[How do I?] Flood Coolant Cleanup?

[carlquib]

I recently started using the flood coolant system on my lathe again to speed up some parts I was making. Without the coolant I was having to wait too long for the part to cool down (bearing fits). My last use of flood coolant was a disaster. I tried lps aqua cut. I left the lathe sitting over the weekend without cleaning up. It said it was supposed to have anti-rust properties. Monday when I went back to work the pile of chips on my cross slide had started rusting. After a few choice words and a bunch of elbow grease I got everything cleaned up, cleaned the sump out and just went back to my acid brush and oil. This time after consulting several forums I decided to give trim microsol 585xt a try. It seems to leave an oily film on everything. So far so good but I am still giving the lathe a good cleaning and re oil everything ever evening before I head home. With a good coolant like the trimsol how much do you need to clean and dry your machine every night. The coolant gets everywhere, it even starts to get past the wipers and get under the slides. What do you guys who use flood coolant on a regular basis do? Do you thoroughly clean the machine everyday?

Hello, my name is Brian and I'm a toolaholic!

 

[rcaffin]

The problem is the coolant, right?
I use air blast to clear chips and cool the part, and a pulsed misting to keep the cutting edge wet to avoid BUE.
So do a lot of aerospace companies.

Cheers
Roger

 

[rick9345]

I use odourless mineral spirits and what ever threading/cutting oil gets in sump. never have cleaned the sump and it was used when I got it. No smell, general wipe down after use. Some smoke if running real heavy cuts like .150-200 depth of cut.
NO RUST. Some times left days at a time. I part 2-4in bar stock frequently,(alum,steel,SS) works good for me..
Results/opinions will vary.

 

[TomS]

I use Rustlick 5050 at a 20:1 mix in my CNC mill. At the end of the day I wash down the enclosure interior and the mill to get the chips to the bottom of the chip pan. I let the coolant drain overnight or as long a 3 days then vacuum the chips. Never had a problem with rust.

Tom S.

 

[TommyD]

We used some crapola here at the skool, before my time, that I'm still trying to fix the rust and caked on problems it left behind. You have to wipe EVERYTHING down sfter it use and then wipe exposed bare metal with an oily rag. It WILL rust underneath items left on the machine, toolposts, vices and the like. They went to misters from using the tank 7n the lathes, I can only wonder what is growing in there after all the years. Never liked the stuff myself.

 

[carlquib]

How messy is the mineral spirits? I run straight cutting oil in my gear hobber but I'm afraid the lathe would sling more on the floor and wall and the oil isn't as easy to clean. The soluble oil is pretty easy to clean up off the floor and does a really good job keeping the heat out of the part and the tool. I left a pile of chips in the pan yesterday to see if they will start to rust after a few days. I have some micro drop systems but if I run enough air to keep the part somewhat cool I start getting a lot of coolant in the air. I don't know about aerospace shops but all the production shops I have worked in use full flood with a lot of volume and pressure.

Hello, my name is Brian and I'm a toolaholic!

 

[TOOLMASTER]

2x air

 

[rick9345]

How messy is the mineral spirits? I run straight cutting oil in my gear hobber but I'm afraid the lathe would sling more on the floor and wall and the oil isn't as easy to clean. The soluble oil is pretty easy to clean up off the floor and does a really good job keeping the heat out of the part and the tool. I left a pile of chips in the pan yesterday to see if they will start to rust after a few days. I have some micro drop systems but if I run enough air to keep the part somewhat cool I start getting a lot of coolant in the air. I don't know about aerospace shops but all the production shops I have worked in use full flood with a lot of volume and pressure.

Hello, my name is Brian and I'm a toolaholic!

floor wipe gets the floor cleaner(it is a type of solvent). Any type of coolant /cutting fluid gets flung every where,just like blood in the operating room, Works for me. Opinions/results will vary.

 

[carlquib]

I'm not familiar with floor wipe and a quick Google search didn't turn it up. Do you have a website for this product?

Hello, my name is Brian and I'm a toolaholic!

 

[rgray]

This time after consulting several forums I decided to give trim microsol 585xt a try.

I use 585xt also. I have chips in my pan from months ago and they don't rust. I oil the ball oilers often so the slides are always wet with oil.
It caused a patina on my cross slide and compound. I recently had it apart to replace a gib so I surface ground those surfaces and applied Everbrite. If yours are shinny now and you want to keep them that way the Everbrite does that nicely. Or just spray down with WD-40 would probably do the job.
The coolant cleans up its self pretty well. Once the back splash gets grimmy looking I point the nozzle at it and just let the coolant run on it and it cleans it right up. Figured that out by accident when I pushed the hose away letting it still run and noticed how it cleaned things when run on them for a short time.
I mix 13 oz to the gallon shooting for 10:1 mix.