Zenith Aircraft Builders and Flyers
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Steel parts developing surface rust in storage
Hi, I have been storing my parts in the garage and have noticed surface rust developing on the steel components. I am assuming this is occurring from the humidity in the air. Does anyone know of a temporary solution or should I immediately prime the parts before pre assembly? Perhaps buy a humidifier for the garage? In the meantime my plan was to remove the rust with phosphoric acid, apply pti acid etch and than an epoxy primer coat. I would wait till the components have been drilled and pre-assembled before dissembling and top coating. Am I going about this the wrong way? I tried some phosphoric acid gel today on some of the rust and wasn't fully satisfied with the end result, any suggestions to get rid of the existing rust? I was hoping to avoid sand blasting.
Lastly, if the surface rust is occurring on the tubular steel components, I'm questioning about the interior of the steel tubes. Is filling the tubes with Boiled linseed oil the way to go and if so, should this be done before or after I prime, from my understanding, boiled linseed oil leaves a unpaintable film? Thanks for any help!
Joel
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mark Maltais on
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They will rust but the surface rust is negligible, I scrubbed mine off with a scotchbrite pad when it was time to prime them. If you are worried you can put a light coating of gun oil on them and clean them off with acetone later on. I used an etching primer and it kept the rust at bay until I was ready to paint the parts.
The interior can be coated with "tubeseal" but I just coated the interior with rust check after painting and let it drip out. It can be re-applied at annual time if it seems to be drying out, but it should last a while.
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Permalink Reply by Joe Spencer on
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You can spray the steel components with wd 40(or most any oil) and that will prevent any further rust except where it's already started rusting. That really needs to be removed before the WD40. In my experience, the best way to remove rust is the way you don't wanta do it...I use a bead blaster cabinet when the parts are small enough and a sand blaster with fine abrasive when they aren't. The linseed oil is the way to go IMO. I've poured tubes full of primer and haven't gotten very good results...it runs off the walls and ends up thin in spots and thick in others. After decades of this type stuff, what I do now is prime first and then plug the end of the tube and pour it full of linseed oil. You're right...do it the other way and you end up with primer problems. Whatever rust has occured inside the tubes I would just live with. The linseed oil should seal the rust from the air at least to my satisfaction. Others may differ. If the tubes are open to the air I usually reoil every couple years. For the time being you can pour thin oil inside to prevent any further rust and when getting ready to prime/linseed oil use lacquer thinner or the like to degrease the inside and outside
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Permalink Reply by Ken and Joel Norton on
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Thanks a lot for the advise, I am going to cover them with oil for the time being and wait till everything is predrilled before priming.
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