Shop Is your shop messy or spotless?

[Dan Dubeau]

sorry to play to play the net nanny, I generally dislike them meself and I know you know what you are doing ..... but for posterity, break cleaner and welding don't go together. The residue with heat produces phosgene gas - deadly even in small doses. Yeah, I know, use non chlorinated, great until someone grabs the wrong can or someone isn't aware and grabs the brake cleaner to clean....

Great advice I don't mind seeing repeated. I ONLY buy non chlorinated for that reason, so no worries about that here. It's a very easy thing that could happen though, so it's never a bad thing to bring awareness when the opportunity presents itself. How many of us check the label of what we're using in our own shops that closely before applying every time? I know I don't, so I rely on myself when buying it to keep it out of the shop.

I think that that should be a sticky banner on every welding forum/sub forum on the net. It's an easy mistake to make with grave consequences.

As for the assumption about me knowing what I'm doing, we have a saying at work that's "see something, say something". Don't assume the person performing the job sees and understands all the dangers involved all the time. There are many factors involved sometimes, and it can be easy to miss something. So it's never a bad idea to pipe up and say "hey, do you know all the dangers about what you're doing right now?" etc. A momentary lapse in good judgement shouldn't be a death sentence, and standing there watching somebody die because you assumed they knew better isn't something anyone wants to live with.

 

[Chicken lights]

The new "Canada approved" brake clean is terrible. I got a can from a service tech and it's awful.

 

[Susquatch]

WD40 is better than brake clean and relatively speaking it's fairly cheap.

I'll agree with that. But your recommendation implies that it is a good rust preventative. That's what prompted my reply. I've tested it and it's not really very much better than nothing at all.

Oddly enough, WD40 does sell a rust preventative ($$$ WD40 Specialist Corrosion Inhibitor) that tops my list of recommended corrosion protection. Go figure!

I definitely never use it for lubrication either, but rust prevention it's better than nothing and definitely better than in something that strips everything off.

Well, like I said, it's barely better than nothing in my tests. Something that only lasts a week is basically useless. But YES certainly better than brake cleaners and their kin.

For a welding table I prefer it not to be too oily either. If I'm really going for rust prevention (longer term storage) I typically go with fluid film. On the machine tools, they've got enough cutting fluids and way oil and whatnot to never be an issue

I don't weld well enough to own a welding table. If I did, it would probably get stored in the barn yard with Fluid Film on it.

Fluid film neared the top of my corrosion protection list. I just don't like how waxy it is. But for low-cost outdoor rust protection, it's pretty damn good stuff.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

WD is great for what is was designed for. Something gets wet, blow it off, spray some wd in there. It's a water displacement fluid (WD). Once you get the water out, use a more appropriate rust prevention fluid. The WD only leaves the light kerosene like film (but apparently it's NOT kerosene) left and it doesn't last long. I also like fluid film for that role. Lanolin makes a very good rust prevention coating, and Fluid film is much easier than rubbing sheep all over your tools.

Good ol paste wax is pretty good too for smooth machine surfaces such as woodworking tools.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

I've almost completely stopped using WD40 for anything but cutting aluminium. It is so totally useless for rust prevention & lubrication compared to alternatives. It dries off too fast.

Buy a bulk jug of kerosene and a pump sprayer for aluminum. Cheaper and just as good/better than wd.

 

[Susquatch]

Buy a bulk jug of kerosene and a pump sprayer for aluminum. Cheaper and just as good/better than wd.

I have several 5 gal pails of kerosene. I'll have to try that. Hard to beat an aerosol can of WD40 though......

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Yeah, it's convenient, but at $5/can it's spendy. There's also those sureshot pressurized sprayers too. Always wanted to try one, but again....I'm cheap....

Holy crap, they used to be like $45-50 and you could get them on sale for around $35. Now up near $100. I thought $50 was bad.....Always thought an old 1lb propane bottle would work great for one (just my recycling mind), but playing around with homemade pressure vessels isn't high on my list of fun shop activities.....

 

[Susquatch]

There's also those sureshot pressurized sprayers too. Always wanted to try one, but again....I'm cheap....

I have 3 of those I got a million years ago. One has used engine oil in it, another has diesel fuel in it, and the third has hydraulic oil in it. I use them for the obvious around the farm. I didnt realize the price had gone up so much or I'd have put better stuff in them.

 

[Chicken lights]

Milwaukee makes a cordless sprayer now. Well it has a hose, but no cord

 

[Susquatch]

Milwaukee makes a cordless sprayer now. Well it has a hose, but no cord

Is this it?

Amazon.ca

 

[Chicken lights]

Is this it?

Amazon.ca

It could be, I didn't look at the box that closely.

It was kind of a vague conversation about using a pump style sprayer to degrease tires, and how much nicer the Milwaukee will be

I'm guessing it was that one

 

[Darren]

diesel fuel in a windex bottle is a great light oil/ antirust and is way better than wd40. Its also really cheap, comparatively. If I need to use something more permanent, I use Rust Check in an aerosol can.

 

[ChazzC]

Can't recall if I've seen this thread before (didn't do a search to see if I posted on it), but seriously, haven't you guys seen the various photos of my Shop??

 

[KeeponDragon]

The new "Canada approved" brake clean is terrible. I got a can from a service tech and it's awful.

we have that same product in my workplace shop...my techs absolutely despise it. Sure it sort of cleans stuff...but wiping or blow drying the wet residue off just consumes time the customer pays for...
However...our industrial supplier who's name rhymes with uh...hmm...oh!...Bertha, without the "A"...has figured out a work around
it's about 2 bucks more a can...but it works JUST LIKE THE OLD STUFF...go figure...
it's labeled...Mass Airflow Sensor Cleaner

When we were able, we purchased a skid of the old stuff made by KleenFlo, before the new regulations came in...
I purchased 2 boxes of it for myself...my manager came to me a week later an gave me hell for it..."that stuff's really for the shop, not for sale y'know"....I said I paid for it...and I marked it up to myself an extra 25 cents a can...because I know it's for the shop...
He tucked his tail between his legs and never brought it up again.
Normally, our staff pay a golden ticket rate of cost...so the company honestly loses money with staff purchases...due to a parts person has to be involved to sell anything out of stock...

that skid of old style brake clean...honestly didn't last longer than 3 or 4 months...my guys are what you'd call wastefully entitled...if the company is paying...it's practically free...
drives the enviro-warrior in me nuts...

 

[Chicken lights]

we have that same product in my workplace shop...my techs absolutely despise it. Sure it sort of cleans stuff...but wiping or blow drying the wet residue off just consumes time the customer pays for...
However...our industrial supplier who's name rhymes with uh...hmm...oh!...Bertha, without the "A"...has figured out a work around
it's about 2 bucks more a can...but it works JUST LIKE THE OLD STUFF...go figure...
it's labeled...Mass Airflow Sensor Cleaner

When we were able, we purchased a skid of the old stuff made by KleenFlo, before the new regulations came in...
I purchased 2 boxes of it for myself...my manager came to me a week later an gave me hell for it..."that stuff's really for the shop, not for sale y'know"....I said I paid for it...and I marked it up to myself an extra 25 cents a can...because I know it's for the shop...
He tucked his tail between his legs and never brought it up again.
Normally, our staff pay a golden ticket rate of cost...so the company honestly loses money with staff purchases...due to a parts person has to be involved to sell anything out of stock...

that skid of old style brake clean...honestly didn't last longer than 3 or 4 months...my guys are what you'd call wastefully entitled...if the company is paying...it's practically free...
drives the enviro-warrior in me nuts...

Do you know the reasoning behind having to buy 30 lbs of R134A at a time? Just curious

 

[Susquatch]

diesel fuel in a windex bottle is a great light oil/ antirust and is way better than wd40. Its also really cheap, comparatively. If I need to use something more permanent, I use Rust Check in an aerosol can.

Yes, I believe I said I keep some diesel oil in a pressure bottle. It's great for lots of things.

Rust check performed well in my test, but not as well as fluid film and WD40 Specialist.

There are a few newcomers to the field, so I plan to repeat my test this fall after I finish plowing.

 

[jcdammeyer]

I sort of tidied up my office today. Just over a week ago I bought 5 IVAR verticals and 24 shelves. Took a week to stain and varnish them. Today was assembly day. I've now doubled the number of IVAR shelves and I can move all the electronics, software and machining books back into my office. That leaves space in the other room for the rest of the books along with all the ones that were piled on the floor here and there.

Not sure why I'm keeping, for example, a 1998 Caldera Linux Book c/w CD ROM to boot Linux.

Edit: Also not visible in the photo is that the top of the far end is 21" from the ceiling while the other end (12') is 19.5" from the ceiling. The cement floor has a definite pitch to it.

 

[ChazzC]

Edit: Also not visible in the photo is that the top of the far end is 21" from the ceiling while the other end (12') is 19.5" from the ceiling. The cement floor has a definite pitch to it.

Is there a floor drain hidden under the vinyl? I have about 1-1/2” in 12’ slope in my basement to feed the floor drain: made shimming the raised floor I put in what is now the office interesting.