Those of you living in cooler, more damp climates (like the UK) - what do you do to keep your machines condensation free? My workshop is large and poorly insulated (and there’s not much chance of changing that) - anyone run heaters 24/7? I noticed leaving the stepper drivers running kept the machine at about 20C overnight in ambient 8C!
If you want to check out how humid. I have just developed an arduino software that has three DS13B20 temp sensors and a DHT sensor that measures temp and humidity. It displays and logs the temp over the time required and you can get the results in a nice chart using a spread sheet. Give me a shout if your interested.
That’s because I have the same issue in my Scottish garage with my lathe 
Also in Scotland Would be interesting (I’ve been working on greenhouse automation with raspberry pi!) but right now I’m just worried about the oncoming winter and the fact that I often find my hardware dripping by mid-morning!
Also have you used an insulated glass store in the green house. Blows hot air into the glass during the day and transfers the heat back into the green house during the night
Not sure if I’ll be best blocking up all the ventilation and just heating it (increase humidity but stop it condensing out) or to try to reduce humidity (by way of a dehumid running 24/7)
We had no issues in my old workshop even with temperature going down to almost freezing point as long as the machinery was properly oiled. The lathe there was used for 50 years without any issues caused by condensation. Regarding your electronics you could use a bag of silica-gel in the control box, if it is somewhat sealed and the cooling is external, if you have cooling air blowing though it that will of course not work.
I’m not too worried about the electronics, it’s the big chunks of cast iron that hold the low temps - it literally runs with water leaving pools on the stands/desks. I’ve come in after a few days to find puddles in cavities in engines I’ve had on stands in there. I’m thinking my best bet will be to block it up as much as possible and stick in a thermostatically controlled heater.
It also affects tooling, which unless it’s kept completely covered in protective oil develops rust, which isn’t much fun on surfaces not meant to have oil (insides of collets).
We float around a mean of 85% humidity.
The only effective mitigation I have heard of is to circulate the air with a fan. If you heat, and then the shop cools, you have an even bigger condensation problem. I suppose a dehumidifier could be somewhat effective if a work area is sealed well enough.
Right now the humidity is a low 86% here for me. Down from in the 90s it can run for me all summer long. Living 6 miles from the ocean doesn’t help me either I suppose.
Moving air is the cheapest, and most effective method available that i know of. An oscillating fan should do the trick.
@James_Buckle Oiling surfaces is viable. When you need to use the tooling you just wipe it down with a solvent to degrease it. Setting up isn’t supposed to be fun. Researching rust on metal I have stumbled across several informal studies that suggest WD-40 is very effective in combating corrosion. Which makes sense, because WD-40 was initially developed as a missile conserving material.
WD-40 is such a poor lubricant I doubt you’d even have to wipe it out of a collet either. WD-40 dries on surfaces. Yep, since I’ve read about it I’ve been using quite a bit of WD-40 here myself. So far results are promising too.
Finally it should go without saying that detergent engine motor oil should never be used on machinery. The detergent is in the oil as a desiccant, so it will trap moisture. Then that moisture is supposed to flash off when cylinders fire. So unless you’re waving blowtorches over your machines regularly don’t use engine oil to lubricate them either.
Surely circulation is only effective if you’re controlling internally generated/leaked in moisture with dry air from outside? Otherwise you’re just transferring more damp air into the space. Some days it’s so foggy here it’s foggy in the workshop!
At the moment I’m using way oil on the ways and WD on the rest but it has caused slip and pull out on two collet holders.
@James_Buckle I guess I didn’t explain things well enough. I did not specify an exhaust fan, merely a fan to move the air in the space. It can get quite foggy where I live as well. Although I must admit I’ve never seen the fog roll into my workshop, yet. I have seen the fog cut visibility to about 10 feet, or so, outside though. We get basically the thickest variety of fog here. They actually close school here because of fog. All children need to be bused to school over roads. I’ve driven in thick fog here too, and having done that I do not think closing school when it is really bad particularly unreasonable either.
If you are getting moisture intrusion so bad you are getting fog indoors you might want to consider beefing up your vapor blocking a bit.
Anyhow, back to the fan moving air. It works because with a breeze condensation cannot lay on the metal to form rust, the same way a breeze will evaporate sweat off us. It is still damp air that is the killer.
What some also do in particularly bad situations is they take an old refrigerator and put a light bulb in it, to warm it up. Then they keep their delicate tooling in there. It is cheaper than trying to heat a whole shop up all of the time. That is a fairly radical solution though, so I did not mention it the first time around. I should add they do not actually run the refrigerator. They want it warmer in there than the ambient temperature.
If I were you I’d try to stop the fog from rolling into your workshop first. It has to be getting in from somewhere. That won’t eliminate your problem, but it should make it much easier to manage from there on out. Right now you’re like a man standing in the surf asking others how they’re staying dry.
Have you tried dehumidifier?
My parents have rather humid basement (especially in Spring-Summer-Fall time). They have the machine working sometimes 24x7.
Also maybe you could build “a room” around your machine and run the dehumidifier and not suck water from the entire shop.
Edit: I also heard that WD-40 might not be best option as preservative. One guy recommended me silicone lube (something like Vaseline). They sell them in any auto-parts stores. It costs around 2 euros. I use 1" brush to apply it, it gets to hard to reach places pretty well.
Ballistol works fine for conservation: http://www.ballistol.com/
It was initially developed for lubricating and corrosion protection of guns in the German army, but works very well for tools too.
It does, indeed, but they only ship to 48 states.
Are you in Glasgow?
Yup
Me too. I want to build a cnc router/plasma. It would be great to catch up.