTopCollector]

here is the finished product. Nothing pretty but its not going to continue rusting and its stronger than before