Flood coolant or mist coolant?

I was starting to make my own flood coolant system with a arduinio, mosfet driver, some tubing from an old dishwasher, and an old bmw fuel pump I upgraded a couple years ago.( I know a flood system is like $160, but this will be like 60psi so more like high pressure coolant)

But went with a mister instead since I don’t have a enclosure around the mill yet. I used some reclaimed unist 2210 since I can get it for free. It’s just a 20$ Amazon one. But I have the pickup tube on the bottom of a Gatorade bottle that’s placed up higher than everything so it’s gravity feed. It gets me by till I can work on something to pressurize the oil side.
 
An automotive power steering pump would work, turn it slow for low pressure and fast for high, at one place I worked that's what was used on the gun drilling machine.
 
eugene13 said:
An automotive power steering pump would work, turn it slow for low pressure and fast for high, at one place I worked that's what was used on the gun drilling machine.
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How did you drive the it and control the speed?

The fuel pump used the arduino with a variable resistor as a speed controller. It was able to control the pressure but I just never used it yet because the machine is not enclosed. Using a mister for now until I can make an enclose...
 
I've tried both..

Flood makes a mess, better if you have a good enclosure, but expect it will still make a mess. It will go bad and smells horrible. Some brands are better about this, but they're a fungal and bacterial soup. You can add biocide, but that isn't healthy to breathe. You'll need to keep it well strained of metal chips (a multi part staining system with varying levels of metal strainers and finally a disposable cheese cloth seem to work best. You also need to keep the oil out of the coolant. If it covers even part of the surface of the tank it will spoil in days. But it offers the best cooling performance.

Mist doesn't have the same issues as flood, but you are aerosolizing the coolant and oil (not healthy) and you run your compressor all the time (noisy). There is less splash effect so having well aimed nozzles is important, more so than flood.

One other alternative is to use flood coolant in a spray bottle as a consumable coolant to use as needed. Depends on how much you plan on running the machine and how much maintenance you can tolerate.
 
This turns pretty slow, I built it for my failed turbocharger jet engine project, I don't know the pressure, but it was way more oil than I needed.
 

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Any suggestions for what coolant to use? I am using Universal by Synthetic Lubricants, diluted 1:10 and when it splashes on my skin it is irritating. I use eye protection, have an enclosure, use gloves, and wash it off right away but would rather have something less toxic.

The surface finish is much better than dry cutting so I am reluctantly accepting that I will use coolant.

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I used this for years before scoring an entire 55 gal drum of Castrol synthetic

Hangsterfer's S-500 CF 5 Gal Pail

Buy Hangsterfer's S-500 CF 5 Gal Pail: Industrial Lubricants - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
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not synthetic - so likely won't be allergic to it? At least totally different from what you have now.
 
I do a fair amount of machine work. I have a Noga air mist system that works amazing. I run Kool Mist through it. It’s basically odor free and overall seems cleaner than flood coolant. Does not bother my skin at all.
 
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