Workshop going into storage - Rust Prevention?

Dear all

As part of the house move, the workshop and tools need to be packed away and into storage for a few months. The lathe and mill I can manage, but all the tools, cutting tools and models (some built and some in progress) will need to be packed into large plastic crates. What can I add to the crates to prevent rust??

Kevin

There is an impregnated paper that can be put in tool drawers etc and which releases the agent to prevent rust.

I forget the name of the product but I have seen it discussed on this site, so you should be able to find it in a search.

Found it: [quote from SoD]: "..........a designed VPI/VCI [paper] product, which can be had with a MIL-SPEC. "

Or mothballs appear to be effective?

Put 'rust' into the search box at the top of this thread and look for a thread about 'what to spray onto your tools to prevent rust' or words to that effect.

Edited By John Doe 2 on 21/11/2022 10:04:24

I came across this link for VPI paper from Chronos only a couple of days ago

**LINK**

Rod

Edited By Roderick Jenkins on 21/11/2022 10:16:04

Kevin,

I had this problem 23 years ago when we moved to our present house. My solution was to spray everything with WD40, wrap individually in clingfilm and stow in plastic boxes to fill them as full as careful packing allowed. Spray again and tape the lid shut.

Some of these boxes remained sealed for nearly 3 years and had to be stored in a damp building. The contents were still in top condition when I unpacked them.

When I worked at Rolls Royce Aero they had their own solution which they called sozzle in which everything metallic was dipped. It was a paraffin solution of lanolin at a fairly high concentration making the gloop close to a jelly like consistency. That treatment worked well with the export of service tools and the like to the tropics.

Regards Brian

I have stored motor bikes for 10 years and longer with nothing more than WD40 sprayed over the chrome and bare metal parts with no corrosion. Ditto for tools. Not the UK climate, but high-humidity tropical coastal environment with about 2 metres of rain a year.

Ketan at ArcEuroTrade has VCI pads for tool protection.

I have just returned to my workshop after some eighteen months and found that a number of items, tools and machinery, have aquired a hopefully light coating of rust. My fault, I should have taken better precautions prior to having the surgeon take a Dremmel tool to my spine. He did a fine job but now I have to get the workshop back in commission. Any prompts as to an easy and quick way to wipe away this beastly surface rust would be a bonus.

Cheers chaps and chapesses.

Mike

My memory of Sozzle was as a tractor laying-up fluid made by Silkolene. We used it for protecting bikes through the winter. It would take anything that the Britsh roads and weather could chuck at it. Come the spring you washed it off with Guck. Whether it was called Sozzle or if it is still available is another matter.

About 15 years ago I bought some VPI paper, Corotex, at a show. It worked a treat on iron and steel but produced a green film on brass and bronze. Getting fed-up with polishing this off brass and bronze I looked at the manufacture's website and found it was not recommended for copper alloys. So I phoned the company, Metpro Group, and spoke to a technical sales person who could not have been more helpful. He suggested I used their special plastic bags suitable for storing iron and copper alloys. So I bought a large box of these bags from one of their distributors and have been happily using them ever since. However looking at the Metpro website it appears that they have sold their metal protection business.

JA

I stored my workshop in a container for 18 months.

I had minimal problems, but I:

Out as much as possible into sealed plastic boxes (in dry weather)

Used anti-rust treatment on slideways, and used water dispersing oil on less critical items.

Wrapped machine tools in many metres of VCI paper.

Put a large tub of dehumidifier crystals in the container.

Avoided opening the container in wet weather.

Opened it for a change of air about once every month or two.

Hope that's useful,

Neil

I use ACF50 for rust protection during storage, it’s not cheap but it works. Used it in the military where it was only known by a MIL number, if its good enough for the military, it’s good enough for my little bits and pieces.

+1 for ACF50. I've used it for many years and it's excellent. The manufacturers also claim that it's benign to various rubbers and plastics - certainly I've had no problems, even when I've sprayed it on various automotive multi-pin connectors.

I also used ACF 50 when I stored my entire workshop in a steel container when we moved house, it was in there in very damp weather on a very damp farm. But after four months I was relieved to find no rust at all and it also needed just a wipe to remove, no damage to paintwork.

Try and protect any open electric motors, the one on my Myford tripped the RCD but was ok after drying out , at least I presume it was condensation, still fine five years on.

I got my ACF 50 from Demon Tweeks on ebay, I think in a 2L bulk container and used a hand sprayer and cloths to apply.

Kevin and others,

Many years ago, I saw a number of various items being unpacked by fellow soldiers and noticed how very well packed. Sealed in thick polythene, as I recall. I think some sort of brown rust proofing paper was also used. Metal items stored for months came out bright and shiny as the day that they were packed. After half a century, it's a little difficult to recall exact methods and materials were used. I have since packed away little used tools wrapped in Vapour Phase Inhibitor paper from one of our suppliers. Works perfectly, but the items concerned also have the benefit of a dry warm atmosphere in the CH house. Things that I'm referring to, are e.g.,  Myford equipment rarely used like a vertical slide, taper turning attachment, the multi -station carriage stop. Other, non - Myford items as well. Glass bottles of steel screws, nuts and bolts, nails, all have a slip of VPI paper included, even though stored in the house. Cardboard box of silver steel is lined with VPI paper.

Don't store any ferrous items in contact with cardboard. If it gets damp and especially if the cardboard was made using Thames water, it will rust, even if items were chrome plated. This happened to a company who kept their stock in an unheated brick built store. I keep  small pieces of steel stock in a plastic box with VPI paper. Only non -ferrous kept in a tin plated steel container and with no VPI paper, as I also found it went green - verdigrease?? 

Edited By DMB on 21/11/2022 17:14:11

Edited By DMB on 21/11/2022 17:15:40

I have had good results with Shell Ensis fluid or Waxoil from Halfords. Cutting tools well oilded in sealed plastic bags also seems to work. You may have difficultiy obtaining Ensis in small quantities

Many, many years ago MEng did a test on this subject.

Three-in-one oil came out way ahead of all the other fluids used to provide protection against corrosion.

ACF50 is akin to WD40 and several others which help to stop the rust forming. As I recall, the Navy used to use WD40, but changed to a cheaper product, maybe ACF50 back in the 70's. Waxoil is similar to some types of ensis fluid but easier to obtain, very effective, but a pig to remove afterwards.

Edited By old mart on 21/11/2022 17:59:11

Problem with WD40, Duck oil and many others is the gungy deposit that is left behind when it dries. Waxoil is not really meant to be removed, it is meant to be sprayed into car sills etc and left alone. Last time I tried to obtain Ensis oil the minimum quantity was a fifty gallon drum, again another horrible stuff to remove.

Unless they've changed the recipe, Waxoyl can be cleaned off with white spirit. It's easier in warm weather.

First of all it would be good to know what the storage conditions will be, as well as the location. Reasonably warm, with low humidity is the key - the rest are substitutes for proper controlled storage conditions.

For my workshop, the temperature rarely drops below 10 degrees Celsius unless the humidity is kept pretty well close to, or below, 50%. The temperature rarely, if ever, drops below 5 degrees C, and never below dew point. I take no other precautions and have not suffered any corrosion problems.

All rust prevention costs money. Currently, my dehumidifier is set to run for one hour each night and I am running a Chinese diesel-powered air heater for about half an hour most days. Electric power is costing about 7p and the oil burned is from stock bought a long time ago. But that is for my whole workshop, not a few tools and cutters

If I were to need to store my valuable stuff, I might buy up a load of these vacuum storage bags (for clothes) for tucking into sealed boxes with some form of desiccant added to each of the bags and the boxes, before sealing. Lightly oil items before storage, or spray with something like diluted Waxoyl and allow to ‘dry’, and the items should be good for years. The desiccant would likely be carefully pre-dried silica gel in large sachets. Over-kill, but effective. And it would put my Edwards high-vacuum pump to good use.

An alternative might be to coat with the stuff the Chinese coat their machinery with, before sending it around the world?