Coolant Choice

If it is going to be left for periods without being used the most important thing to remember is to add something to stop bacteria growing. Suds tanks can get incredibly smelly if left unatended. You can buy propper chemicals for this purpose, or even a small amount of bleach added to the mixture should stop most nasties growing. I have a small amount of bleach in my pickling tank (I use citric acid).

Regards

Kev>Slowly (very slowly) I'm getting my machines sorted out and am getting round

As for drain hole size, it really depends on the max flow rate of your coolant. bear in mnd that delivery will be under pressure and the drain holes will be working on gravity alone and will be partially obscured by swarf. Not that I use pumped coolant, but my Myford VMC has a 8mm hole and provision for about 1/2"bore pipe if that helps.

Thanks Bob, it does help in looking for locations, and I know I'm not looking at 25mm to be useful!

Best Regards

Steve

Steve

Hope you don't mind me repeating your question but I would be interested to know if anyone has suggested a good alternative to soluble cutting oil. I know it is an old chestnut but I am in the same boat as yourself, I prefer using coolant but the machines do get left some time between use.

Having become fed up with the staining, coagulation and smell of time expired "suds" I went for some of the neat cutting oil supplied by one of the large machine importers. I am not totally convinced that it is the best alternative that we can find. It appears to cause the tools to rub rather than cut and when working the machine hard the place fills up with smoke. It is also a bit more viscous than soluble oil and thus more difficult to clean up if necessary and can seem to take an age to drain to the tank. Still things don't go rusty or black - just a sort of dark brown colour. Unpleasant enough for me to have drained the tank and returned to the jam jar and brush.

I seem to remember a couple of years ago at work they changed some machines to a blue/green fluid that everyone seemed happy with, unfortunately I was no longer directly involved and can't remember what it was. I suppose if it is a synthetic/semisynthetic then it will be expensive or only available by bulk tanker load. I know it is a different problem than you professionals face but any clues? I much prefer the primarily cooling affect of water based fluids rather than the lubrication bias of neat oils.

So, how about it guys, am I destined to "dry cut with carbide" or "splash messy thick oil all over with a brush". I'm not sure about mist systems when the machine is open (and I'm close) as not breathing appears to be a technique without much future. Perhaps the perfect cutting fluid is yet another "holy grail"; I would appreciate your views.

Best regards Keith

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Tom

I asked a similar question of the tech guys at Rock Oil (Warrington), I wanted something to put in my cnc mill which would tolerate being used very intermittently without going nasty. They suggested one of their (semi?) synthetic soluble oils, it's been in there for 18 months or so, sometimes unused for a couple of months, without complaint. It's gone a funny brown colour (it was blue), but that may be residues from the previous coolant. I bought 25l, it was dearer than their ordinary cutting oil but not megabucks. If you're stuck for a small quantity I could spare you 5l or so if you're in the area. I use their ordinary soluble oil in my lathes, they get used a lot more regularly, and neat oil in the drilling machine as 9 times out of 10 I use that dry, plus it has a relatively small sump.

HTH

Tim

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It may be veering off the point a bit, but I spent a few days in France last week taking my 15 year old lad's rugby team 'on tour'. One of the other fathers happened to be one of the bosses at Rock Oil. We had a very brief discussion on cutting oils, & he told me that they supply their soluble oil to marine customers to use as a corrosion inhibitor for winterising cooling systems - especially outboard motors used in salt water.

Cheers Tim

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I wonder if my father could get some retrospective royalties on the idea? :-) He was using soluble oil in Jags & Daimlers in the late 50s.

Tom