Removed Mill Vice And Yieks

dlane

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So I've been useing kool mist thru a mister for a little while mixing at 5ozs per gal. Instructions say 4-6 ozs per gal and noticed some rust inside the T slots.
I figured I better pull the vice and take a look under it and D#%^*m what a mess ,green goo and rust, on the table and vice base.
I cleaned things best I could with stone and scotch bride but they are still stained where the rust was .
So far every thing I do on the mill is with the vice , so what to do ,pull the vice after each use with kool mist,
Run straight kool mist , ( no more h2o on mill) Ied run wd40 thru it but don't want to get blowed up:eek:.
So vice is still off but needing to go back on ,wondering what to do about keeping tools cool without rusting things up ?.
Kool mist will be getting a few choice words from me, wish companies would make things that actually do what they say they will.
Sorry for the rant but what to do ?. :distrust:
Derrick
This is from there site
Formula "77" - like Formula "78" - will not cause dermatitis, ancidity, or buildup: and creates no rust or corrosion when diluted with clean water. Workpieces and machine parts remain clean and unstained.
Dose that mean use distilled water ?.
 
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Like carbide tools, coolant may not be necessary for the hobby machinist. I run most work dry, drill and tap with A-9, or Tap Magic, but only a drop at a time, no flooding.

Any time you introduce liquid (especially water) between two metals you run a chance of electrolysis. And yes, the vice and the mill table are both cast iron, but not necessarily the same material.

Edit: Spelling error.
 
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One that practices traming mill/vice with different methods will find it becomes 2nd nature. The side benefit is that the versatility becomes more apparent. Thus once that which was hidden gets cleaned and maintained. I always encourage new ones to practice and that it is not a one time operation and becomes a few minute job not a painful experience. It is just another skill to be acquired.
 
I think that's just the nature of the beast with water based flood coolant. I used Trico Tri-Cool synthetic water based coolant on my old cnc mill, flood coolant with a pump. I would literally hose my machine down with a garden hose nozzle after each session. Nothing rusted except under the Kurt vise. Now I apply some Boeshield before mounting the vise and remove it frequently when the mill is not in use.
 
I have used water based coolant in my mill in the past and found that in order to reduce rust formation I needed to increase the concentration level by about a factor of 2 compared to what the mfg stated. I mill dry almost all the time now, but still use coolant in my horizontal band saw. I also use Boeshield T under my Kurt vise on the mill as it seems to work the best. WD 40 will displace water but is a poor material for rustproofing. == Jack
 
One thing I always do to prevent this from happening. When I remove the mill vise or put it back on the table. I completely clean the table off, wipe it down, and apply a thick coat of ISO 64 hydraulic oil to the surface of the table. I don't wipe off the excess. Place the mill vise or super spacer in place and secure. I also have a set of aluminum table covers I put in place to protect the table surface. Doing all of this I haven't had a problem of the discoloration or rust under the vise since!

Edit: I never put the vise on the table dry! I always apply some kind of oil to the table of any mill I've ever used before placing the vise or super spacer on the table.
 
Thanks for replying, I ended up cleaning vice base and table real good and used way oil between vice and table
If I use kool mist again it will be mixed double the max suggested ratio, and remove vice after use.
The misting unit I used might be putting out too much , I have some spare nozzles I may try shrinking the hole a little.
Derrick
 
I don't use flood coolant but I do use mist from time to time. I try and take the vise off every few days when I do machine with mist. I use Rustlick 5050 mixed about 3 to one water to rustlick. That is pretty rich but it has kept me from getting any rust. It also seems to be fairly lubricious and I get good surface finish when using endmills and facemills. I can machine for hours on a few ounces of the mix when I have it dialed in right. My feeling is that Rustlick has more lube factor than coolmist. I have no proof of that but I did demo some coolmist and choose to buy the Rustlick.

cheers
michael
 
I occasionally use Tri-Cool TC1, which is a synthetic based coolant. Per instructions for general machining it is diluted 4 ounces to one gallon of water. I run this through a Noga Unit, which has a pressurized air inlet and a drop line into the bottle of coolant. I set it to a fairly low air pressure and adjust it so that it doesn't pull a lot of the coolant. A very fine "spit" would be a good description. When I first got this I put some of the solution on a raw steel plate that I had to check for rusting and let it set several weeks in my garage shop and no rusting occurred. The container says "Helps prevent rusting on tool and machine surfaces" and that it is biodegradable. We have a lot of heat here but usually only moderate humidity. After I use this I wipe off and oil the vise and the table, but don't move the vise very often. Everything seems OK so far.
 
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