Ground and used my first MoMax tool

That's what it looked like to me. It certainly adds to Dantean vision.

It seems to me that flood cooling would be useful to wash the chips away, compared to a mister. That said, my mill table has no place to attach the drain, and I've been thinking of fitting a brass hose-barb to the table, to accept a hose back to a coolant pump. Thoughts?

Joe Gwinn

Yes, I do. I hadn't thought of the Dremel - usually too weak to be worth the trouble. I'll try it. And also look for something to fit the little air die grinder.

And, longer term, a bigger compressor. Where have we heard that refrain before? The mini air die grinder (Campbell-Hausfeld TL1120) easily outran the compressor while I was modifying the wheel guard on the carbide grinder.

That was my suspicion, now confirmed.

Joe Gwinn

I'll read it. Thanks,

Joe Gwinn

That works. Most mills are set up that way. However..you will have an issue as the oil is slung off the work by the cutter, past a certain speed. When you start doing flood coolant..someway to contain the splash is necessary. Lathe guys have an oily band down their left side..mill guys have an oily band across their fronts.

Gunner

"Deep in her heart, every moslem woman yearns to show us her t*ts" John Griffin

Actually, the Mo-Max and similar materials can take a LOT of heat. When the chips right at the cutting edge are red, that's too much. But, I generate blue chips all the time when fly-cutting with a Mo-Max bit and only have to resharpen it (with the lightest touch-up) once a year or so. This stuff is so FAR ahead of regular HSS it is amazing.

Jon

If you break a 1/2" bit in a flycutter, you will likely break a number of other things, especially in the mill's head and the vise!

Jon

If you like Mo-Max, you'd love Haynes Stellite. I'm familiar with the high cobalt cutting tools, and have used them in a production environment. You'll get the best service life from them when you keep the chip under a yellow color, regardless of their ability to withstand heat. While they may keep moving metal, surface finish is generally sacrificed quite rapidly. That may not be an issue when roughing, but it certainly is for finishing.

Harold

Any machine that isn't built to accommodate coolant will have a dreadful time dealing with it. I'd suggest you lose the idea, especially with oil. You'll have it spread over your entire shop in short order, and tracked everywhere you walk, including on your wife's prized carpets. Could be a recipe for a quick divorce! :-)

Harold

Cast iron chips from a big flycutter may be tricky, but the other option is to vacuum up the chips. I have a shop vac rigged up with a Loc-Line vacuum hose nozzle. This can be adjusted so it sits pretty close to an endmill, and works especially well on aluminum. The problem with a fly cutter is that you probably can't get close enough to suck up chips from more than one direction.

Doug White

I've been getting into using some sections of aluminum sheet stock for splash sheilds. Just a couple of 4 or 5 inch wide strips with a near right angle bend in them. I can set them around the part to contain the spray, or at least prevent most of it from hitting me. They are heavy enough to stay put, but knock out of the way if you forget to move them when the machine rapids over to tool change, or you feed past them.

Cheers Trevor Jones

That was my vision/fear too. I was thinking a bead curtain around the cutter, to intercept coolant flung off the bit. If the beads and strings are flimsy enough, nothing bad will happen when a string gets caught.

Joe Gwinn

She *is* protective of carpets, for sure.

But she calls the Millrite "Maggie", for Maggie Thatcher, the Iron Lady.

So, there is hope.

I was thinking a water-based coolant/lubricant might be less messy. I use this on the drill press, and it hasn't cause any political problems.

But curtains/shields will be needed too. Even with brushed-on black sulfur oil, oil went everywhere. Never mind a flood. And I bet the smoke plated out on everything, including the ceiling.

I may install the drain et al, but only use it when really needed. With a tent all around. And clean up afterwards.

Joe Gwinn

That certainly would work if you don't mind some of it ending up on the floor.

Keep a generous amount of Oil-Dri on hand. It does wonders for absorbing fluids. It also vacuums right up, leaving no mess!

Your wife is cool!

Harold

I have some lexan and some plexiglass..and I made a "box" that I can attach to the mill table with those welders magnets, when I need lots of shelding. Corncob end mills and fly cutters on aluminum. Did the same thing with the horizontal millers, where I use flood coolant as a matter of course. Those nasty needle chips from slab cutters and oil really need containment.

The lathes all have simple pull down guards that go over the chucks and keep most..most of the splash dripping into the lathe trays. Though I need to modify the one on the HLV-H..as it seems to want to drip on my boot.

Gunner

"Deep in her heart, every moslem woman yearns to show us her t*ts" John Griffin

Oil-Dri? I've only seen it in the catalogs. Kitty litter by another name?

Thanks. Her only "complaint" so far is that when she is practicing the piano (above my shop), I'll provide counterpoint by doing something really noisy, like bandsawing a piece of stainless steel or die-grinding cast iron.

Joe Gwinn

Can you see anything through the lexan/plexiglass after cutting for a while, or does the oil-chip mix on the surface prevent vision?

I was considering using fine stainless steel mesh in place of the plastic, on the theory that it wouldn't crud up as badly. I got the idea from a hardhat with integral face shield, where the face shield is a piece of wire screening, intended for use while using a chainsaw. The mesh face shield keeps wood chips out of the eyes, and yet does not fog up.

It's being helpful -- it's trying to waterproof your left boot.

Is the guard intended more for safety than for catching flung oil? If designed for oil, one would expect it to drain into the drip pan, not on the floor.

Joe Gwinn

totally opaque after a few seconds. But it is open topped and thats all I need.

A swarf catcher that would be impossble to clean of all those curlies. I see this all the time in machines with screens in their sumps.

True enough!

Only a splash sheild. It was intended for use with a rocker post tool holder (HLV-H is the worst offender) and the KDK holders I use require it to be lifted a bit..and then drips on my foot as the angle changes outwards

Gunner

"Deep in her heart, every moslem woman yearns to show us her t*ts" John Griffin

My neighbour has a little dog like that. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

If you cannot see through it, why not make it of thin metal?

I bet their screens are pretty coarse. I was thinking fine mesh.

But, maybe the shields can be sheet metal.

OK. Can the shield be modified?

Joe Gwinn