Coolant vs. Cutting Oil - Confused Newbie

[BanjoDude]

Hi guys - I'm brand new to the machining world and just picked up my first lathe - an EMCO Compact 8. I've got it all set up with a quick change tool post and I'm now trying to discern what I should do for cooling / cutting lubricant. From what I can tell, a mister is a great option, but I hate the idea of creating a fog that will settle on everything in the shop - particularly because I've got a few classic cars in the shop and it doesn't seem like a good idea to end up with a film settling on them every time I run the lathe. I'll only be using it occasionally, so perhaps this isn't a big deal. Perhaps I'm better off just sticking with a cutting oil - though opinions on what to use are as varied as personalities. Thought I'd post here to get your thoughts. Any guidance for a new guy? Thanks!

 

[matthewsx]

Hi,

GT6 in your avatar? I used to crew with a couple that raced one in SCCA....

As for coolant/cutting oil/lubricant I've found that cheap squirt bottles work great. Sprayer with WD40 for aluminum, or maybe a ketchup squeeze bottle for heavier cutting oil on steel.

Also, pretty much anything helps so if you don't have a specific cutting fluid for what you're working on even the squirt can with way oil is legit. Key to not making a mess is only using what you need. If you're doing heavy threading in tough steel you might want to setup an automatic system but otherwise just giving a little squirt while you're cutting should do it.

That's just my experience with doing easy stuff on small machines, I'm sure others will chime in with what works for them.

John

 

[BanjoDude]

Hi,

GT6 in your avatar? I used to crew with a couple that raced one in SCCA....

As for coolant/cutting oil/lubricant I've found that cheap squirt bottles work great. Sprayer with WD40 for aluminum, or maybe a ketchup squeeze bottle for heavier cutting oil on steel.

Also, pretty much anything helps so if you don't have a specific cutting fluid for what you're working on even the squirt can with way oil is legit. Key to not making a mess is only using what you need. If you're doing heavy threading in tough steel you might want to setup an automatic system but otherwise just giving a little squirt while you're cutting should do it.

That's just my experience with doing easy stuff on small machines, I'm sure others will chime in with what works for them.

John

Hi John,

Thanks for the reply! How cool that you used to crew for a GT6. Such neat little cars. My son and I just finished a full nut and bolt resto on this '73. It's my favorite car to drive above even those with a lot more power.

Thanks for the advice. I'm looking forward to learning here. I've been an active part of the Triumph forum, so went looking for a forum for machining when I bought this little lathe and found this site.

Sounds like I may be overthinking it for no more than I'll be doing.

Wes

 

[GeneT45]

I went a few decades before every getting a "fogless" mist system. You can do pretty much anything you need with a cup of cutting oil (or WD-40 for aluminum) and some acid brushes. In my experience regular brown/dark cutting fluid works better than random oil or water-soluble coolants when applied manually.

GsT

 

[BanjoDude]

I went a few decades before every getting a "fogless" mist system. You can do pretty much anything you need with a cup of cutting oil (or WD-40 for aluminum) and some acid brushes. In my experience regular brown/dark cutting fluid works better than random oil or water-soluble coolants when applied manually.

GsT

May I ask which system you got?

 

[benmychree]

In my shop downtown, I used synthetic coolants for the most part, but also TapMagic for jobs requiring a cutting oil; I find that in retirement, water based coolants evaporate too fast and/or go rancid, so I use the TapMagic only or machine dry.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

coolant ruins hobby machines, cutting fluid is more appropriate for hobby machines
you'd be surprised how much stuff can be machined dry

 

[BanjoDude]

coolant ruins hobby machines, cutting fluid is more appropriate for hobby machines
you'd be surprised how much stuff can be machined dry

Is that due to it being water based? Never really thought about that.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

Is that due to it being water based? Never really thought about that.

the coolant pulls swarf into places it would never get otherwise
if you infrequently use the machine, the coolant stagnates and starts the corrosion process in places you can't see

professional machines are designed with higher coolant deflection in mind.
companies will run them into the ground and replace them, where you are unlikely to wear your machine out with some maintenance and lack of flood coolant .

mist coolant or manually applied cutting fluids would be more appropriate as the coolant or cutting agent is delivered in relatively small quantities

 

[BanjoDude]

the coolant pulls swarf into places it would never get otherwise
if you infrequently use the machine, the coolant stagnates and starts the corrosion process in places you can see

professional machines are designed with higher coolant deflection in mind.
companies will run them into the ground and replace them, where you are unlikely to wear your machine out with some maintenance and lack of flood coolant .

mist coolant or manually applied cutting fluids would be more appropriate as the coolant or cutting agent is delivered in relatively small quantities

Thanks for taking the time to explain. This makes perfect sense.