Metal Coolant Tanks ..... and rust !!

[Darren]

Being nice and sunny here today I decided to take the coolant tank from my lathe and give it a good clean up.

Having found a good inch of  oily congealed mush sitting in the bottom gave me ideas that the base would be rust and more importantly rust hole free.

Bah! not so, nothing too bad just a few small holes here and there that are very isolated. i.e. the rust has not spread it's just in the small holes. There are about five holes roughly 3-6mm in diameter. So easily fixed with a spot of welding to fill them in.

There are some other areas that have started pitting, so I was thinking that maybe it's time for this unit to visit the de-rusting tank and a re-paint for a proper clean up. If only to give a barrier to fill the pits in.

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=1651.msg16451#msg16451

My question is, what does soluble oil do to paints? Will it attack the paint at all?

I was thinking of using polyurethane floor paint ..... of course  

[Bernd]

Darren,

I think that would work, the paint that is. How long? Who knows.

I do have an idea though. If I was going to fix the tank I would use fiberglass. Clean the tank good and line it with fiberglass cloth or matting in a fiberglass resin. The kind they make fiberglass cars out of. Might be a bit of work in the short run, but may last forever.

Bernd