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Coolant question

I am currently setting up a machine to drill holes in polished 304 stainless tube. This machine will make about 100,000 holes per year through one side of 3/4" by .060" tubing. To ensure long tooling life, I need to cool the bits. The tubing is prepolished and this is decorative stainless (so the appearance must be flawless after we drill). I am looking for a coolant that is easy to clean off the finished parts before they are assembled. Any one have any ideas?

BTW I am not tackling this project alone, I am working with Joe Agro Jr and his dad on this project. Also anyone one with first hand knowledge of good coolant pumps? I need one of those also.

Thanks in advance Greg Postma

Reply to
Greg Postma
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IMO, chilled air would not be as good as a liquid coolant / lubricant because there would be no lubricaation for the flow of chips away from the drill.

Bob Swinney

Reply to
Robert Swinney

Maybe, but there can be LOTS of chilled air. I was keying on the 'easy to remove' aspect. Effort = 0.

Reply to
Fred R

Greg,

Here is a good synthetic coolant to consider. It uses Triethanolamine and is generally non-toxic, non-flamable, etc. You can rinse the parts with POTW... plain old tap water.

"The Cooler" by Spartan chemical. (I use this) MSDS:

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you spill it, MSDS say wash it down the drain.

I believe "ValCool" by Valenite is a similar product.

-- Jim

Reply to
jimmy

Sulferized oil works best for 304 stainless .Dark thread cutting oil is the same stuff.

Reply to
tim

Greg Postma wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

Contact your local Castrol representative. I am sure they have a specific formula for stainless.

For coolant pumps, there are a bunch of them, Brinkmann is the best of the bunch, but not cheap.

Reply to
Anthony

Watch your coolant concentration. If the water evaporates out coolant can get thick and gummy.

Tom

Reply to
president

Oil is toxic and so is the solvent to clean the oil off the parts. You need to dispose of such toxic waste properly but it can still come back to haunt you. I'd much rather use something that gives a good result but can merely be dumped down a drain. Have you even tried any of the non-toxic coolants I mentioned?

-- Jim

Reply to
jimmy

Not a 'spert, but...

Has anyone tried plain water as a coolant/cutting agent? In this case, given no real drilling depth (.060 wall) or heavy chip load, water might be able to do it, de facto solving the cleanup problem.

I know--well, I *think* I know--that when grinding some SS dowel pins on a belt sander, dipping the pins in water seemed to *greatly* increase material removal.

Have you thought about taking delivery of the tubing unpolished, and having it polished after the holes are drilled? Then, polishing might act to deburr as well. And you could then focus on the best-performing coolant.

And what about deburring, if drilling the polished mat'l?

In this case, the pump would not seem to be critical, as volume, not pressure, is more of an issue, and not much of one at that if the holes are small. A little Giant centrifugal submersible?? $50??

Triethanolamine as cutting fluid?? wow..... What about the std soluble oils?

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