# Filling pits and nicks in cast iron tables for smooth glide finish



## Mad (Dec 9, 2017)

What do you use the fill the pits and nicks and gouges in cast iron tables (such as table saws, shaper decks, etc) in order to achieve that glass smooth finish that floats material like a puck on an air hockey table?


_*Gray colored curing, two part catalyzed, self leveling liquid or cream epoxies?*_


Devcon Plastic Steel Liquid B 10211 ?
Loctite Steel Liquid 3472?
Loctite Epoxy Weld?
JB Weld Industrial?
Marine Tex?
Something else?




_*Gray colored curing, two part catalyzed, kneading putty or playdoh-like epoxies?*_


Devcon Plastic Steel A 10112 ?
Permatex Steel Weld 84332 ?
JB Weld Steel Stick?
QuickSteel?
Something else?




_*Dual port syringe applied two part catalyzed mixed at the tip epoxies?*_


Loctite Epoxy Metal?
Gorilla Epoxy?




*Soldering or brazing lower melting point fillers?*


Silver soldering?
Alloy brazing?
Something else?




Rust eats many a table saw table, and when we get a table saw used, it is how it is. A sea of rust pits. This particular table saw must have also been used as an anvil, for there are a few nail tip divots on the surface as well. I'd like to first get the table down bare... whether through high speed wire cup brush, a vinegar (acetic acid) or molasses (chelation) soak... a scotch brite pad on a random orbit sander... a 1,500 grit paper on a high speed (13,000 obm) small excursion block sander... any one of these techniques, or a combination thereof, to remove the rust and oxidation from the cast iron surface.


Then when only the pits and divots remain below the planar surface, I envisioned mixing a two part self leveling liquid epoxy, and troweling that over the entire table with a wide flat taper's knife, and to continue to trowel and press the epoxy into all the pits while scraping the excess away, until the surface plane is smooth and clean again, leaving what remains of the self leveling epoxy only in the pits. Whatever settles below deck won't get troweled away, and will thus fill the pits and divots.


A couple of days after the epoxy has fully cured, I'd go over the entire table again with a vibrating flat block with fine metal paper, perhaps even wetted with lubricant, to knock down any high spots from epoxy expansion while curing.


Has anyone done something like this?


Did you find that a different type of filler, such as a kneadable putty stick, or Bondo, or DuraGlass, worked better? Has anyone risked heating their table (potentially alleviating or realigning stresses that might cause the table to warp or crack when cooled) in order to flow some type of silver solder into the pits and divots?


I know there is always the option of leaving the pits and divots alone... but I am looking for reasonable and workable solutions to fill them, because they bother me. If it is possible to fill them, and if others have done so successfully, then I'd like to learn from that experience first, before reinventing a wheel.


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

Is it really a usability problem, rather than a cosmetic one? Unless its actually causing real, noticeable issues, leave em be.

If they are causing a usability problem, your epoxy plan sounds doable. Personally id use something like Bondo since leveling out metal is its main use. Whatever you do though, stay away from heating. Case iron *does not* like localized heat, it will crack. You would have to find a way to preheat the entire top, fill in the low spots with an appropriate filler, slowly cool the top to prevent cracking, then remachine the entire top flat since it wont stay that way. By that point, it would be cheaper and quicker to just get a new top. 

One other option is look for a machine shop in your area and have the saw top blanchard ground back to perfect flatness. Cost usually isnt horrible, and itd be the lowest effort way to end up with the best results


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

A little nick here and there won't affect the use of a machine. Wood doesn't hang on small defects. 

The overall smoothness of the top is all that is important. I bought a cheap harbor freight hook and loop sander and stick a piece of a scotch brite pad to it and use that to apply paste wax. While applying the wax it's polishing the surface at the same time.


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## Echo415 (Apr 3, 2018)

Last time I had a cast iron top to refinish...I just hit it with a bead blaster, polished the surface with a car buffer and a paste abrasive, and then waxed it. Any pits and divots just build the character of the machine IMO. If you fill them, you'll find yourself annoyed by the filler material making your table look like a leopard with all the spots being very obvious.


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

I highly doubt that anyone has takes the time/effort to fill the small problem areas of a table saw or other tool top. As said above, they really do not bother anything as long as the overall top is smooth.

If you want to fill in the ones on your tools then experiment and let us know what you do.

George


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## Jig_saw (May 17, 2015)

If you use your table saw regularly, you will never notice small nicks and dents. However, if you are not using it much and want to sell it, then it makes sense to improve its 'cosmetic' value. Epoxy fillers are available in any hardware store, but epoxy does not leave a smooth finish. Maybe you can sand it, I don't know.


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## _Ogre (Feb 1, 2013)

Mad said:


> that floats material like a puck on an air hockey table?


paste wax will make the material float

for rust/resurfacing flat cast iron use a 3m 4.5" bristle wheel on a 4.5" grinder
don't grind the table, just resurface it slightly or you'll mess up the flatness
hold the bristle wheel flat on the surface
amazon.com/3M-Abrasive-Scotch-Brite-Bristle-discs


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## Alchymist (Jan 2, 2011)

http://www.moglice.com/moglice.html

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...-inspection/use-moglice-machine-tools-288581/


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

Pitting cannot stop wood gliding above it.

I've been a big fan of JB Weld for years. Always pleased with the end result.
You will never see enough open working time to get it all mixed then trowel it around and scrape it back.
I'll dry fit all my parts then build. Squeeze-out gets carved away tomorrow with skew chisels.


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## gmercer_48083 (Apr 9, 2016)

Mad, I would sand until flat, clean with thinner, wax with johnsons wood paste wax, polish and use. The nicks mean nothing, and add character.


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## Mad (Dec 9, 2017)

I can see that I'm going to have challenges maintaining uniform table flatness while sanding, if I am to be successful at removing the accumulated and hardened surface scale that inhibits smoothness. How do people do this?


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## _Ogre (Feb 1, 2013)

you need to post up a pic of the surface


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

Mad said:


> I can see that I'm going to have challenges maintaining uniform table flatness while sanding, if I am to be successful at removing the accumulated and hardened surface scale that inhibits smoothness. How do people do this?



Sanding is not going to have any effect on the flatness of the cast iron table saw. Sand, scrape chisel or whatever you feel you need to do without worrying about table flatness.


Clean it up and then protect it from future accumulations.


George


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## subroc (Jan 3, 2015)

Has anyone ever silver soldered pits on a top as a filler material?


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

subroc said:


> Has anyone ever silver soldered pits on a top as a filler material?


I made a post about that in this thread, if you dont mind though im not going to copy/paste the entire thing. In short, heat+cast iron=bad


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## subroc (Jan 3, 2015)

epicfail48 said:


> I made a post about that in this thread, if you dont mind though im not going to copy/paste the entire thing. In short, heat+cast iron=bad


thanks


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## difalkner (Nov 27, 2011)

I wouldn't do anything to it, just don't worry about it. Here's how my table saw looked in 2011 when I picked it up from the shop I had loaned it to because I didn't have a place for it.








And after several months of hours and hours and hours of sanding, scraping, and cleaning it looked like this - 








It still looks like the second photo (you can see it often in my videos and other project photos). It isn't waxed and there's nothing else on it - just cast iron. And wood just glides on it, smooth as can be. 

David


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## hawkeye10 (Feb 18, 2015)

I had a jointer at one time that had a big dished out place on the infeed table. I used Bond-O on it and it worked good.


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## _Ogre (Feb 1, 2013)

that's enough to make a grown man cry :crying2:


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## Mad (Dec 9, 2017)

Alchymist blew my mind with the links on Moglice.


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## kentucky tom (Feb 19, 2017)

_Ogre said:


> that's enough to make a grown man cry :crying2:


Take to a machine shop that has a surface grinder adequate and have them work it over. Hope it's worth what you'll be charged? Other idea is to sand smooth with various grits mantaing flatness then coating with catalyzed metal filled epoxy\ urethane coating Tom

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Take it to an engine rebuilding shop*



kentucky tom said:


> Take to a machine shop that has a surface grinder adequate and have them work it over. Hope it's worth what you'll be charged? Other idea is to sand smooth with various grits mantaing flatness then coating with catalyzed metal filled epoxy\ urethane coating Tom
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk


Shops that rebuild engines have a dip tank that will remove any rust in my experience. It's way cheaper than surface grinding. Let's not go overboard with surface finishes here. The purpose of the table is to support the work, that's it. It should be as flat and smooth as possible, but need not be polished like glass. I don't know, but a powder coat may be a good solution. They heat the parts to around 300 degrees, spray on the powder coating and then cure it in an oven, if I recall the process. That amount of heat should not warp the cast iron, again if I am correct. Worst thing that may happen is the miter slots would be a tad snug .... :|


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## Pirate (Jul 23, 2009)

Just clean it up.
Anything you fill defects with, will only slow the wood down.


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