Maybe you are not be getting the kind of tool life you expect. Blasogrind cutting fluid. Photo courtesy of Blaser Swisslube. From this and other information, your supplier will select a fluid that meets the needs of your primary application, works effectively with secondary materials and operations, and is compatible with any post-machining processes.
Testing a new coolant is a big commitment. With a fluid better matched to your process, you stand to gain improved tool life, better surface finish, and reduced cycle times.
You may even be able to reduce your per-tool cost, as well. Vascomill, a vegetable-based cutting oil from Blaser Swisslube. Goedtel told about a company that was bar peeling, a very aggressive machining process. However, the shop was using a full-synthetic water-miscible coolant, normally intended for lighter duty. This produced lots of steam and mist.
Coolant usage was high — about one drum per day — and tool life was poor. To get acceptable performance with the full-synthetic, the shop was running it at 25 percent concentration instead of the usual 5 percent. Valenite provided a semi-synthetic that added lubrication, improved tool life and reduced misting, steam, and fluid loss. Verify that your cleaning process works with it, and be sure to alert your plating or paint shop.
The new fluid may leave different residues for them to deal with. For medical and other critical applications, alert your customers well in advance of the change, as they may need to obtain regulatory approval. Since water-miscible fluids are mixed with about 95 percent water, you should have your tap water tested before selecting a new water-miscible fluid. The minerals in hard water can cause a problem with residues, and chemically softened water may tend to cause excessive foaming.
Your cutting fluid supplier can advise you, and has different versions of product to alleviate some water-quality problems. As the price of crude oil goes up, and waste disposal rates rise, the lifetime cost of your cutting fluids goes up, as well.
This requires careful monitoring and maintenance, but can pay off in the long run. Then you mix water and concentrate in a ratio of 20 to 1. Now, from one gallon of concentrate, you have 20 gallons of waste to dispose of. It may cost you 50 cents per gallon, he said, to have it hauled. To get a feel for the condition of your cutting fluid, filling a small bottle with clean fluid from a machine sump, suggested Bill Cruey, problem solver with Knoll America, Madison Heights, Mich. All things being equal, a purer, more refined and, usually, more expensive oil will also have a higher flash point.
It protects the investment in the machine tool and, with proper filtration and temperature control, can run upward of 10 years without disposing of any oil. You never see results even close to that with water-miscible fluids. You may get that type of longevity in a central system but not with individual machine sumps. Kip Hanson is a contributing editor for Cutting Tool Engineering magazine. Contact him by phone at or via e-mail at kip kahmco. Search form Search.
Cutting Tools. Cutting oil fire risk requires precautions. This provides more cooling and chip evacuation for the cutting tool in turn reducing the cycle time and increasing the life of the tool. This method of lubrication uses significantly less coolant than traditional flood cooling but is not suitable for heavy cutting. These oils can be either petroleum or vegetable based oils with blended additives to improve particular aspects of their performance and typically offer the highest amount of lubrication, good rust and corrosion protection and stability although with the least cooling capacity.
Insoluble in water, these oils must be kept clean as they have a tendency to smoke and offers a risk of fire during misting. Common uses for straight oils are in Fogging, MQL, heavy machining operations, milling, tapping, turning, hobbing and honing. Soluble Oils form an emulsion when mixed with water and offers high levels of lubrication and adequate cooling capacity making it suitable for heavy cutting. The nature of the fluid remains stable even with the contamination from tramp oil, machining fines and other materials that may find their way into the machine sumps.
Suitable for all cutting fluid applications, soluble oils are however more prone to bacterial problems. Soluble Oils are also the cheapest and most widely used type of cutting oil. Semi-synthetic fluids are a combination of synthetic and soluble oils and its properties and cost are a middle ground between the two, therefore providing a good solution for both lubricity and heat transfer capability.
The chemical makeup of the semi-synthetic fluids can be adjusted for different situations and processes and provide further added benefits such as bacteria resistance. Synthetic oils do not contain a mineral or petroleum base, rather they are made from alkaline organic and inorganic compounds which function well both in diluted and undiluted forms. These synthetic oils offer high resistance to bacteria and the best cooling performance and are best suited for use in CNC mills, lathes and grinding operations where high cutting loads are achieved and where superior cutting performance and longer tool life are crucial.
Alternatively though, synthetic oils are the most expensive and require the most maintenance to remain effective where careful attention must be paid to the quality of the water. However they lack the corrosion prevention of soluble and semi-synthetic oils due to the absence of a mineral oil base. The handling and usage of cutting fluids can expose workers to a number potential health hazards and proper safety measures and PPE need to be observed to limit these risks.
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