Restore Along Part 9
Note from Julia: First, and most importantly, my thanks to April and Carmon Henry for allowing me to share Tulip's makeover. I know it's not something that's usually shared on their site. My original post was just some of my notes to myself from a few days' work which I shared, but I didn't think there would be much interest. Thank you to those who are following the makeover and cheering us along the way; Tulip, and I appreciate it! This is my first total tear down, but it won't be my last.
We are happy that Julia has taken the time to document the process of restoring Tulip. If you are joining in on the fun, you can catch up on the last Restore Along here:
Previous Post: Restore Along Part 8: Picking The Right Red
Picking up where she left off, Julia is cleaning more parts today. As an organizational aid, she selects unlike parts to clean at the same time, so nothing gets misplaced. So far, this policy has been working out great for her. Although Julia did lose two screws at one point, it was only temporary, and she found them later mixed in with some other parts. Not a bad track record, considering the number of tiny pieces on the Featherweight!
Julia has a few favorite tools for her cleaning process. The electric toothbrush makes light work of all the scrubbing of these tiny parts that must be done. Q-tips are excellent for fine polish work as well, but her secret weapon is the sewing needle she happened to find in her magnetic sewing dish. The sewing needle comes in handy for picking out old, dried oil from little embossed letters on these parts.
Some "before and after" photos - look at the difference in these Take-up Lever parts!
"Before and After" on more screws
Throughout the day, Julia keeps a running count of how many pieces she is currently working on. She does this by writing the number of parts she should have right on her shop towel, so there is less chance of losing or misplacing any of them.
Julia has written seventeen as the number of parts on her shop towel to keep track of the tiny pieces.
Seventeen parts go into the sonic cleaner, seventeen come out. Julia oils the clean parts and gets them right into baggies labeled, "cleaned and oiled."
Finally, Julia lays out all her shop towels, which she has kept, and thoroughly inspects them. She makes sure there are no parts stuck to them before discarding the towels. It won't do to have Tulip's parts ending up in the dirty towel bin!
Carefully keeping track of Tulip's parts requires meticulous attention to detail, but it will make Julia's job much easier when the time comes to put Tulip back together.
After the day's work is done, Julia notices her "dirty parts" tub looks a little less full. She thinks she sees the light at the end of the tunnel.
There is still a ways to go, but progress is progress, and this is a labor of love. We'll see you next time as Julia's restoration of Tulip continues.