Ok, so I’m wondering if anyone covers their woodworking equipment when not in use and if so with what? My shop is down the road from my home and the roof sometimes leaks. I’m working on repairs but in the interim I’m looking at covers. Thoughts?
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Covering your equipment
- Thread starter Mike Koren
- Start date
If you are just worried about the chance of a roof leak I would get some cheap tarps at a place like Harbor Freight.
I cover one side of the bed of my join(t?)er with what I would describe as a platicy bookbag, because when it really rains hard the rain gets in and gets all over it. I highly recommend it. Much easier than fixing my roof 
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I bought a couple of BBQ grill covers for the club lathes when we take them out to demo at the county Ag. fair.
Anything wrong with buying a roll of plastic sheeting to cover the machines? 9'x250' costs $25
that did not enter my mind…hmmmmmm
Yeah that does sound like a pretty good and more importantly easy thing to do lol
That was my first thought, HF is cheap too
Like water resistant plastic?I cover one side of the bed of my join(t?)er with what I would describe as a platicy bookbag, because when it really rains hard the rain gets in and gets all over it. I highly recommend it. Much easier than fixing my roof
I buy the cheap shower curtains to cover my woodworking equipment just to keep the dust off it. Except for the table saw, I use heavy Kraft paper and a thick plastic cover on it since it’s sometimes used as a work bench
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Lathe is used about every day so it’s never covered.
. Lathe is used about every day so it’s never covered.
I just use an old king sized bed sheet. It conforms to the machine, isn’t bulky, and is easy to put on and take off. It keeps the dust off and seems to slow down rust on the ways. Wouldn’t protect against rain water but I don’t have that problem.
My lathe and compressor are outside—where I turn—each has a custom cover by Alco Covers. Great site and business.
With the possibility of a leaking roof I'd cover everything right away. Depending on the equipment I'd cover with a cloth sheet then plastic or tarp over. The sheet can protect plastic from getting holes from corners and such. Use containers to catch any drips. Let air circulate underneath. And run a dehumidifier.
The only shop tool I cover is an 88-key Yamaha electronic piano. I want to keep the dust and flying chips out. The keyboard is partially therapy for when My hands get cramped from working on fine detail. And partially so I can play loud without bothering the family (the shop is 250' down the hill from the house.)
You need to use something that can breath. Plastic will trap condensation and promote corrosion. If you just need protection from dust, canvas covers work well - I’ve made several for seldom used machines. if moisture protection is needed, oiled canvas is a good choice.
Tim
Tim
Thank you all for the comments and suggestions! I will try a few of these suggestions over the next several months and let everyone know how each faired. My primary concern is condensation and rust. I do coat my stuff with paste after using but you can never do too much for the amount of money we spend on some of these pieces of equipment. Thanks again for all the advice
I used to help my daughter-in-law clean up after grandkids parties, and kept the good-clean plastic table cloths. I stopped doing that about 8 years ago because i had plenty of plastic. Starting to run low now, so i'll switch to rolled plastic sheets.
Having lived through the horror show of having my shop and some of my current stable of machines mired in a remodel that included the shop's roof being torn off... Plastic sheeting over all machines is a must if you have the risk of active rainfall inside the structure. Obviously, tarping or other makeshift measures on top of the structure are a helpful first step. Make sure that any overlaps in your sheeting are oriented to keep water outside and off the machines, i.e. just like the geometry of roof shingles. I found that Boeshield T9 as a base protective layer with active application of paste wax for maintenance also helped quite a bit.
A dehumidifier can help a lot but they will pull a stunning amount of water out of the air. This can help dry up a space dramatically, even when there's standing water. You'll ideally want one with a hose drain hookup. It's very easy to fill up a catch bucket if you're away too long or not diligent enough, then the dehumidifier's float will trip and it'll shut off – no help at all.
Where at all practical, I also recommend keeping the sheeting itself out of direct contact with any machined cast iron surfaces. Even just some boards underneath for airflow and to help direct the water away is enough. Absolutely vital: avoid standing/pooling water on plastic on top of any of the cast-iron (or any of the machines, in general.) This is a sure-fire way to have to spend a bunch of time restoring that cast iron surface after it rusts.
A dehumidifier can help a lot but they will pull a stunning amount of water out of the air. This can help dry up a space dramatically, even when there's standing water. You'll ideally want one with a hose drain hookup. It's very easy to fill up a catch bucket if you're away too long or not diligent enough, then the dehumidifier's float will trip and it'll shut off – no help at all.
Where at all practical, I also recommend keeping the sheeting itself out of direct contact with any machined cast iron surfaces. Even just some boards underneath for airflow and to help direct the water away is enough. Absolutely vital: avoid standing/pooling water on plastic on top of any of the cast-iron (or any of the machines, in general.) This is a sure-fire way to have to spend a bunch of time restoring that cast iron surface after it rusts.
Thanks John, very helpful and insightful. I’ll look into the T9 today. Humidifier x2 is on my Lowe’s list. Hopefully I can mitigate until repaired.
I don't use a dehumidifier in the shop (the central heat&air keeps things stable and so far, no leaks!) But I do use one in my 150+ year old barn in a stall I converted to a feed and tack room. The walls were all vertical slats of boards like a shed and dirt floor so the humidity would get high at times. For that room I added aluminum-coated mylar vapor barrier, plywood walls and ceiling, floor joists above the dirt, and plywood floor.
The dehumidifier is prob 25 years old and has worked flawlessly. It's correct that relying on the internal water collection container is a pain, both to keep up with when it needs emptying and and to empty - with high moisture in the room it would need emptying a LOT. So I switched it internally to divert the water to an external drain and ran a plastic tube out the back and outside, in my case through a 1/2" hole.
This has worked perfectly and comes on automatically to keep the humidity level exactly where I set it. This is great for me since I store a number of saddles, medical supplies, tools, and animal feed inside. I never have to think about it except to turn it back on after a rare power outage.
JKJ
I WISH I had AC and Heat! Some day maybe, but certainly not anytime soon! Yeah, I will likely go with your idea as well. Emptying buckets would get old fast!
The HVAC is one of the three best things I did when I built the shop. The others are adding a good cyclone dust collector and building it down the hill from the house close to the barn so I could easily keep an eye on things.
One sort-of-humerous thing: when I called my HVAC guy and the estimator came out I asked him if it might save any money if I installation myself did. He said he'd ask the owner but didn't think he would go for that. Called back and said, sorry, no.
Then when the owner came out to do the actual design, measurements, etc., he stood in the middle of the 1/2 finished interior looking all around and asked "Did you build all this yourself?" "Yep" Then he asked if I would be interested in doing the installation to reduce the price. I though, hey if it would save $200 I'd do it. He knocked off $1100! "Yes!" (I'm retired, my time is cheap.)
I figured he originally said no since he didn't want to take the chance of someone making mess of things that he would have to come back and fix, but must have been satisfied with what he saw.
A view of inside of on part of the interior a bit before that time but before I hung the doors and windows, ran all the electrical wiring, put up dust collector ductwork, all the plywood walls and insulation, and most of the ceiling. The inside HVAC unit would be in the inside corner shown here (in my little welding shop)
It was easy and fun - they supplied all of the sheet metal, ducts, diffusers, plenum, all the insulation, tape. sealant, screws, filters, controls and even a crimping tool! I ran the wires, put together the main unit, ran, sealed, and insulated the ducts above the trusses, ran the drain line, installed an outdoor electrical box with breakers. They came, connected the wires and copper tubing to the outside, hooked up everything and charged the system. It's been working well, every day since! Was a good experience.
BTW, for anyone considering building a shop single-handed it took me about 6 years for the 24x62' space, working every day. You can save a HUGE amount of money by hauling all the materials and doing all the work.
I'm reminded of how valuable the HVAC is when friends tell me they're not working in their shop that day since it's too hot or tool cold!
Life is good.
JKJ
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