I'm tired of searching and reading. I know I read on a plaz table thread a couple weeks ago where someone made their table wet and used some sort of coating on it before filling it up. Do I just need to prime and paint it or is there something else I should smather on there before filling.
Also, I am in a shop by a creek with the wettest air around. I can't have steel for a day before its covered in rust. My ways are getting rusted, and I was wondering what to put on them to keep them preserved without attracting mass amounts of crap to mess me up
Thanks
Kelly
edit: sub

Mine is bare metal. I am using Plasma quench in the tank as a rust preventative. No rust as of yet.

Mine is bare metal. I am using Plasma quench in the tank as a rust preventative. No rust as of yet.

I've found plasma quench online, not much going on with that site, no pics, prices or anything. Looks like they're closed for the day too.
Anybody else use something other than paint? What about lube/rust prevent for the ways? Just WD 40 it?

I have heard that company is pretty flaky now. When I bought mine I had no problems with the order. There is a thread on the cnczone where people are making there own.

Here is the recipe for some homemade Plasma quench. I have not tried it yet but people say it works good.

PLASMA QUENCH RECIPE

Here's the recipe for home-made PlasmaQuench
1/4 pound of sodium nitrite powder ($15/pound)
1 teaspoon of Physan 20 ($8/8oz bottle)
1 oz Ultramarine blue food-grade dye ($5/oz.)
Mix well, treats 75 gallons of water.

I do not put anything on my ways, but I do not think some wd40 or way oil would hurt anything.

I heard that PlasmaQuench was not answering their phone any more. Honestly, we stick with water only on our water tables in the shop. The tables are so thick that they are never going to rust through and we drain the water out of the top to the bottom chamber each night. I know that not everyone has that as an option. I worry a little about what happens to those chemicals when they are vaporized at 5000 degrees when the plasma comes on. An awful lot of steam comes off when you are cutting. Granted, I am pretty safety conscious about what to do and not do around these machines because it is my livelihood.

We found some stuff to put on the rails years ago. It is a boat wax I think. I will find out more. I got a quart of the stuff years ago. I doubt any of my guys in the shop even know I have it or that I use it on the rails every so often. The problem with the WD40 is that it will hang onto any flakes or dust particles that end up on the rails. This wax is dry, so it allows you to take the air gun and just blow the machine off at the end of the day or whenever you get the urge.

Bill

I had heard the same about any lube. It will trap slag and other bits. I can see going with no water treatment or with either way but that is later. I was seeing if painting or epoxying or whatever is something others do. I'm going to paint the rest of the table but wondered if down in the water area it needed something different. Also mosquitos are a concern. Thousands of them in the shop every night.

Best way is to use plasma quench of something like it. When you cut let the rails get wet. At the end of the way wipe and WD40 the ways and the next time you cut simply wipe dry and repeat the process.

I just did epoxy primer and a single stage urethane on a water pan for an O/A table about 5 yrs ago and there are only small chips in the top coat from drops.

All the pipe fab shops I've worked in just used mineral spirits as an occasional cleaner when things got slow and kept the turn tables lubed up with graphite because of all the slag and spatter.

For the rails, i haven't found anything you can apply that doesn't stick plasma dust and crap to the rails, I keep them as clean as possible, and blow them off all the time.

Well I went down to the structural steel shop down the road form me. They paint all their beams with this crazy thick red primer and paint. I grabbed 3 gallon from them and went to work on saturday. It is now coated and full of water. Seems to work okay. Now for the ways.
Man, water is great. No more dust AT ALL. not even a whiff. I think I can keep the ways clean now if I just wipe them down a fair amount. I need that stuff they put on tube to keep it from rusting now. A raw piece of metal rusts in about 2 days at my shop:barf::(

kano weatherpruf works awesome for protecting metal, BUT it puts on a semi-thick wax type coating. I know nothing about machines, so not sure if that would mess you up or not. I keep it on my drill press column/table/slide.

I would not use Sodium Nitrite but pure water maybe with the food coloring. Using hi heat around Sodium Nitrites causes it to breakdown and decompose transforming into known carcinogens. Do a google on Sodium Nitrites and you wont think twice about not using it. You can use roofing tar for a great water seal on the bottom of the bed butmake sure it sets up before dumping any water in.