Im in Georgia as well and we had a hot, sticky one this summer. No rust.
Where in Georgia? I am in Augusta.
This is a problem that is rearing its ugly head for me too⌠
Located in Nashville, TN. Near a lake, my drill press is rusty too. My x-carve is in a basement lab/soundproof room that is air conditioned and dehumidified. There are no open chemical containers or acids.
As you can see my y-plates have rusted under the paint! I thought they were aluminum but apparently theyâre actually steel. Looks like my x-carve is 50 years oldâŚ
As you can see here when I upgraded my stepper motors I purchased all stainless fasteners, and they are fine, as expected.
There is a big price difference between stainless and not. I bet the majority of people do not have humid environments where their x-carves are located, and Inventables made their choice based on that assumption. I would too, if price was the main factor. You canât have your cake and eat it, too. 
My x-carve is in my shop, no ac, no dehumidifierâŚand has gone all summer here in Georgia with high humidity without a spot of rust.
I donât think those plates are steel. As far as I know that, theyâre anodized aluminum. Iâm not expert but itâs more likely corrosion to me. If we have any Aluminum expert on this forum might answer this. Some thing causing this corosion, maybe cleaning/wiping using some kind of lube, even WD40 which contains Kerosene.
The end plates are steel. Just check with a magnet.
Never tried. Huh. Youâre must be right.
Yea, thatâs why I went with stainless when I upgraded. I purchased my fasteners from bolt depot, so they were only about 13 cents a piece for stainless compared to the 7 cents a piece for plain steel. Well worth it IMO
Weird, either my hands produce a noxious acid that destroys anything I touch, or the lake near me is muriatic acid⌠Everything made of ferrous metal I own shows this over time, but the x-carve started showing especially fast, perhaps inventables chose a lower grade of steel for the end plates 
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