Recommendations for rust prevention?

Hello,

Having just gone through an insanely humid British... (summer?), it seems my poor brand new Chinese mini lathe has suffer a mild amount of surface rust. As a newbie, does anyone have any recommendations for rust prevention on non-oiled surfaces (chucks, top surfaces, etc)?

Many thanks in advance,

Tom

More oil! I get the same problems in my workshop, any thing which is bare steel will get a lick of gear oil...it seems to stick for quite a while than like WD40.

Spray-on lanolin.

ACF-50 is much favoured by the motorcycling fraternity

Bill

I get it off with scotchbrite (or the B&Q lookalike green scouring pads) and WD40. Takes it off as if it was never there.

I can't imagine anything I'd want to coat chuck or crosslide with - if it stuck it'd attract dust and swarf and be difficult to get clean, for example for precise location of chuck jaws and vertical slide - and if it didn't stick it'd be no good anyway.

Rightly or wrongly I use duck oil, but as mentioned before sometimes lots of sticky oil is less than desirable. More than anything I would say make sure it is covered with a breathable material, I use a couple of old bath towels. This helps to avoid condensation which in turn keeps the rust at bay. My Lathe has stayed rust free despite many years in my grandfathers unheated, partially underground workshop.

Condensation is as much to do with temperature change as humidity: warm damp air loses moisture to a cold surface.

Try and keep the lathe warmer than the air and/or damp air away from the lathe. A plastic cover would help do that, and a blanket is even better. Covers aren't too much bother on small machines. Keeping the lathe well smeared in grease or oil is a good idea because that keeps water droplets away from the metal.

Condensation is more serious in a damp poorly insulated outhouse or shed than inside a proper building. This is mainly because well insulated buildings don't suffer such big temperature swings, and may be heated or air conditioned as well. Also worth eliminating any obvious sources of damp, like combustion, rising damp, single skinned walls, or a leaky roof.

Dave

I know this may not work for some machines but thing like my bandsaw which has a cast table I give it a coat of paste wax and then buff it no only does it protect from rust but also helps with sliding things across it in my case at the moment mainly Wood. I also keep an electric greenhouse heater in the workshop to keep the temperature just above freezing and have not had any problems with any of my machines

I have a home made wooden shed as a workshop and have a dehumidifier running almost continually. I bought the dehumidifier second hand 28 years ago. When I first got the dehumidifier I monitored the power used ( I have KWH meter) and wasn't a lot, about 200 watt when on, its cycles on/off as required.I thought one has to decide whether you want a rust free workshop or not. Not intending to be the riches man in the church yard. John

Another vote for ACF-50, but it does leave a slightly greasy film on it, which may not be desirable? You can also try the disposable de-humidimiers the silica ones, cheap enough and pretty good just place near the machine

I am with you John, I run a dehumidifier at night on economy 7 and that with plenty of insulation keeps my freestanding workshop rust free. Can’t insulate enough with a workshop, helps to keep temperatures relatively stable, it’s fluctuations in temperature that help with depositing condensation which = rust.

Dave W

+1 for dehumidifier(s). As for rust removal, recent mentions of Lidl items could include Pattex spray cans of rust remover - VERY good! Don't know how long lasting the effects are, though.

rgds

Bill

Beeswax for things you are going to handle, unless you like the taste of grease on your biscuits. But not furniture or car polish which contain silicone. Never a plastic cover because they sweat but do cover with natural fibre blanket or sheet because they absorb the condensation that falls down. Yes condensation falls down. If you ever look at stuff that has been static in shed for a while the top surface is always worse than the rest.

Rust is like arthritis,and the man who finds the answer to one or the other,has his money made !!

How do I know ? Ask me !!

Try this,try that,try the other -------------?

Next question please ?

Yes I agree silicon free.

The paste wax that I use which is for furniture has no silicon in it the name is Woodwax22 supplied by Chestnut products.

If it's woodspoiling equipment, then wax can be your friend.

If it's metalspoiling equipment, then use the way oil that you use on the ways...

I use spray on lanolin and it has saved my machines from serious condensation many times !

This year was the worst and one morning i went out into the workshop early only to find my machines literally dripping wet , it looked like they had just been hosed down but the lanolin protected them .

The good thing with lanolin is it doesn't smell and is a natural product , the down side is once it dries you have to use a degreaser or wd40 to loosen it up especially if you have applied a heave coating .

I just spray some on some papre towel and wipe the machine over but in winter i tend to apply a heavier coat .

Yep, agree, way oil (or hydraulic 32 or 68 oil) on a paper towel wiped over any steel or iron surface.

Regards from the land of humidity...

Edited By thaiguzzi on 25/08/2018 09:41:26

Yes, this year, my normally rust proof shop contents have shown signs of light surface. East Anglia, U K

The shop, (10'9" x 6'9" external) is well insulated (50mm glassfibre between 19mm wooden outer cladding, 12mm ply inner. No windows, similarly insulated rubber roof, but with vent at high level in back wall, (weatherproof cover over intake for 6"fan) with two small fixed vents near to floor level.

The low level vents are important to allow the heavy moist air to escape.

In the old shop, the oil on the Myford used to go grey!. In this one moisture problems are almost unknown, put down to good insulation and ventilation. For winter (frosty) a 60 watt tubular heater under a bench is switched on to keep the temperature above ambient outside. After a day nor so, the steel benches even begin to feel warm.

Howard

Large wooden shed, no insulation, 5 litres of wd40, no rust, no mess. Giant spiders though.