Rust !

I bought a hand pump spray bottle of Camellia oil quite a few years ago from Axminster. They promote it as a rust preventant; it works for me and is easy and not too unpleasant to wipe off. There are plenty of other sources on Amazon, promoting it for cosmetic purposes, but whether it is really the same or not (and I'd be cautious about acidity/alkalinity) I don't know. I also use it to preserve newly machined/cleaned up ferrous parts.

For me, the key to preventing rust is avoiding high humidity/sudden temperature changes through a combination of good insulation including roof and floor (a friend uses insulation panels from insulated truck bodies; I'm a bit more posh and shelled out for rockwool slabs RW4 grade), gentle heating with a small oil-filled radiator on a low setting, and some high level vents to allow air to circulate. The insulation (especially in the roof) also helps to reduce solar gain on hot sunny days.

A side benefit of a dehumidifier is that it blows out slightly warmed and dry air that can help with keeping frost at bay in an otherwise unheated workshop.

Neil

About thirty years ago the late Basil Palmer gave me a litre of what was marked as "Duraphos" when metals is cleaned and a thin layer is applied with a rag it leaves a dull surface that does not rust. I treat everything prone to rust with it and is also a good primer for painting. I have no idea where this stuff came from or what it is, other that it works

Edited By Mikelkie on 11/01/2023 19:56:12

Further to my previous post here. Lots of tools are kept in various wooden and plastic boxes with Vapour Phase Inhibitor paper. Some Myford items like the divisions device are wrapped in a large sheet of VPI paper. Most are kept indoors, enjoying the benefit of the CH. I find that the VPI paper works well over a long period of time. I have got thick hedging plants growing up around the shed to shade it from the sun. Extra panels of polystyrene glued inside the roof to keep heat in during the winter and out in summer. Free panels of poly rescued from large packing in the past. Even the door has a thin frame around the inner perimeter to which I have glued and screwed 3ply with rockwool stuffing in the voids so formed.

Sounds like phosphoric acid.

regards Martin

I go with ACF50, and a rag which I keep specifically for the job is soaked in it. A good, regular rub down is all that is needed.

Most of us have draughty, inadquatly insulated and heated workshops so hve to make the best of what we have.

If you don't plan to use your tools and machines for a while look up Tygris or Rocol "green moisture guard". It leaves a very lightly waxy film barrier over the surface which moisture can't penetrate.

Good afternoon all.

My workshop is two storeys, with upstairs being a metal floor of around 1000 square feet. It's also colder than a dead Penguin's goodies in winter.

I protect my machinery with 68 weight slideway oil. I nearly always use suds when turning or milling, so at the end of the day I clean the machines & apply the slideway oil. Recently it's been positively dripping in the works on some days. Yet the moisture can't get through the oil. As it's intended to be used on machinery with coolant it's resistance to water wash is considerably better than a normal light oil.

Being a motorcycle workshop I'm familiar with ACF50. It's an excellent product, but it's cost is prohibitive for use as a machinery protector.

Cheers.

Stewart.

Hollowpoint, The Recoil 'Green' `I think used to used for freshly machined parts to keep them free of rust, I still have some courtesy of 'Tug'

Sorry about the spelling error it should read Rocol!

For steel to rust needs water (moisture ) and oxygen.

Removinbg oxygen from the aIr is impracticable and impossible.

A dehumifier reduces the amount bof water vapourv in the air,, and risk of condensation on the machines.

If the surface is kept above the dew point (Affected by the humidity ) there will be no condensation and less risk of rust.

If the surface can be kept warm, or the moisture prevented from condensing ontom nthe surface, rust will not occur.

Insultion slows thebrate of temperature changes.

Coating the surfaces so that moisture does not come into contract (Spsaying with oil is the obvious means ) covering with somethinbg which is inmpervious will all help.

In my old uninsulated shop, having sprayed the ML7 with oil, it would often be grey (Emulsified ) on my next visit.

In my insulated workshop (Walls, and ceiling ) this does not happen.

When it is frosty, a 60W tubular heater under the steel bench is switched on. After a day, the steel bench is warm to the touch.

The shop is small roughly 3 x 2 metres internally. Heating, when required, is by a 2 Kw fan heater.

The mini latrhe lived in the garge under a MDF cover, and is oil sprayed.

In neither case is rust a problem.

Do not use a combustion heaterr unless the products of combustion are ducted outside. For your safety, the fumes must be able to leak into the shop. So dry heat is the ideal.

Howard

I think you mean, ".... the fumes must not be able..."

For your own safety as priority, certainly; but also the products also include water-vapour so the machines etc will not appreciate it either.

In addition to the dehumidifier, wd40 and oil, something I picked up on these forums. I have my grandads WWII shipwrights tool box. There was always this smell that I could not identify until a post on these forums recommending of all things moth balls! I have continued to and mothballs every now and again and I still have no major rust issues.

It is the camphor oil in mothballs that is reputedly the above effect. In some ways there is a logic to it. If the oil readily vapourises (hence the smell) it will condense on colder items thus covering them with a layer of oil.

During the St Albans Society committee meeting yesterday one of the members who had just moved to a new-build house reported that the loft had 400mm of insulation - 16in. It does make boarding the loft more difficult.

I had a problem with rust on collets once (before i sealed up door gaps and installed heater and dehumidifier) and treated them to a soak in rust remover, which turned them a nasty dark grey colour (apparently draws the carbon molecules to the surface). Sent them off to someone who vapour blast’s carburettors for a living and they came back nice and shiny and covered in a thin film of this ACF50 rust inhibitor and I have used it ever since. Amazing stuff much better than WD40. Highly recommended!

Edited By Adam Harris on 21/02/2023 11:31:28

The problem with dehumidifiers I have found is that it passes the air over a cold surface to condense the moisture and in doing so blasts chilled air around the workshop which opposes the expensive efforts to warm the place up! Also dehumidifying is less effective obviously in cold weather when the difference in temperature twixt condensing plate and air is small.

Edited By Adam Harris on 21/02/2023 11:53:10

Duraphos is advertised on the net, it is apparently a Firearms Finish, the website is American and lists the prices in dollars, doesn’t appear cheap though. Dave W

Have you tried putting a thermometer on the output? My dehumidifier warms the air up by several degrees but it will feel cold on bare skin because it evaporates your perspiration faster than a plain fan would.

My humidifier (Challenge from Argos) does extract moisture well but blasts out noticeably cold air - I certainly am happy to defer to your knowledge that it raises the air temp slightly (albeit I have no idea how it could) but it definitely does FEEL very cold. Delighted to hear that it is not undermining my expensive efforts with the oil filled radiator, and I will just aim its fan away from me