Cold shopbot

[steve_fedor]

I'am considering a new alpha and would like to know if 10-20 degree weather will have any adverse effects on the tool. I wish not to heat my building 24/7.

[brian_harnett]

I have a PRT96 in my shop it is in a basically unheated area and does fine, if it is really cold below 10 degrees and I will be working feeding the machine I will put the heat on for myself.

[wiese]

Does heating the room result in any condensation/rust on the ShopBot before the steel catches up to the temperature of the room?

[blaz_in_az]

I lived in Northern MN, and had an unheated garage. Temp was as low as 20 degrees in the garage during unheated periods. I heated with a 220V electric heater and a wood stove. I never had any problems with the ShopBot because of temperatures.

Even rust was not a great problem, I had large power tools out there for years, and wintertime was the least of my worries for rust. Humid summers were sometimes worse, but still bearable. I am in AZ now, and now rust isn't even a consideration.

Good rule of thumb is what is reasonably comfortable temp to work in, is also ok on the tools.

Tim in AZ

[harryball]

Condensation generally occurs with rapid temp changes. If you cool the bot to 20 degrees then bring it into a warm humid room you'll get condensation. You shouldn't run into that problem since you'll be warming the room gradually along with the equipment.

I would like to point out, however, metal expands and contracts with temperature. If your entire bot is 20 degrees contraction should be roughly the same for all the parts involved. When I brought my bot home the sun was shining on the X car and heated it so you couldn't leave your hand on it. The rollers were completely off the rails and would not line up. After everything cooled to the same temperature everything lined up.

Cold also affects grease. You're bearings will not have the same protection as when at a higher temperature. I'm no expert but at such low speeds for the rollers I can't imagine that would be too critical though I'm sure it has some impact.

If you are running a spindle I would check the specs on it closely. At what they cost it might be worth a call to the mfg. When your shop is at 20 degrees I doubt a 10 minute warm up will do the job.

I'm in Georgia, we barely know what 20 degree F is here. We battle heat and humidity, 98 degrees with 98% humidity is not uncommon. High humidity does cause rust and during the Summer I wipe down all rustable equipment weekly with T9. In the winter, like now, our humidity can be very low and static discharge can be a problem.

Robert