Flood coolant on Clausing lathe

Iggy
Make sure it doesn't freeze in the system, you have the lathe in your garage in Chicago right.
CarlBoyd

I added RV entifreeze to it, approximately 1/5th of the total quantity of liquid. It should be enough, I think, given that I try to keep my garage not too cold.

For cheap insurance you might want to find a way to heat the tank, just in case. It will also heat the lathe a bit, so it isn't the coldest lump of iron in the room making it a condensation magnet.
Something really crude like a 100W Rough Service incandescent lamp in the base of the machine over the coolant sump should do it. It'll warm the frame and the heat will rise through the works.
Do NOT put it where it will get dripped on.
-->--

I must have a water heater for animal waterers lying around somewhere. But with the RV antifreeze added, I do not believe that it is necessary.

I'm curious about this. I'm assuming your "RV antifreeze" is propylene glycol, rather than ethylene glycol. Are you getting any nasty fumes off of it? P.G. is supposedly safe at normal temperatures, but the temperature at the cutting edge is not normal. It's hot enough to smoke coolant.
Did you check on the safety of this before loading it in the reservoir?
-- Ed Huntress

Iggy, I have used soluable oil on several of my machines over the years and I have found it to be a first class pain. I am a hobbiest. I do not run my machines sometimes for weeks on end. Soluable oil does not like this. The water evaporates, the tanks form slime, the residual oil left on the lathe itself leaves a sticky scum over time that is difficult and hard work to remove. On your question about rust, the answer is sometimes. It depends on what one you use and the concentration. What I do now is keep a portable CoolMist system that I can move from machine to machine when required and at the big L & S keep the coolant tank filled with regular cutting oil for the heavy steel jobs. This suits me much better than filling the coolant systems with water based coolant. For What it's Worth, Steve

I'm using Hangsterfer's S-500 at about 20:1 aand have had no odor problems in 2 years of very sporadic use. There is a light black coating on exposed metal, but that cleans up easily with some steel wool and a little WD-40. Tramp oil (from way oil?) is the biggest problem but a belt skimmer seems to take care of that.
That said, I suspect that flood coolant is more beneficial on a mill than a lathe, at least for the hobbyist.

Gee, I hope not, because that's exactly what I'm doing. I do wipe up after every use, but more from neatness than absolute necessity.
I also wipe flung emulsion off the ceiling and back wall, so it won't stain those surfaces too badly.
I used to use Cool Mist, and had endless trouble with rusting. This is one reason I went to emulsion.
It does matter what kind of soluble oil one uses. The dilution also matters. I use Rustlick WS-5050, at about 20:1. The dilution is chosen so the fluid isn't too thick to spray. Given the low consumption of a HSM, there is no point in trying to save money on emulsion. I will get visible dark marks on the ways if some emulsion is left under the carriage for a few days, but no rust. Way oil also helps to prevent marks.
I have not tried mixing antifreeze and soluble oil, as the lathe is in my basement, and does not freeze. But I would venture a guess that not all combinations of soluble oil and antifreeze work. This might be worth a phone call to the oil maker, as this cannot be the first time the question has come up.
Joe Gwinn

Not likely, if the coolant contains rust inhibitors as most do and you have mixed it properly.
I repair machinery for a living, and find that rust problems develop when the employees dump 5 gallons of water in the tank when it gets low..again and again without using a proper refractometer to check the water/coolant mix. Pretty soon they are running water with a slight blue tint.
You will be fine.
Gunner
"First Law of Leftist Debate The more you present a leftist with factual evidence that is counter to his preconceived world view and the more difficult it becomes for him to refute it without losing face the chance of him calling you a racist, bigot, homophobe approaches infinity.
This is despite the thread you are in having not mentioned race or sexual preference in any way that is relevant to the subject." Grey Ghost

Off the ceiling...
Yes, I actually agree that "mist" puts too much water in the air, and makes everything else dirty.
I was also thinking about making a chip guard to go around the axis of rotation, to be mounts on the carriage. What I like about my soluble oil, is that 1) it does not separate in at least several months year and 2) it does not stink. I filled a test jar with it when I prepared some for my cold saw, and kept it closed for that period, opened it yesterday and found it in perfect condition, even smelling kind of nicely.
I will give them a call, good idea, they are 20 miles from me.

Nice to hear. I re-cleaned the lathe spotless and will start making chips pretty soon.