Stopping the dreaded rust!

[raynerd]

Hi guys, I'm just getting back into the new workshop after moving house and getting the shop in shape. I've just finished making a nice big arbour for 1" bore gear cutters. I'm pleased with it, my machining is improving - it looks good and does the job. However, like the other arbours and bits I've made over the last few years, I know it'll get used infrequently and like the others will start to rust up. It seems a shame. Do you guys do anything to stop this? I presume since the diameter of both the holding end and the cutter end are so critical, any surface finish on these will effect the fit. Is it just a case of boxing and oiling? What options are out there?

Look forward to your replies.

Chris

[Bee]

Plastic drainpipe to make a long container. Wrap rust inhibitor paper round it (Chronos) but renew periodically. Beeswax furniture polish rubbed over is nicer to handle than oil. Ditto Vaseline. Clear Waxoyle diluted with white spirits can be painted on and dries to a wax finish. Camphor balls (moth balls) are sometimes used in sealed containers too. There are some other products too available to protect inside containers.

[Lew_Merrick_PE]

Chris,

There is an (almost) joke here in western Washington State that, We don't tan, we rust!  A piece of CRS merchant steel left on a shelf around here will have all exposed surfaces evenly rusted in about a month.  My solution is to rub down all my bright iron or steel with carnuba based wooden floor wax.  I pulled a piece of CRS bar stock out of my rack a couple of days ago.  It had been purchased in 2007.  No rust.

Treewax is the most common brand here in the western U.S.  If I need to plate something after it has been waxed, a wipe-down with acetone does the trick.

[Stilldrillin]

Chris.
Any regularly used spanners, mill/ lathe tools,  etc. go in drawers and boxes. With an occasional, wintertime fuff of WD40.

Any other tooling. All chucks, MT/ R8 tooling, mill vices, angle plates, magnetic bases with clocks. Go into Tesco zipped sandwich bags. With a fuff of WD40.

The mini lathe is draped in 1/2 a shower curtain. After a fuff of WD40.

The mini mill is covered by a wheelie bin liner. After a fuff of WD40.

No rusting, after some 11 years.

I like WD40. It's cheap, and it works....... 

David D

[chipenter]

If condensation is a problem I can recomend a fridge with a light at the bottem for chucks and fixtures , I also use waxoil as its not greasy .

[madman]

 :ddb:Good Day Ive had all my Equipment  Taps Tools Mill Lathe outside in a colder than Id Like garage for over 24 Years. Not much Rust Troubles and i live in a very Moisture Type area. (Waterloo ontario Canada)  If you keep the shop or encloasure even one degree warmer than outside you wont get Rust. Either a bed sheetcovering Lathe ,Mill,??!!  with a 20 watt Bulb underneath covering youre Machinery or a Shop heater set very low thermostat controlled? (I do have a 220 volt electric heater but with hydro costs,,,) I also use rust spray   for spraying youre car undercarriage . Its cheap, and easy to remove unlike some of the dedicated Tool Die Preservatives which require Varsol or thinners to remove. Hope this may Help out. Taps are Garbage when rusty so a oil spray wont hurt, Thanx Mike

[raynerd]

Thanks for the advice guys. I did purchased some rust inhibitor paper but I also like the idea of zip lock bags! I do try and keep my machines warm but tools in draws it just isn't possible.

[Pete49]

The easy option is to move to central Australia or Arizona. No need for rust prevention then
Pete

[SwarfnStuff]

I'm in the southern bit of Australia not the middle and here is what I have done to fight the rust bug. Drawers, n boxes in which my tools, nails, screws, etc. live when not in my hand or about to be, are lined at the bottom with heavy paper or light card. (Think cornflake box.) A few squirts of regular oil to the underside of the paper / card and Bob's yer uncle. Has worked so far for me anyway.

[Sid_Vicious]

The easy option is to move to central Australia or Arizona. No need for rust prevention then
Pete

There you will need Dust prevention

[Arbalist]

I put Renwax or Lanolin on stuff like that and keep them in Clip Lock containers with rust inhibiting paper. Clip Locks are available in a large range of sizes and I use them for anything that could go rusty in the shop. The "Bacon" boxes take a full set of ER32 collets for example!

[appletree]

I use hot dip coating on things that are critical, reamers, Morse taper drill shanks milling  cutters etc etc. It serves to prevent rusting and also damage to cutting edges and fingers. A bought a couple of bars several years ago from Cromwell tools https://www.cromwell.co.uk/KEN7080500K  it is easy to melt, I use a 2 ring electric hob outside. I just strip off the coating and use the tool then when I have 2 or 3 items I re-coat them.  More recently my son gets it from work when it is removed from new components when the are fitted.   

[awemawson]

The Crocell type coatings are easily melted in a deep fat fryer - (get one with the element bonded to the outside of the pan for ease of cleaning). I used one for ages before a genuine Crocell pot came my way. Deep fat fryers are cheap as chips (!) from Argos and the like.

[howsitwork?]

Andrw

only just found this reply- brilliant

Thanks Ian

[Arbalist]

I keep a lot of my tooling in clip lock food containers with a piece of rust preventative paper.

[appletree]

I am very fortunate my son gets corrocell removed from new stock components at work.
Initially I used a slow cooker, but now I used an induction single hob from Aldi (£20).
This is ideal good temperature control plus you can make bespoke melting pots I.e a steel tube with a plate welded on the bottom to do long things like reamers

[picclock]

I worked for a while with a chap who made custom steel fireplaces and he showed me some stuff called (I think) superseal, or maybe supershield. He claimed that even though his old workshop had been flooded for some days once the waters receded all the stock was undamaged and showed me a picture of it. The only mark left on the steel was a dirt line at the level the water had reached. I believe it used to be sold by Arc Eurotrade, but they no longer appear to stock it. Its consistency is like paraffin with a reddy brown tinge. Parts can be dipped or brushed and once dried seem to be protected forever  -  well a few years that I can verify. I was lucky in that he gave me some which I use on everything I consider to need preserving.

Best Regards

picclock

[Manxmodder]

Not so much a first line rust preventative but more a treatment,I have recently used a product called Aqua-Steel to treat steel beams before top coating with paint.

It is easy to apply,has a good wicking penetrative action and produces a great surface for subsequent coatings.
http://aquasteel.co.uk/ .....OZ