Cutting fluid

[Galileu]

Hi,

I can't tell you how much I've learned in this thread; I've learned to the point of being utterly confused. :

If you are a hobby machinist, if you are concerned with the final result but you don't care whether it takes you 2 minutes or half an hour to get them, if you are restricted to brushing your cooling fluid on the workpiece, what is the advice?

I would like to have just 2 fluids, one for steel and the other one for aluminium. I know there are many different steel and aluminium alloys but I don't usually know which one I am using since my stock comes quite often from scrapped parts. So, please, could someone summarize the basics of cutting fluid for HSM?

Thanks,
José

 

[HMF]

I've used olive oil on clocks when I was desperate and it works.

I also used it to coat bare metal with it too- it doesn't last too long, but it does prevent rust, like any other oil. I say any port in a storm.


Best,


Nelson

 

[Neil74]

I too get most of my material from scrap yards so I let the material let me know what I need by way of cutter and feed rates. If after a minor adjustment and an attempt at using cutting fluid I am still having trouble, I will sometimes remove the stock and mark it as hard and unknown to save for another day or job. My Monarch has no chip tray so I try to avoid a wet stinking mess and just brush on enough to do the job and no more. I apologize if my post caused anyone any confusion, good luck with your projects.

 

[Neil74]

I guess if we were looking for something to permanently bond and remain sticky we could always try melting one of those peeps they sell at Easter time, it would also be a nice pink color so we'd know if we had used it or not.

 

[Neil74]

I just pour my cooking grease and oil into a can, also bacon grease. I make sure their are no big bits of meat or other food scraps and mix with kerosene. May be bad for me I don't know, I know it works and I always have a new supply as needed. I did a quick search on Google and came up with this site here, to make your own. I guess its not for everyone but been working for me for 20 years at home.
http://www.grandpappy.info/wclarify.htm

 

[November X-ray]

McMaster-Carr has lard oil. Any other good sources?

My Ex-Wife has a unexhaustible supply of Lard adhered to her hips!

Seriously though, I have a machining handbook book somewhere that talks about using transmission fluid and kerosene in a 50/50 mix. However I think it was the transmission fluid that used to be made from whale blubber and that has long since been gone!

 

[Galileu]

I just pour my cooking grease and oil into a can, also bacon grease. I make sure their are no big bits of meat or other food scraps and mix with kerosene. May be bad for me I don't know, I know it works and I always have a new supply as needed. I did a quick search on Google and came up with this site here, to make your own. I guess its not for everyone but been working for me for 20 years at home.
http://www.grandpappy.info/wclarify.htm

Best advice so far! That's what I'm going to try. 8)

José

 

[hermetic]

I used some stuff when I was an electrical engineering apprentice in the sixties. It was a brown grease we applied to the ends of steel conduit before hand threading with die stocks, It gave of a strong gingery smell and the threads were perfect every time. Anyone any ideas what it could have been? I think it would be excellent for threading steel on the lathe.
Phil

 

[Tony Wells]

Too smokey for me. And there is a fire risk with any flammable liquid in the pan of a sump system.

As far as refrigerating the coolant, the only benefit I am aware of would be to maintain the initial sump temperature. The curve from, say, 40 to ambient is shallow compared to the curve from ambient to tool temp, which can be quite high. Once you reach a critical temperature on the sump, you do lose some cooling effect on the work. Boiling water temperature will make your parts grow, and is undesirable. This is generally only a problem in small sumps or long, sustained operations.

 

[finsruskw]

Crisco shortening
Comes in it's own little plastic tray, unwrap, cut a hole in the lid, add brush and turn away!!
3 in a pkg, 1 for the lathe, 1 for the mill and 1 to fix breakfast with!!
lifetime supply for about 4$