Coolant for lathe and Mill

[ianmac]

Hello all,

I currently do not have any coolant running on my mill or lathe but i can see the benifits of running some. just using a light 710 on my lathe while cutting gives an excelent result.

my question is...My mill bed does not have any hole as such to let the coolant drain anywhere. what is the standard practice here.

As with the lathe i would prefere that the coolant does not come into contact with the bottom tray.

What do people do here.

ian

[jgb7573]

Hi Ian,
On the mill I drilled and tapped a hole at the end of the table and piped up to return coolant to the tank from there. Coolant still seemed to go everywhere, especially when I had the vice mounted. This overhangs the table so the coolant tended to run along the vice and then all over. I cured the worst of this with an old baking tray. This is an ally sheet with a small rim around the edge, a bit bigger than the base of the vice. I machined a slot in this the same width as the tee slot and longer than the width of the vice. I now put this on the table and then sit the vice in it before bolting the vice down. Now the cutting oil runs off the vice, into the tray and down the bits of the slot not covered by the vice and into the tee slot. Much better.

I'm not sure I understand your comment about the bottom tray. On my lathe, this is where the coolant and swarf gathers.

Hope this helps,

John

[Tel]

99.47% of my machining is done dry. On the odd occasion that cutting fluid is needed I either puff some on with a squeezy bottle or brush it on.

[ron]

I would agree with Tel, because I came from an industrial engineering background when I started model engineering and bought my lathe I set up a pumped cooling system because that is what I'd been used to on full size machinery and to be quite honest I've hardly ever used it, it makes a right mess to clean up, I've usually got by using a spray can of Screwfix cutting fluid or similar.
Ron

[brozier]

I tend to cut dry a lot of the time as I'm using cutting tools with the replaceable inserts. When I do need coolant for drilling I have a cheapo oil can filled with mineral based cutting oil. The can has a flexible spout so you can get it exactly where you want with minimum fling and mess....

Cheers
Bryan

[circlip]

Cos we're only PLAYING at ingineering Ian, Slinging coolant all over REALLY pi**es SWMBO off when you go back into the pad covered in "That Smell". Fairy liquid bottle,polythene garden spray bottle or a quarter inch (6MM) paint brush dipped in an blathered on from time to time. Regards another Ian.

[ianmac]

OH RIGHT!

I thought that everyone ran coolant systems!
I have been using one of those little oil cans with the flexable hose.
I am using engine oil but i could switch to a lighter oil.
What oil would you recomend and what is it called in OZ

Ian

[Tel]

The only thing I have a coolant system on is the big ol' power hacksaw I bought off ebay. Bought 4 litres of soluble oil off ebay as well, bur I can't see any listed there at the moment