All, Our Vendor made a steel structure that has bare mild steel as the outer surface, only using oil as the only mean of anti-rust protection. and it is used to support a cam follower rolling against it. it's rusting all over currently. it is a 10ft tall structure (5-6ft of rolling length). Need a way to protect the steel. So I guess a hard surface like Chrome would be good, but we can't dissemble it now and have to do it insitu. Would zinc paint be my best bet currently to slow down the rusting on the guide rail (along with daily oiling)? I know zinc is soft and it may not stand against the cam follower, but at least it has galvanic protection. What are you guys thought on it, if dissembly is highly undesirable as it takes days to fully dissemble it. Tolerance is not an issue as we do have about 1mm gap that can easily accommodate any coating. I'm getting frustrated with our vendor who doesn't think before they design.
Kevin What is the function of the structure i.e. what purpos does it serve? Is the structure described situated outdoors or in some corrosive environment and at what temperature? I believe that a simple sketch with dimensions and some idea of the diameter of the cam with maximum applied load would assist us with a reply. Possible corrosion solution is to remove from service to enable it to be thoroughly grit blast cleaned prior to the application of a suitably corrosion resistant primer and top paint coating. Suggest fixing a strip of stainless steel to the surface on which the cam roller operates. As a design engineer, with respect to both you and your client, I find the content of your closing comment rather distressing. This state of affairs usually occurs when the client expects a fabricator to supply goods that will provide the desired service but neglects to provide him with a specification outlining the operating conditions. The alternative is that the fabricator should request operating conditions and design/build the required equipment and offer a guarentee to endure that the supplied equipment meets the specified conditions.
