machine tool rust prevention

[redneckdan]

what do you guys suggest for rust prevention on machine tools, ie r8 collets, lathe ways, mill bed? I'm looking for something that stays liquid, unlike LPS3 which turns solid and sticky.

[Bret4207]

Bo-Shield works okay, but I hear the best stuff is a salt water corrosion protection type spray available at places like West Marine. No particular brand mentioned.

[floodgate]

I use "Microil", a very light, highly-refined machine and instrument oil from Kano Labs (makers of "Kroil"). It seems to stay liquid and not get gummy at all; I keep a gallon or two on hand, and fill my various pump oil cans with it. I also keep a spray can of Rem-Oil within reach when I need a quick one-handed shot. Browning had a good spray-oil in a can like a huge O-Gauge shotshell, but I can't find it anymore locally. (The Rem-Oil says it has Teflon in it.)

floodgate

[grumpy one]

It depends on how humid the local atmosphere is. So far as ways are concerned, I squirt a small amount of way oil (actually I use chainsaw bar oil, which is very close to the same thing) before I use the machine, then rub the ways down at the end of the job to remove the fine swarf and grit. Keep the lathe covered between uses of course, and if you haven't used in in a while rub the ways down before use as well as after. I spread a bit of engine oil around on tools etc and wipe them after use to clean them, which leaves an oil film on them. Finally I use a bit of cutting oil in the course of machining and that seems to cover things like mill vice, mill table, toolholders etc without me doing anything else in particular. I do like to sharpen cutting edges of drills, end mills, parting tool etc after use, which removes the oil film from the cutting surfaces - they need to be wiped with a rag or oily thumb before putting them away.

[Boz330]

Kroil is awful good stuff. I would take a chance on it just because it's made by the same folks.

Bob

[BeeMan]

Boeshield T9 won a comparison test in a woodworking magazine. It seems as good as anything I've tried and better than most. Wipe it down to a light coat while still wet and it dries to a thin coat. Its not foolproof though, as my freshly turned coehorn mortar rusted while in transit with the moving company.:(

The best product I've found for protecting bare metal is http://www.eurekafluidfilm.com/
but be warned it makes a gooey mess.

[BD]

For tools that are going to get used again within a week or so I recommend Ed's Red, with the lanolin but without the acetone. I used this in the Tannery for years on the fleshing machine knives and that was in an acid/salt atmosphere about as corosive as it gets. The hides were pickled in a salt brine at a ph of 2.5 before being run through the fleshing machines. When I was done fleshing I'd rinse the machines off, spin them dry and spray on the ed's red out of an old spray bottle. All of the commercial stuff I tried would spin off at such low rpms that it was hard to get it applied. The Ed's Red would stick on while the cutters were still turning fast enough to get an even coat on them.
BD

[floodgate]

Boz:

Kroil itself, while a GREAT penetrating oil, does not provide long-lasting protection, nor is it intended to. Kano Labs has a number of other preservative compounds, though, engineered for various levels and classes of protection. I do find the Microil works and lasts well - very similar to a straight 10-weight plain Pennsylvania motor oil. The old sperm oil from whales was probaby the best there ever was or will be, but it is verboten these days. Jojoba oil is supposed to be very close, but I haven't tried it.

floodgate

[garandsrus]

+1 for Boeshield. I use it on my cast iron table saw, jointer, etc, that sits in an unheated garage and it works great. I should apply it twice per year but probably only do it once.

John

[Boz330]

Boz:

Kroil itself, while a GREAT penetrating oil, does not provide long-lasting protection, nor is it intended to. Kano Labs has a number of other preservative compounds, though, engineered for various levels and classes of protection. I do find the Microil works and lasts well - very similar to a straight 10-weight plain Pennsylvania motor oil. The old sperm oil from whales was probaby the best there ever was or will be, but it is verboten these days. Jojoba oil is supposed to be very close, but I haven't tried it.

floodgate

I wasn't suggesting the Kroil, just that it is a good product and that their other products might be as well. Folks that make good products usually can be expected to do so with all of their products. Just an observation.
Haven't tried it but I heard that lanolin works well other than being slicker than snot. Probably keeps the hands nice to.

Bob

[dk17hmr]

In the Cabinet shop I work at we use Johnson Paste Wax on our table saw, jointer, planner, shapers, and pretty much all of the tools we use regularly. I rub in a coat of wax every few weeks. Keeps things slick and free of rust.

[Buckshot]

what do you guys suggest for rust prevention on machine tools, ie r8 collets, lathe ways, mill bed? I'm looking for something that stays liquid, unlike LPS3 which turns solid and sticky.

..............What time frame you talking about? Long term storage? Or, end of day, end of use, putting it back in the drawer/shelf/cabinet type thing?

..................Buckshot

[redneckdan]

end of the day type stuff.

[Buckshot]

end of the day type stuff.

...............I make it very easy on myself. It's nothing more technical then an oily rag on the ledge between my bottom and top box. I buy diaper felt at the fabric store to make my own cleaning patches and cut several 8"x8" squares for wiping rags. Some I put silicone oil on for wiping down guns and keep them in one of those cheap Glad type food storage containers on the back of the reloading bench.

For machine stuff I merely put spindle oil on them. You don't have to soak'em. Just put a couple lines of oil from your pump oiler on it, fold it up and set aside. The oil will migrate through the material.

I am NOT a neat-nik by any means, but over time I have realized a few seconds spent putting a just used tool back where it belongs actually speeds things up. When I want it, I know exactly where to look for it. And as I walk to where it goes, or turn from the machine to the toolbox I wipe it off, and it's a done deal.

Collets are sometimes a pain to clean up as the interior and the slits can get full of chips and fines. I went to the 99 cent store and got a kind of shallow longish plastic container with a lid. I put an inch of paint thinner in it as a cleaner. It's low fume and not very volitile, but is a good cleaner. To use I flip up the lid, tilt it toward me to create a deeper pool in the lower bottom edge. Holding the collet between front and back I swish it rapidly back and forth. Does an absolutely sterling job of making the collet super clean.

Wipe with the oily rag and put it back in it's plastic tube. I do the same with drill chucks as they will collect quite an assortment of junk inside. After several months the rag gets a bit stinky so away it goes and out comes a new one. The guy I bought my lathe from seems to prefer to drop a tool he just got done with into the chip tray or on the pan around the headstock. I think my impetus to put machine tooling up came from his MO of spending 15 minutes pawing around the lathe and chip pan trying to find a tool he just KNEW he'd dropped there last week :-)

..................Buckshot

[floodgate]

Buckshot:

Yeah, but, when you've just finished a complex job, torn down the set-up, cleaned and put away your tools and cutters, how often have you noticed that the next job that comes through the door needs most of the stuff you've just stowed. I've been bit that way often enough that I often just walk away from the machine, leaving it set up as it was. Or am I just lazy???

floodgate

[Buckshot]

Buckshot:

Yeah, but, when you've just finished a complex job, torn down the set-up, cleaned and put away your tools and cutters, how often have you noticed that the next job that comes through the door needs most of the stuff you've just stowed. I've been bit that way often enough that I often just walk away from the machine, leaving it set up as it was. Or am I just lazy???

floodgate

...........I mainly use 5C's so that's how the lathe stays setup 80% of the time. I have 4" 3 and 4 jaw chucks on 5C backs and they handle another 10%. If I actually have to pull the collet closer, spindle insert, and nose protector to actually put a big 2,3,4, or 6 jaw chuck on, I throw myself on the floor and kick my heels, then I get up and just do it :-)

So far as tools go, I have the basic right hand, left hand, facing, a threading tool and 2 cutoff blades already setup in holders all zeroed alike. They're in a drawer right there.

The part that kills me (since I don't have a real milling machine) is swapping out the regular cross slide for the dual toolpost one that carries the Palmgren milling vice. Basicly only used to flycut blocks, but I just hate like the devil to swap them out.

.................Buckshot

[redneckdan]

Buckshot:

Yeah, but, when you've just finished a complex job, torn down the set-up, cleaned and put away your tools and cutters, how often have you noticed that the next job that comes through the door needs most of the stuff you've just stowed. I've been bit that way often enough that I often just walk away from the machine, leaving it set up as it was. Or am I just lazy???

floodgate

thats the way I think, but if I do that at work, I get reamed by the shop boss.:roll: