Another Newbie w/ Questions

[da3vcnc]

I bought a used Taig CNC Milling machine, and am getting ready to get ready to set it up. It didn't come with any documents, so I have been using http://www.cartertools.com/millset.html and http://www.cartertools.com/millset2.html. Everything seems to make sense, but I have a couple of questions about the first step. In the section on attaching the column to the base, I see the suggestion to "Clean the mating surface well before assembling."

Clean with solvent? If so, what would you suggest? Alcohol? Acetone? Kerosene? Something with a brand name that comes in a spray can? Or just "wipe it real good with a clean shop rag?"

I live in central Florida, and my setup will be in a non-air-conditioned space, which means the ambient humidity will be roughly 200% or so. Do I now need to protect these freshly cleaned surfaces with some oil/grease/WD40 before assembly to prevent rust, or will that provide too much lubrication, and defeat the whole purpose of cleaning the surfaces in the first place?

The journey of 1000 miles starts w/ a single step. I'm pretty sure that once I get past this first one, it will be smooth sailing. :-)

Thanks for your help,

-Dave

[Jeff-Birt]

Use the mildest solvent that will work. I've used 98% alcohol and both kerosene in the past. One may work better than the other depending on what type of gunk your cleaning.

Any bare metal surface will need a film of light oil to keep it from rusting. A lot of folks use automatic transmission fluid for the screws and ways, I woudl probably use 3-in-1 on other metal surface though.