Rant: Our green initiative backfired with rusty tools

We switched to environmentally friendly cleaners to cut down on hazardous waste. Now my precision tools are developing rust spots despite proper storage. How do other shops handle the trade-offs with green cleaning solutions?

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3 Comments

casey_carr7mo ago

Nah, that's missing the point. If your cleaner is leaving a film that holds moisture, it's a bad cleaner, full stop. The whole idea was to swap one functional product for a greener one, not to adopt a defective product that needs extra chemicals to fix its problems. Adding an inhibitor just papers over a fundamental failure. That trade-off makes the whole switch pointless.

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sam_thomas7mo ago

Was with @casey_carr, but kai_singh42 convinced me.

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kai_singh427mo ago

Have you checked if your storage environment changed when you switched cleaners? Many green solutions are water based and can leave a film that holds moisture, something the old harsh chemicals might have stripped away. On my micrometer set, I found that even with dry storage, a quick wipe with a corrosion inhibitor after cleaning stops those spots. It adds thirty seconds to the routine, which beats buffing out rust. The problem might not be the cleaner being ineffective, but it working differently than you're used to.

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