Rust

[dawson]

When looking at second hand equatorial mounts, how worrying or not is a bit of rust on the nuts at the top of the tripod legs where they articulate with the flat top platform of the tripod, and on the bar which supports the weights, on a mount less than 18 months old.

I'm just surprised there is any rust so quickly. What's your experience?

Thanks

James

[Doc]

The bolts are normally mild steel to save money and after a while they do rust, not a problem but they do look tatty. Just replace bolts with stainless ones if you want them to stay shiny.

[Guest Eddy]

Either what Doc says or spray them with something to prevent rust in the first place but then when you touch the bar you'll get oily hands

[T A WOW]

Mild steel will rust within 24 hours if it gets damp and left to it own devices. It'll only be surface rust though so it'll clean off with a bit of scotch brite. I wouldn't worry about it to much, after 18 months they won't of corroded enough to significantly reduce the structural integrity of the mount.

[dawson]

Ok, thanks. I wasn't so much worried about the structual fraility of the bolts, i was just surprised there was rust at all, but i hadn't realised the bolts were mild steel; i was also worried the conditions which resulted in the superficial rust might have resulted in more sinister issues else where in the mount or in the accompanying scope.

I think my ongoing worries and concerns about second hand kit might just push me more towards buying new when the time comes.

James

[BAZ]

The same will happen to that too, sorry.

If we insist on taking our kit out into the cold damp air it will happen. 

 

Blame Entropy.

[dawson]

Entropy or enthalpy?

At least if any new kit i buy rusts i know whatelse the kit has been through.

I'll just keep saving for now.

James

[Orion]

Would spraying them with aerosol type paint or just brush paint be thin enough for them not to scrape off the paint when other parts move against them? (rather than using something like WD40 or other oils)?  For cosmetic purposes, I could probably get the bolts coated with electrostatically applied fusion bonded epoxy powder and cured at high temperature. Not sure whether the coating thickness would interfere with the working of the threads but if you can say more, I'll ask my coatings colleague. 

[BAZ]

It might be more cost effective to swap them for stainless. This way you aren't affecting the thread with a coating, which would invariably be damaged when replacing the nut, and at worse could cause the thread to seize and render the bolt useless.

 

Screwfix now do a range of A2 & A4 stainless nut's, bolt's and washer's.

[dawson]

Cheers.

Yes i think the acrew fix option sounds easiest to me.

Seeing rust on the mount just instantly put me off buying it.

Cheers all.

James

[Cazz]

My thoughts are, when buying anything second hand with rust or damage can be a gamble, but if you know what the good bits are to look out for and what the usual weaknesses are, then you can make a calculated gamble.

Also my gut feeling when viewing and item is usually not far wrong, although this isn't very scientific, a general feeling can be valuable in the final decision.

A useful post, or a load of waffle? :-)