Protecting Cast iron machinery in unconditioned storage?

[Cbozz]

Last week I drove up to VA and bought out most of the tools and wood from someone who was retiring to FL. It was too good a deal to pass up, but now I've got a problem.

I have it all in my storage unit, and it will 6 months to a year before the space will be ready for the stuff. (we're building a new house). The storage unit isn't conditioned, and I'm worried about rust.

The main tools are a Minimax CU410 elite 5 function slider and a MM16 bandsaw. The 410 has some large cast iron tables and various other steel bits that could be susceptible.

Coat with wax? oil? leave it alone and clean it up when installing? Find someone to 'loan' the tools to who has conditioned space with easy access?

Thanks in advance.

PS- I'm also looking for a decent way to estimate flooring yield from a stack of rough cut lumber. I now have enough walnut to last me forever...and I'm thinking about just taking it somewhere to get made into flooring for the new house.

 

[CDPeters]

#1 - Buy Damp-Rid and place it in the storage unit, it will help reduce the humidity in the storage space. You will need to check it every couple weeks or so and replace as it becomes spent.

#2 - I would liberally coat the cast iron surfaces with a paste wax to protect them. Machine oil would probably work too, but the paste wax will be much less cleanup later.

I would definitely NOT leave it to clean up later - an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of elbow-grease later on!

HTH,
Chris

 

[Hardcharger14]

Johnson,s paste Wax short term. Long term I have used a heavy paste waxing, followed by covering with brown craft paper.The paper sticks and keeps the dirt an dust out of the wax and makes cleanup easy. Steve Mc

 

[Raymond]

+1 to both Chris and Steve. For the steel bits, a quick spray of WD40 and put them in a waxed bag (do not use plastic bags). You should be good to go.

 

[McRabbet]

I would purchase a spray bottle of this corrosion inhibitor and also use the Damp-Rid as suggested above. This stuff works and is not expensive. It would also be a good idea to cover all of the equipment with canvas drop cloths (lots of choices on Amazon.com).

Hope this helps.

Rob

 

[Jeff]

I'm being facetious but Cosmolene has worked for many years for military products. Now, removing it is a different matter....

PS- I'm also looking for a decent way to estimate flooring yield from a stack of rough cut lumber. I now have enough walnut to last me forever...and I'm thinking about just taking it somewhere to get made into flooring for the new house.

Do you really want very dark floors vs a lighter look that'll make your rooms look larger (ceilings and walls look higher)?

 

[Cato]

Last week I drove up to VA and bought out most of the tools and wood from someone who was retiring to FL. It was too good a deal to pass up, but now I've got a problem.

I have it all in my storage unit, and it will 6 months to a year before the space will be ready for the stuff. (we're building a new house). The storage unit isn't conditioned, and I'm worried about rust.

The main tools are a Minimax CU410 elite 5 function slider and a MM16 bandsaw. The 410 has some large cast iron tables and various other steel bits that could be susceptible.

Coat with wax? oil? leave it alone and clean it up when installing? Find someone to 'loan' the tools to who has conditioned space with easy access?

Thanks in advance.

PS- I'm also looking for a decent way to estimate flooring yield from a stack of rough cut lumber. I now have enough walnut to last me forever...and I'm thinking about just taking it somewhere to get made into flooring for the new house.

I used WD specialist from the big box store on my jointer and Jet TS. Sprays on wet and then dries to a film. They were stored two years with just that one application and covering both pieces with a light cotton loose weave sheet that you use to protect rugs in storage. Equipment did not rust a bit and came off with WD 40 and a rag. That WD Specialist is awesome for cast iron protection in storage.

 

[Cbozz]

Do you really want very dark floors vs a lighter look that'll make your rooms look larger (ceilings and walls look higher)?

The color is a concern, but it's more about compatibility with the various other materials in the house (cabinetry, etc) than anything like that. Lighter= bigger is more about walls and ceilings anyway.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll order some paste wax tonight.

 

[Gotcha6]

Boeshield T9 is also a good corrosion inhibitor.

 

[chris_goris]

Last week I drove up to VA and bought out most of the tools and wood from someone who was retiring to FL. It was too good a deal to pass up, but now I've got a problem.

I have it all in my storage unit, and it will 6 months to a year before the space will be ready for the stuff. (we're building a new house). The storage unit isn't conditioned, and I'm worried about rust.

The main tools are a Minimax CU410 elite 5 function slider and a MM16 bandsaw. The 410 has some large cast iron tables and various other steel bits that could be susceptible.

Coat with wax? oil? leave it alone and clean it up when installing? Find someone to 'loan' the tools to who has conditioned space with easy access?

Thanks in advance.

PS- I'm also looking for a decent way to estimate flooring yield from a stack of rough cut lumber. I now have enough walnut to last me forever...and I'm thinking about just taking it somewhere to get made into flooring for the new house.

Its been my experience over the last 30 years of woodworking that unless you introduce a large amount of moisture to cold cast iron quickly, you should be fine. In other words, if its kept in a closed storage unit (not necessarily airtight either) the temps can fluctuate without any ill effects. My shop is not climate controlled and the only time ive ever had rust issues is when its been cold outside, the weather suddenly warms and It rains or the humidiity spikes. Even when that happens, I must open the overhead doors to allow enough moist air in to cause an issue. this incidentally , has happened by accident in the past but no more!!!. Other than that, I have never had rust in my shop

 

[Rwe2156]

If its in a storage unit, as long as its closed you won't have that much fluctuation.
What causes rust is condensation and that's from a cool machine exposed to warm, moist air.

I live in swampy FL. I keep my shop closed up and don't have too much problem with rust (of course I'm using my machines about every day, too).

I've had poor luck with wax.

For storage like you're doing, I would coat with motor oil and lay some plastic on top.

It will clean up very nicely with brake cleaner or diesel starting fluid.

 

[Roy G]

Probably easy to cut some plywood sheets to fit the tops and cover them.

Roy G

 

[Gofor]

The only thing I would add is to not use plastic to cover (unless you use the motor oil as DrBob suggested). With moisture and temp fluctuations, water will condense under the plastic leading to wide-spread rust. I found this out the hard way. I now use an old quilted cotton blanket, but any breathable cover will work. If you use wax, put it on thick and don't buff it out. It may take a little elbow grease to buff it down after storage if its a long while, though.

Go

 

[Endless Pursuit]

Buy a roll of VCI (Volatile Corrosion Inhibitor) Paper and wrap the machines in it then wrap again in cheap poly (like drop cloths).

http://www.uline.com/Grp_89/VCI-Pro...=e&gclid=CNHY5Y3ihM4CFZGegQod-rEFJQ&gclsrc=ds

This protected an entire unconditioned garage full of equipment for 8 months when I relocated to NC from PA. I also wiped down everything with a light coat of Boeshield T9 in advance of the move to protect it while it was on the truck.

Things that I had waxed and left unwrapped became rusty in 1-1/2 months of NC's humidity.

 

[mkepke]

Boeshield T9 is also a good corrosion inhibitor.

Yep. I agree with this recommendation.

But as someone else said, as long as the machines aren't subject to humid air while the machines are cold, rust shouldn't be much of an issue here in NC.

In over a decade, the only times I've had problems with my varied assortment of cast iron machines was opening the shop doors on an unseasonably warm and wet winter's day. I saw clouds forming in my shop that one day

-Mark

 

[scsmith42]

LPS #3 is one of the best corrosion inhibitors that you can buy. Basically it is a spray cosmoline. Earlier this year I looked at a small block Chevy crankshaft that I coated with it over 30 years ago, and was hung up in a non-climate controlled garage in Texas ever since. That darn crank was still shiny under the LPS.

https://www.amazon.com/LPS-Premier-...69220516&sr=8-1&keywords=lps+3+rust+inhibitor

 

[Tarhead]

Fine WWing did a torture test of rust preventives on tool steel and cast iron http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-to/article/the-best-rust-preventers.aspx Most products with "Rust" in their names did poorly but they exposed the samples to a few years worth of condensation and temp fluctuation. Every product mentioned so far in this thread was included except bulk Cosmoline. CRC 3-36, Regular WD-40 (not the rust prevention version) and LPS #3 worked the best on both metals and were equal in their rust prevention. I use the CRC 3-36 on my tool steel items and a mix of Gulfwax dissolved in MS sprayed on my cast iron. 90% of the year the attached garage shop is not conditioned and not opened up during temperature inversions (when the temp inside is cold and the outside air has a dewpoint above the temp of the large cast iron shop tools).

I would suggest a thorough cleaning with Naptha concentrating on any bare metal surface which could have been touched. Then a liberal coating of the LPS #3 as I've never had any rust on tools or firearms/parts coated in cosmoline. If you're budget challenged go with the CRC 3-36 (I got mine for $6 at O'reilly's auto parts) or the WD-40. Monitor frequently for rust and never open up when the air is warm and humid after a cold spell. I'm not convinced that the Damprid product is capable of making a dent in the gallons of water it will need to remove to lower the humidity enough to make a difference. I keep a dehumidifier running fulltime in the summer in my house and it routinely dumps at least 5 gallons of water per day to keep the air at 45% RH. One of the large Damprid buckets represents less than 6 hrs of run time.

BTW...Congrats on the new tools! There is an excellent support group/forum on Yahoo groups that makes up for the poor documentation by MiniMax. https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/MiniMax-USA/info They have active participation from the company and will assist with most issues if not already covered in the forum.

 

[Guy in Paradise]

Being a teacher that stores tools for ten months each year, this method has worked perfectly for years. Clean all surfaces, apply boeshield, then two coats of paste wax, then a liberal coating of SlipIp, and lastly lay a painters plastic drop on/over the tool, pressing the plastic down onto the surface getting all of the air out, and tape in place. Keeps the condensation and moisture away from surfaces, even one year when there was a small roof drip above one tool. The SlipIt cleans off quickly with a couple of paper towels and the tool is ready for use.

I have tried many of the dessicators, even the big containers, and found they are ineffective in my area of Virginia, beoming saturated in about three weeks. If you have electric power in the storage unit, I have had superb results by placing a warming rod in a large toolbox. I use one called Golden Rod, sold by the safe companies.

Good luck.

 

[JimH]

Boeshield T9 is also a good corrosion inhibitor.

This has worked well for me in stored cast iron tools.

 

[bobsmodels]

Hi

I would put in a strong second for Scotts suggestion of LPS 3. I had to store all of my tools for about 6 months in humid conditions - milling machines, lathes, drill presses lots of cast iron surface. Also lots of steel. I used the LPS 3 on everything and had no issues. It cleans off real easy with some WD 40. I also used on bare metal surfaces on displays in a museum in a pole building. Those surfaces have been coated now for about four or five years and I just noticed a few spots this year. A quick reapplication in those small areas and all was well. I put it on any equipment that stays in the barn over winter or long periods of inactivity - especially the hydraulic rods.

I buy it in a gal container and use a refillable spray container.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#lps-3-coatings/=13eq3wm

Bob