Coolant Bacteria?

Back in the mid 90's in the which I spose were some of the first days where HSM technique in aluminum were being developed we would be able to run maybe a few hours and the entire facility would fill up with a fog, IIRC it was Trimsol back then--later we changed to some Castrol shit

Anyways, the visibility maybe a couple hundrerd feet later they would open the cieling hatches but those were usually kept closed with fusable link for fire stop.

Later we putr in Aercology filters etc I was a heavy smoker still but maybe I should contact some of my ex-co-workers see if there also having troubles with pulmonary functions also.

I saw your arcticle Bob

From what I gathered from hearsay and whatnot which has still probably not been addressed is that the bacteria in the coolant die still but their exoskeletal shell which is mostly silicon and perhaps some calcium gets concentrated into the coolant consequently it gets all chopped up and easily goes airbornes again not good its similar to the diatomacious earth crap, if it becomes airborne our human lungs simply cant handle it.

Then again maybe Im haveing paranoid delusions again Mazak never used Whale Oil in 15k rpm spindle either yup that's probly the ticket

JA:

Yeah, that was odd. The average person may not know what a machinist does, but you'd think a magazine about the matalworking industry would know the difference. Maybe they thought the sparks made for a more exciting picture than some fog, eh.

Ever seen what happens to a TIG hand piece when you forget to turn the coolant pump on?

JC

Funny that they show a welder, when the topic is machining....

Jon

Yep, and it's not pretty. New hand piece time.

Best, Steve

My guess would be they couldn't readily locate any pictures that showed an obvious health hazard fog of coolant, so rant the visually eye catching welding shot. Not that welding doesn't have it's own health issues. But I've burned a few thousand lbs of welding rod, and never had any coolant mist problem....

Jon

I've never seen a TIG torch melt. Though, worked in a shop which had a welder with total loss cooling. (80's vintage Lincoln Idealarc 300amp) Water solenoid went bad so they removed it and installed a ball valve. Every now and then someone would forget to turn the water on, and poof went a power cable. It would have cost less to replace the damned valve.

I've got a scar on my wrist from steam from a melted power cable. Equipment was too light duty for what I was trying to weld and despite my pleas to send the work out because I couldn't do it with what I had they had me try anyway. Feh.

Never saw a TIG welder that one had to manually turn on the pump separate from the welder, though I don't doubt they're out there. Most shops I've worked in ran total loss or closed loop cooling with the pump powered on with the welder. At Spectra Physics in the 70's, they had the TIG coolant lines tied into the cooling system used for the lens coating systems on the other side of the building. One night they turned that system off for maintenance, and a buddy of mine on night shift got some nasty steam burns on his arm....

Jon

Never seen one melt either. I've always held the torch near the head, and would feel the heat long before any permanent damage was done. Worked in one shop running total loss with a solenoid for control, coolant being dumped into the landscaping just outside. Apparently the valve had a slight leak. One especially cold (for Calif...) winter morning the welder was fired up, and in short order blew the power cable hose. Luckily the hoses had the leather protective sleeve and the guy wasn't burned. We found the end of the hose outside had frozen...

Jon

In Western NY here freezing temperatures for 4 to 5 months per year is the norm. The drain on the welder I mentioned above went into a hole drilled in the floor to a drain tile right in front of the welder. I got in the habit of pulling the hose out of the hole to make sure the water was flowing before welding.

The TIG welder I learned on had a variable thumb control mounted on the torch so it couldn't be held up close to the head. To this day I still hold the torch towards the end of the handle when using a foot pedal. It does help prevent singed knuckles. :)

The classic inorganic lung offender being asbestos. Funny how that works. Also, I cain't imagine fiberglass (insulation) being too good for lungs, either.

Also, in my recent 5/8-27 tapping job, my coolant just gave me a skin rash of sorts.

Time to change the coolant, or add more bacteriacide? Mebbe sumpn else is in there, as well? I do aerate the tank, sort of half-assed.

Hmmm..... Breathe Deep!

Do people here dump their coolant tanks occasionally, start fresh? I figger cuz I lose so much coolant, and thus add so much water/coolant, it's sorta fresh-ish, but apparently not.

In my experience people react differently to different brands of coolants. Suggest change brands until you find something which doesn't bother you or your wallet.

Synthetics don't go rank like oil based coolants do but is much more pricey initially. In the long haul it costs less however, you don't have to throw it out anywhere near as often.

When it won't stay in suspension anymore then it's time to get rid of it, you know because the chips will be slightly oily feeling and you will also have noticably more tramp oil floating on top in the tank than what you would have if it were only way oil.

Currently I been using epsom salts or calcium chloride to separate and then I skim the oil and incinerate, disposing of the water by evaporation.

Beware a few years back I lost several sets of spindle bearings when using castrol synthetic, apparently the inhibitors used in synthetics require excellent control of water chemistry whereas the film left behind upon evaporation of water soluble oil is generally sufficient by itself.

One other thing--machining of plastics REALLY seems to suck the oil out of a soluble oil mix especially plexiglas ribbons--hmmm perhaps its not incidental that a plexiglass disk is also what happens to be used in the wheel-type skimmers..

water/coolant,

Alternately use an igloo take the water out from the valve at the bottom.

I talked to a service tech about synthetic coolants terrorizing machines a few weeks ago. In his experience a few brands he didn't name (I should have asked which ones but didn't) have a tendency to attack rubber and plastic, dry rotting them. The biggest problems being with, say, X and

Several machines I work with, Fadal's, have had nothing but full synthetics in them and none have any coolant related problems. Valcool 940 was used until it was discontinued recently and currently are using Wallover WS 8035.