On Mon, Jan 17, 2022 at 07:17 PM, Dennis Turk wrote:
OT
"that Brown lathe"
This got me remembering something which people were talking about in the shaper group, that is, how do you keep rust away in an unheated building. I store 2 shapers and 4 lathes in my hangar, which allows the wind to whistle past gaps in the doors. I also store other tools there as well.
?Typically I set a 40 Watt light bulb low under each machine with a blanket over each to hold that slight heat, and that works pretty well except that I've had to replace 3 bulbs in the last two weeks. I also rub bare metal surfaces with one of the three corrosion test winners I keep just for that, Frog lube, Hornady One shot and WD40 Specialist.
?Regardless, the only way to win in the long haul is to moderate temperature shifts, eliminate ambient water vapor plus regular surface prep. A sealed "room" (Cardboard boxes would do) with the one dehumidifier I have would do for that last item.
?In the tool chest I should have placed some camphor, they say that works well at stopping rust and the tool boxes in my shop have camphor in the lowest drawers.
?But now that I know I can't count on 40W light bulbs I bought 8 rectangular heating elements off ebay, a total expenditure (So far) of $96. Each of these are 150W so my thought is to make a rotary switch that energizes each heater in succession for a limited time. These will be clamped onto aluminum plates and placed low so heat rises up under those blankets.
?But I need a way to time these so each machine gets heat (20 minutes?) 3 times a day. This is an acknowledgement that I don't have unlimited $$ or time to spend keeping rust away.
?So I hope to buy one of those inline electrical timers preset-able to run 6 X 20minutes 3 or 4 times a day, it will also activate a gearmotor that turns a dialectic drum with brass commutators, one for each successive machine, and I'd rather not spend weeks building and adjusting it.
?Just what I needed, another project! Any ideas appreciated. An electronic box that would do all the switching would be nice.
