Dark Screw Cutting Oil in a Flood Coolant System

[erikmannie]

Sounds like an oily mess, right? Maybe more expensive than flood coolant?

My new lathe has a flood coolant system & I want to test it. I prefer working with dark screw cutting oil which costs $23/gallon delivered.

Understand that I don’t plan on opening up the spigot on high and getting very much, if any, CF on the rotating jaws.

Currently, I almost always use a sewing machine oil bottle to drizzle CF on the work which is almost always mild steel being cut with an insert.

One reservation is health. I think this stuff is sulfur based, and sometimes there is smoke. I would be willing to use a respirator.

RIDGID 1 Gal. Dark Pipe Threading Oil, Low Odor & Anti-Mist Formulation for Pipe Cutting Dies/Threading 70830 - The Home Depot

RIDGID thread cutting oils are free of chlorine and other halogens, PCBs and heavy metals. The oil cools threads and pipe during operation. It has a working viscosity to 0 degrees Fahrenheit. RIDGID -

www.homedepot.com

Here is what I use now:

 

[mmcmdl]

Oil won't go rancid , I would do the same . We ran oil in all our Hardinges with no problems .

 

[erikmannie]

Oil won't go rancid , I would do the same . We ran oil in all our Hardinges with no problems .

Well, that’s a plus!

 

[mmcmdl]

The only bad thing about the oil that I remember was you always had oil on top of your legs from sitting on a stool in front of the lathe . Some were affected by this . If you're not in direct slinging direction I see no problems . I hate the smell of bad , rancid coolant !

 

[erikmannie]

The only bad thing about the oil that I remember was you always had oil on top of your legs from sitting on a stool in front of the lathe . Some were affected by this . If you're not in direct slinging direction I see no problems . I hate the smell of bad , rancid coolant !

I never sit on stools while working on machine tools. I stand.

 

[erikmannie]

Cheaper by the pail:

RIDGID 41600 Thread Cutting Oil, Chlorine-Free Thread Cutting Oil Designed to Prolong Equipment Life of the 418 Oiler Gun - Automotive Gear Oils - Amazon.com

RIDGID 41600 Thread Cutting Oil, Chlorine-Free Thread Cutting Oil Designed to Prolong Equipment Life of the 418 Oiler Gun - Automotive Gear Oils - Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

 

[mmcmdl]

I never sit on stools on machine tools. I stand.

Yep . This was back in the apprenticeship days when we ran Hardinges day in and day out on production jobs .

 

[Ianagos]

It’s pretty expensive but rather than dark sulfer cutting oil they have straight oils meant for screw machines and Swiss lathes. The sulfer cutting oil will stain all the exposed iron on your machine and it’s pretty thick for a sump.

The oils meant to do this are a little thinner and pose less health hazard I think.

Now oil is very expensive compared to water based coolant and water based coolant has a lot of positives. And if you get good quality coolant it can last a while.

I’m at 3 years on a batch of water based coolant in one of my vmcs. It’s definitely time to change but it’s not rancid and it doesn’t smell bad.

 

[mmcmdl]

I’m at 3 years on a batch of water based coolant in one of my vmcs. It’s definitely time to change but it’s not rancid and it doesn’t smell bad.

We used to try to cover up the smell with those wintergreen tablets , it then smelled like a rancid Christmas tree ! I do NOT miss that smell at all .

 

[erikmannie]

I see that my system takes 4 gallons.