3" x 3' column wishful thinking?

[Windy City]

That is absolutely heart breaking
That was a beautiful machine you had built
Sorry to hear that happened

[shadylane]

Looks like a project that needs some love.
Did the inside of the control box get wet also?

[BigSwede]

It was one of those situations where I was overloaded with an immense amount of damage to my entire shop from the water ingress. I spent several days saving my machine tools from a rusty grave. Expensive lathe chucks, precision vises, tooling, all had to be salvaged. I basically wore out a wire wheel removing rust from dozens of hand tools. Cutters, saws, drill press, all a wreck. A rack of raw bar stock was dripping brown rust, except for the aluminum and stainless.

It took weeks overall. By the time I uncovered the SPP machine on its cart, I was burnt out, basically said "F it" and took it apart, saving a few of the components. I regret now scrapping it... it was probably salvageable. The good part was, my shop became a fun place again, the water ingress was fixed.

If I ever do another SPP machine, it'll be simplified and be a bolt-on affair that attaches to a bench drill press table. Something that others can hopefully replicate.

[BigSwede]

A closer look... that rust was very deep. Dozens of frozen socket cap screws, linear bearings trashed, a power supply hidden below with water damage. It could have been fixed, but it'd have been a real chore.

SPPdead2.jpg

You can still see one last lonely SPP nugget on the bit!

[shadylane]

I see, shit happens and the most important goes to the front of the line.
Sad to see the SPP maker gone, but the knowledge you gained building it is still alive.