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Nichols Horizontal Milling Machine Rebuild, Part 5:



At this point it was time to roll it out front for some dirty work.



I hosed it down with a biodegradable paint stripper, and had at it
with both a putty knife and a pressure washer.



After several layers of paint were removed, I discovered a rather large number of
superfluous threaded holes, that that apparently been plugged with corks,
prior to its last paintjob. I have no idea why or what the holes were for.



It took several strip-and-hose cycles, but eventually most of it came off.
This gives a good idea of what was very probably the original grey.



It was slow going, but was still probably faster than a needle scaler,
 and far faster and less of a mess than a wire wheel.



I eventually managed to also get the machine data and old ID plates off.



At this point, additional applications of stripper weren't doing much,
so I figured I'd get the rest with razor blades and a wire wheel.



I also started patching up some of the spare holes. The larger ones were tapped
to 1/4" and 3/8" NPT, so I can only assume they must have been something like...
what, coolant drainback holes? But if so, why so many? There were over
a dozen all over the machine. It's not like there was anything inside
they were connected to...




At that point, out came the wire wheel to get rid of the last of the stubborn bits.



I then separated the column off the base, and started smoothing it off, too.






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