Rust prevention in garage

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mcskelle

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Hi there

I don't have any more indoor space left for bigger machines, but was wondering what my options are using my garage for a surface grinder.
The garage is not isolated and not heated as it is now.

While I know this is far from optimal, is it completely no-go?
Will a cover help, and could the ways be threaded to withstand the moisture that develops every day.

What are your thoughts and experiences with preventing rust develop on machines in a garage-like enviroment?

I live in northern europe.

regards
Thomas
 
@mcskelle I would move the lowest accuracy operations to the garage: bench grinder, belt sander, welder, etc. If your surface grinder is high accuracy, you will be fighting to preserve it every day.
 
besides, grinding operations are slow compared to milling and lathe work: longer setups, more passes. Who wants to do this in the cold? using a belt sander for me is always a 1 minute or less operation, and welding seems to go a lot faster than other operations. Just how *I* work...
 
FWIW I live in a very dry climate: winters are about 5-11% relative humidity. We only have rust problems in teh spring. Even summer rains don't increase the average RH very much at all. So I get away with my whole shop in the garage - heated to 5C all winter, raising it to 15C when I'm working.

One of the cheapest ways to help reduce rust is to keep the air moving all the time. It makes a big difference.
 
My garage is sweating this time of year . The machines as well as the floor gets pretty slick with humidity . I just keep spraying everything down with Kroil but never get ahead of the game .
 
Like said above keep the air moving with fans and keep a nice film of oil on surfaces.
 
De-humidifier and keep the doors closed, especially when it is warm and humid.
I have a small widow A/C unit in my 27 x 18' shop area that has a de-humidifier/dry mode and it runs a lot during the summer months.
My shop is well insulated though and heated during the winter.
 
Cadillac said:
Like said above keep the air moving with fans and keep a nice film of oil on surfaces.
Click to expand...
This, I have two fans (like these) going at all times which does 90% of the work keeping moisture off of surfaces. They move quite a bit of air.

I am in the final steps of finishing insulation and putting HVAC is my shop, but I will still run the fans. Too much money in tools and metal to get them all rusted up.

P.S. I was in Copenhagen a few months ago for work. Very nice place. Went to the Christmas show at the old Circus.. Was a lot of fun.
 
My shop is heated which keeps the relative humidity down. I have ceiling fans running 24/7/365 to keep the air moving. Pretty simple physics involved; moisture in the air will condense on surfaces that are below the due point temperature. Moving air will evaporate the condensation, but it'll still be in the air. A dehumidifier will remove the moisture from the air. You'll want to oil/coat the surfaces of steel/cast iron. Way oil works well, just brush it on.

I spray my metalworking machine surfaces with LPS 1 non-grease lubricant instead of way oil. That's because I'm lazy and it's quicker to spray it on than paint oil on the surfaces.

Bruce


p.s. Volbeat fan?
 
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