Preserving a lathe for long-term storage?

When my grandfather died a few months ago, he kindly left me his Myford Speed 10 lathe and a variety of accessories (milling adaptor, etc). I would love to have this set up in my own workshop, but at present this is merely a garden shed that's mostly used for woodwork and also has to act as storage space. There is no room to install the lathe. In time, I expect to be able to build a larger workshop with space for standing tools, so until then I want to box up the lathe and store it.

I have build a crate for it out of Contiboard, with a pair of 2x2 "skids" underneath to carry the weight (they're spaced correctly for the lathe feet to be screwed down onto). The crate will be kept in a dry but unheated garage, for anywhere from two to ten years. My question is, how should I best preserve the machine to avoid any deterioration during storage?

Currently my plan is to simply wipe it all down (around the headstock there's a lot of old grease, blackened from the belt dust) and then use a paintbrush to apply a light coat of general-purpose grease (I think the stuff in my shed is Carlube LM2). When the time comes to resurrect it, I'd dismantle and clean all the moving parts, and relubricate with the products recommended in the manual (or modern replacements).

Is this a good plan, or is there something else I should do instead or as well?

Thanks,

Pete

Pete: I once successfully stored a Myford ML7R in a draughty outside loo for four years, just by covering it with a generous coating of grease. I'd do the same in your box, and I would also add some Napier VP90, which should be available from your local gun shop. I have no connection with this company, apart from being a satisfied customer. Details at **LINK**

Pete,

When I moved house from the Yorkshire Dales, I had the same problem to overcome; in my case it was the entire workshop that had to be stored in an old chicken shed.

I coated all surfaces with grease and WD 40, then wrapped everything in cling film, making sure I had good contact onto the goo I had spread. Tools were individually treated and boxed in the many crates I built for the job, made mostly in shuttering ply. The larger equipment was taken to pieces for handling and coating in this way, as much for carrying them as anything else.

Storage was for one and a half years before I could begin to unpack it all and install it in a new workshop built inside the chicken shed [it is a large one]

I found one small patch of rust and only light at that on one unimportant tool, everything else was pristine.

Good liuck with the move

Brian

Edited By Brian Wood on 29/08/2014 16:22:05

DO NOT USE WD40

I can't begin to explain all of the very good reasons why not, suffice to say WD40 actually attracts water. I use THIS product from Cromwell for all my bright steels and such like but a good thick layer of grease is good. Everywhere.

graham.

We used to use a shell product called ensis fluid in my old job when we wanted to store large machined rollers outside. Its supposed to be good for protecting metal stored inside for 60 months or outside for 24 months. Its commonly used on oilrigs for protection of bare metals , or so i am told.

Pete, I stored my lathe, plus all my other garage/workshop stuff outside for two years following a house move before I could get my workshop in a fit state to move into. All the garage/workshop stuff was packed into boxes, the lathe had just been oiled prior to removal. All were placed on pallets so they were off the ground and covered with plastic sheeting. It all survived OK! Without the lathe rusting at all! In very rainy weather!

Oil the all parts well, make sure it is well off the ground and well covered. You should be OK.

Chris

Hi,

Warco sell some "Corrosion Preventative" spray. They claim it protects the machine from 3 months (outdoors) to 12 months indoors. Might be worth a look - and is a good price.

Cheers,

Mike.

Hi,

I have used Waxoyl, the car underbody protection stuff with great success. It seems to be white spirit based and it kept my trusty old Holbrook in rust free condition for 4 years. It is removed with white spirit. Available in gallon cans (or the metric equivalent) from most high street car accessory shops.

Thanks for all the advice. Ideally I want to get the thing boxed up tomorrow as I will be passing by the garage in question tomorrow night. So I think I will just go with the grease as I have it to hand and nobody thinks it's a terrible idea. The lathe has survived ok in my grandfather's workshop for the last ten years or so without, as far as I know, any special preparation since he stopped using it.

Cheers,

Pete