Welding Tips and Tricks

I don't quite have a full roof on my Tig area yet, and when the wind and storms get bad enough, it'll mist the entirety of my table and often several areas around it. If I immediately caught it in time after putting on a coat of fluid film or similar, the table will remain rust free or so slightly rusted that it'll wipe off with a rag. None the less, give it a day or two and spots start growing again. Even though I know the water isn't pressure washing the oil off, and most the water I find pooling on it likely just misted in, I'm kind of shocked at how aggressive it'll rust the area where each puddle beads up. Part of this may be my fault. I've always wiped the excess off after treating it, and perhaps fluid film is meant to be used in areas where a thicker cosmoline like layer is allowed to sit. But for welding having my table so gooped up that each of my parts stick to the table isn't exactly an option. Has anyone else found a miracle solution that does the trick but can be applied lightly enough to keep the table conductive?

make a sheet metal lid for it to keep the rain off it

Get a roof if you can. but if not use lanolin. its great for that exact thing plus bolts and lightly used as a antispatter. oh and keeps kiwis hands soft

Gdarc21 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 25, 2021 7:21 am Get a roof if you can. but if not use lanolin. its great for that exact thing plus bolts and lightly used as a antispatter. oh and keeps kiwis hands soft

The Fluid Film he's using is lanolin.

You might look into mold shield. The one I see mentioned a lot is Glide Mold Shield, but there are a variety of brands out there and they're all pretty similar.

I'm certainly open for any suggestions, NC summers get pretty damned humid anyway and it's hard to keep anything rust free. While I usually spare no expense for tools and firearms, I'm realizing if routinely coating a 3'x4x square is going to be the norm, I need to start taking price per oz into account as well.

look into the CRC sp350 corrosion inhibitor. I'm in northeastern PA and it gets humid up here. the 350 seems to help out a lot.

Good carnuaba car wax is probably your best bet in the short term. Any spray on liquid is going to 'wear out' after a few days of use.

BugHunter wrote: ↑Thu Aug 26, 2021 3:33 pm Good carnuaba car wax is probably your best bet in the short term. Any spray on liquid is going to 'wear out' after a few days of use.

Do you think I'd have conductivity issues if I waxed it though?

Not even a little bit. It's easy enough to test. Might even spray a little water on after you're done.

BugHunter wrote: ↑Thu Aug 26, 2021 4:08 pm Not even a little bit. It's easy enough to test. Might even spray a little water on after you're done.

Hm, I'm intrigued, I think I'm going to have to try that then.

On my table or bare steel surfaces I've found so far the best to be penetrating oil in a aersol can and scrub it in with scotch Brite hand pads .


Not sure if it's the scrubbing with oil/scotch Brite or just routine oiling that keeps rust at bay in a wet/acidic shop environment but it works.


I'm so definitely curious about the wax method though. Might have to see if we have some car wax kicking around and give it a try.

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Car wax is an old trick for woodworking equipment. I've had a planer, jointer and table saw in a farmhouse basement for decades. Always kept them waxed up with... well, the crappy wax I wouldn't ue on my cars! Not only does it keep the cast from rusting, but it makes wood slide around like it's on marbles.

FYI, in that basement, there was enough water at the foundation that the previous residents (before I concreted the remaining 60% of the then, dirt floor) had grown their celery in dug troughs along the stone walls. It was wet...