Another steel storage question

[Baileigh Inc]

Ok, I got sick of dealing with the mill scale of hot rolled 16 gauge for my art, so I ordered a pallet of cold rolled 16 gauge mild steel. Living in Wisconsin it is super humid and I am worried about all of my material rusting. In a previous thread I had mentioned I was using WD-40 to prevent the rust and wiping it off with acetone before I cut. This has prevented the rust great but is there an easier way?

I'm worried without the mill scale the rust will ruin my material. Any suggestions?

I am storing the sheets flat on a pallet

[plain ol Bill]

Shane if you are storing flat (or even vertically) sheets you have sprayed with WD/40 and they are tightly against each other you should not have a problem w/ rust. Airspace where moisture can congregate is where you might start having a problem.

[Baileigh Inc]

Shane if you are storing flat (or even vertically) sheets you have sprayed with WD/40 and they are tightly against each other you should not have a problem w/ rust. Airspace where moisture can congregate is where you might start having a problem.

Is there something better than wd-40 that cleans up better for painting?

[muzza]

As stated above if it's stored tight you shouldn't have a short to medium term rust problem but if I have any that's not going to be used fairly soon I spray it with Lanotec, although made here in Oz it is available in the US I'm told. Many restoration type body shops use it. I don't worry about removing it before or after cutting. If your going to paint it just wipe off with solvent first, they actually say to use it as a pre primer for oil based painting. If it's being powder coated it will bake off in the pre heat anyway.
Only downside I find is that any dust in the air sticks on it so it looks a bit dirty and smells a bit like a sheep when you cut it.
http://www.lanotec.com.au/pages/products/liquidlanolin
Murray

[gary42095]

that stuff posted kindof looks like fluid film from the description

[airdy]

Murray
I've always been told that all oil and silicone base products will cause "Fish Eyes" in powder. My painter prefers a little rust to oily surface.
Aird
Ponderosa Forge
Sk. Cdn.

[muzza]

I don't do my own powder, the guy who does it pre bakes and then blasts, primes and powder coats. Never had a fish eye in anything he has done.
Murray

[362designs]

I would strongly discourage the use of WD-40 as it contains silicone. I have had two issues using WD in the past year, the first was an industrial setting where it was used as a cutting fluid on floor plating and even though it was cleaned with solvent for paint prep, the paint would not adhear anywhere the WD-40 had been used. The second was for a personal project and ended up costing me a trip to the sandblaster and more painting time.

Both times I could trace the issue back to WD-40.

Alan

[Oldsarge]

I would strongly discourage the use of WD-40 as it contains silicone. I have had two issues using WD in the past year, the first was an industrial setting where it was used as a cutting fluid on floor plating and even though it was cleaned with solvent for paint prep, the paint would not adhear anywhere the WD-40 had been used. The second was for a personal project and ended up costing me a trip to the sandblaster and more painting time.

Both times I could trace the issue back to WD-40.

Alan

Actually WD40 doesn't contain silicone.... But s's with any product used for rust prevention, surface prep before painting or powdercoating is the key to a great finish!

Oldsarge

[Stout]

Most body shops coat bare metal with WD40 if it will be sitting for a while or even over night. It's a very common practice to prevent flash and surface rust on bare metal. Wipe it down with lacquer thinner to clean up. Then paint.

edit: Oops. Forgot the metal prep. It's phosphoric acid and does a great job of etching and cleaning the metal.

[Black Forest]

I don't do my own powder, the guy who does it pre bakes and then blasts, primes and powder coats. Never had a fish eye in anything he has done.
Murray

Primes before powder coating? That is a new one on me!

[MidAmericaIron]

I ALWAYS have my stuff primed before powder coating. It makes for a better finished product in my opinion.

[plain ol Bill]

Muzza they are talking about an actual powder coat primer (I think) that is applied and baked like any other powder coating. It can help a lot with some surfaces and materials.

[muzza]

I have 2 local guys I use, the main one powder primes and I have never had a problem, the other guy I use for backup wet primes but I have had problems with rusting in the cuts but I think that is more his setup than the priming method.
Murray

[fergy]

etch primer mostly used around here then bake then cote then bake again
first bake only for short time though
seems to work well on the coast with patios etc

[mbowers]

I use a product called Corrosion X. There are alot of variations, and I've only used the regular Corrosion X, the Corrosion X Aviation and the Corrosion X Heavy Duty. It is a great product, a little pricy, but worth it. I don't know what makes the aviation one different except it has an approved Mil-Spec number. Had to use it in back in the aviation maintenance days, but now I just buy the regular version.

Here on the Gulf Coast, everything rusts instantly. I've has some bare steel sitting in my garage sprayed with this for 6 years now (it's my long term test), still no rust. It wipes off easily and with a normal prepaint solvent cleanup, I've never had anything fish-eye. That's painting with regular automotive urethanes, I don't know about powder coat. Beware of the HD though, because getting it off is a PITA, but it does a great job preventing rust. We had bare steel parts coated with the HD that got flooded with seawater in hurricane Ike, and several weeks later, still didn't have any rust on them. I probably wouldn't use it on anything that was going to get painted.

Good luck. When I retire I'm moving somewhere that they haven't heard of rust or a relative humidity above 40%!

[buckable]

Gibbs Brand penetrant. I buy it by the case and swear by it. Read all about it here:

http://www.roadsters.com/http://www.roa ... com/gibbs/

Then check out the rest of the roadsters.com website - it's pretty cool.