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winter storage of machines

TimH

Hot Rolled
Joined
Oct 12, 2004
Location
Upstate NY
I'm not trilled about it but have to store my shop machines for the winter in an unheated garage. Everything has been sprayed with cosmoline. Any other tips? 3 lathes a band saw, 1 manual mill and a cnc mill

Also should I put plasic tarps umder to machines tp keep condensation from coming up from the concrete.

Thanks Tim
 
I'm not trilled about it but have to store my shop machines for the winter in an unheated garage. Everything has been sprayed with cosmoline. Any other tips? 3 lathes a band saw, 1 manual mill and a cnc mill

Also should I put plasic tarps umder to machines tp keep condensation from coming up from the concrete.

Thanks Tim

Heat the garage and keep on working.
 
So, upstate NY. How well sealed and insulated is the garage - walls, rafters, doors? Will it be opened and closed during the winter or spring? Will vehicles be moved in and out?

What happens in Spring, when the machines are still very cold?

Has your choice of "cosmoline" set up firmly? It doesn't always do that, depending on temps and application thickness. What did you use?

Cloth covers are critical. Ideally there would be an air gap, but only a small one. Some parts of a machine should get extra protection - the taper attachment, the apron and gears, etc. Wrap the table on the manual mill.

Medium office binder clips, or clothespins and safety pins, work well to snug up your covers and reduce big air pockets.

Consider putting chicken 'brooding' bulbs, or goldenrods, etc, inside the machine cabinets. They are an inexpensive ceramic socket and reflector (though the reflector may not fit - the key is the high quality socket). The idea is to begin heating the machines from the inside-out as outdoor temps start to rise. That will be most critical when you get ready to uncover the machines. There are also 3M silicone contact heaters.
 
There are also compounds that slowly release a moisture proofing barrier film. Can't recall the name of them now, but they were sold for use in gun cabinets. SqD had adhesive backed sponges with this stuff that could put in electrical enclosures for the same purpose.

Tom
 
I'm not trilled about it but have to store my shop machines for the winter in an unheated garage. Everything has been sprayed with cosmoline. Any other tips? 3 lathes a band saw, 1 manual mill and a cnc mill

Also should I put plasic tarps umder to machines tp keep condensation from coming up from the concrete.

Thanks Tim

You mought be better-off to spread oil-absorbant in a layer over the 'crete. There are better materials, chemically, but it is cheap and available, will be easier to clean-up, be safer to walk-on if you have stuff to do, and will not give you an efflorescence problem.

A goal is to get the AIR bone-dry and keep it that way. Mum Nature can help. Dead-cold days, air IS very dry.

Trap that, keep moisture from getting in, warm it ever-so-slightly so it can take-up a smidge more moisture than it is already carrying, not drop it out as condensation, and you should be fine.
 
I struggle with this issue.

IMO the major biggest issue is not the cold winter months (dry air little change in temp) but the late winter early spring days when warm moisture laden air contacts the cold slab and cold iron forming condensation. I'd be on the lookout for those particular days (temp swings to the warm) and run a dehumidifier, light bulbs, golden-rod, heater, whatever...but heat up that slab and iron so its temp doesn't lag way behind the warming air.

Ventilation does not help, just exchanges more moist air for the previously moist air that dropped it's water on your mill.

My $0.02 (and disclaimer that I've not figured out well how to avoid the condensation).
 
What is the floor like?
Maybe set the machines on some plywood to help fight condensation in case the concrete sweats.
 
Ventilation does not help, just exchanges more moist air for the previously moist air that dropped it's water on your mill.

That is a critical point, and I agree. There are cases where moving the air helps but this is not one of them. It just creates a giant de-humidifier, with the machines as the condensor.

Sealing the room is important. Where it is not insulated, staple up visqueen, thin is fine (possibly attached to 2x2" wood strips, if there is drywall, etc, to damage). It will make an enormous difference - especially if the garage is not otherwise finished. You should put visqueen across any bay doors. It can just hang like a drape, and the door can still be opened if necessary.

If you have any doubts about any of your protective coating, there is always grease. It is messy but very effective and inexpensive. It can also be applied in any temperature, unlike many products. It can seal seams that would otherwise wick and draw condensation down inside mechanisms, etc. In some cases you can put cling wrap over the grease to minimize the mess on covers, and most wipe-away issues.

For manual lathes, I like to pull a sheet up behind the apron (with the ends pulled out over the feed rods on either side), and then down under, and then out front and back up over the top of the saddle. This allows you to wrap the leadscrew and apron gears (which are otherwise difficult to protect). If the front of the bed is open you can pull it back through and wrap the bed.
 
So, upstate NY. How well sealed and insulated is the garage - walls, rafters, doors? Will it be opened and closed during the winter or spring? Will vehicles be moved in and out?

What happens in Spring, when the machines are still very cold?

Has your choice of "cosmoline" set up firmly? It doesn't always do that, depending on temps and application thickness. What did you use?

Cloth covers are critical. Ideally there would be an air gap, but only a small one. Some parts of a machine should get extra protection - the taper attachment, the apron and gears, etc. Wrap the table on the manual mill.

Medium office binder clips, or clothespins and safety pins, work well to snug up your covers and reduce big air pockets.

Consider putting chicken 'brooding' bulbs, or goldenrods, etc, inside the machine cabinets. They are an inexpensive ceramic socket and reflector (though the reflector may not fit - the key is the high quality socket). The idea is to begin heating the machines from the inside-out as outdoor temps start to rise. That will be most critical when you get ready to uncover the machines. There are also 3M silicone contact heaters.

No insulation, soffit vents are open allowing free flow of outside air into the building. Cosmoline has been on the machines for quite a while. The brooding bulbs are a good idea.
 
This is the time of year when I roll out my "magnetic engine block heater" recommendation. Sticks on anything metal, very good heat transfer to target, doesn't burn out as regularly as light bulbs. Available in various wattages 100-200 or so, and makes the target machine 'not the coldest thing in the room' so humidity attacks elsewhere. Bonus points for leaving something big and cold in there to attract the humidity. Like a rock, maybe.

Vapor barrier below and around equipment can help if deployed and sealed when it's dry. 2" thick blue foam house can help, too.
 
I worked in a place years ago that left a brand new cnc mill outside in a loading dock bay in the winter months with no ill effects. It was protected by factory shipping rustproofing in a crate. I think your worst enemy is when the temps rise in the spring and your garage stays cold inside.
 
My end-all rust prevention is anhydrous lanolin heated then mixed with spindle oil. Applied with paint brush or trigger sprayer. I also use a ceiling fan
unheated steel building, Texas humidity. Haven’t seen a rust scab since I started using this 10 years ago
 
My end-all rust prevention is anhydrous lanolin heated then mixed with spindle oil. Applied with paint brush or trigger sprayer. I also use a ceiling fan
unheated steel building, Texas humidity. Haven’t seen a rust scab since I started using this 10 years ago

Lazy, here. I just buy "Fluid Film". It self-biodegrades in just about one full year of "four seasons", and is really easy to get off anytime sooner, or to not even have to BOTHER "formally' taking off at all.

CRC's stuff is reserved for more permanent places where you don't mind it STAYS PUT, indefinitely.
 
From Minnesota. Familiar with some cold.

In my experience, Winter is not the issue.. Spring is.. When you get those cold to warm variations in temperature, but the iron remains cold. That's when I see the rust.

If this is a storage unit you can access throughout the winter, my preference would be to just WD40 or boeshield them down once a month. And keep covered. No messy clean up.
 
Lazy, here. I just buy "Fluid Film". It self-biodegrades in just about one full year of "four seasons", and is really easy to get off anytime sooner, or to not even have to BOTHER "formally' taking off at all..

Fluid Film is great stuff, if a bit expensive. It's basically lannolin and light oil. Mix it yourself and put it in a trigger spray.

Several have mentioned WD40. In the tests posted online in recent years, WD40 has performed very poorly in rust prevention. However, they have a new WD40 rust prevention product that reportedly works as well as the best competitive products, such as Boeshield. I haven't tried it but I intend to.
 








 
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