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keeping flood coolant under control

I've been considering adding a flood coolant system to my mill/drill, mostly because I'm tired of intermittent built-up edge problems that lead to nice semi-circular divots in otherwise nicely-finished surfaces.

So what I'm wondering about is whether it's possible to keep the splatter under control, so I don't have oil sprayed all over the walls and accumulating on the floor around the mill. I've thought about using pieces of light plastic to surround the cutting area, so the oil that's flung out by the cutter hits the plastic and runs down it to the mill table. It seems like that'd work, but I've thought that about other ideas that led to "oh @#$%" moments.

Tove

Reply to
Tove Momerathsson
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I use Loc-Line tubing for the actual flood nozzle system, and added a small brass valve right at the end of the Loc-Line to throttle the flood. I use one of the smaller nozzles so i can get a thin jet without projecting a huge amount of fluid.

I also stick pieces of plexiglas into the table slots when I am using a heavier flood application or the specific tooling tends to throw the coolant more forcefully. I do a lot of work on aluminum panels and such with 1/4 or 1/8" end mills, and these don't throw the coolant much if the stream is directed right where the cutting tool touches the workpiece.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson

Exactly what I am doing too. There's a collection of strips right to the mill. Only thing is, I no longer can look through them. :-)

Nick

Reply to
Nick Mueller

On the drill press, I use pieces of copper flashing bent by hand to fit around the current machine setup. Copper is heavy enough that it will stay where placed.

The spray is horizontal, so one can leave the top open and look down over the edge of the flashing. Also would catch flying chip on a mills.

Joe Gwinn

Reply to
Joseph Gwinn

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