[entity-unknown]

When I worked at a machinist shop as a kid I remember the owner had me save as much as possible of the coolant we used. He told me it was pretty expensive when you're running a giant CNC machine all day so it was good to recycle it.

I asked him what it was made out of and if I recall correctly it was (gear?) oil, water, and soap. He explained the oil was for lubrication, the water was the coolant, and the soap just mixed the two.

I am experiencing valid memory right? And this is generally a good coolant minus the mess right? Any down sides? Any positives?

I haven't made any up yet but did a google and it appears people do use it.

[Arno]

Most machines that use a cooling system for cutting do already run a closed-loop system where they tend to catch the outflow when it has been used, fiter/strain it to remove chips and then feed it back into the sump of the coollant pump for another 'go'. They don't tend to lose much over time. Some may spatter away, but that's limited esp. with machines in enclosures.

Usually you don't 'use up' the coolant as such, but over time it gets contaminated/loaded and needs replacing when it gets too funky

Having said that.. Water soluble cutting oils should already be a kind of oil/soap mix as the soap helps to get the oil and water into an emulsion state. Usually they also add some anti-corrosion items to stop machine parts rysting up when the water evaporates.

I guess you can make it yourself by careful mixing and probably using the minimum amount of soap to get the most oil into an oil/water emulsion, but it may be a lot more convenient just to pick up a can of soluble oil/coolant concentrate and add your own water to that..

Bye, Arno.

[flamascus@gmail.com]

In response to the question about cutting oil I have been using a mixture of four quarts of mineral oil and four gallons of distilled water (both available at any drug store) in my horizontal band saw for nearly forty years and it has worked great for me. The water will evaporate over time but the mineral oil does not evaporate so I keep an eye on the coolant level in the saw and add only distilled water to fill it up. Neither stock, blade, nor drop ever gets hot, and keeping those things cool is what it's all about. Hope this helps.