Which flood coolant for CNC turning? So many choices!

Ok for some reason I just can't remember what coolants we ran at any of the shops I've been at. Probably because there was so much other stuff I was focused on. I am finally adding more CNC capabilities to my personal shop. The latest acquisition is a dinosaur of a Lathe. It is a Hitachi Seiki 3ne-300 with Fanuc 5t controls. While it is a far throw from the Haas VL2s, Okumas, Mori Seikis, and Daewoos I have spent time with it is in good shape for its age and even has a behind the tape reader to interface with a pc.

So here it is I'll be running mostly brass, aluminum and some stainless. At this time I run very little steel. But the product line may evolve with the ability to better run production. The shops I was at always ran water soluble coolants. I never noticed any weird film inside the machine or film in the sump. We also never had a problem with bacteria but often machines would need to be topped off and seldom if ever replaced the coolant. I'm guessing coolant life was never a problem due to having to top off the machines often due to evap and loss in the chip bucket. We always had a brix scope to keep track of the mixture. So that's where I am at and what I am used to. I understand I will likely have bacteria issues in my little shop or some other compromise. I don't mind buying a good coolant I just don't want to buy junk and go about the trial and error method.

I am looking at Trim, Valcool, and Oak products right now. Any insights? And thanks in advance!

I'm very happy with my Blaser BC935SW. I do end up with enough carryoff on the chips that it's not the same batch of coolant sitting in the machine for months and months, but so far no stink or growths.

I was told that BC935SW has some sort of mystical on-purpose bacteria that is supposed to be there, to inhibit other bacteria. Sort of like a probiotic for coolant . Oh well, whatever it is, it seems to work fine.

Regards.

Mike

Cool and thank you for listing which exact type. Blaster was another one I kept coming up with in searches (on the forum). What materials do you use it with? And turning or turning and milling? Just trying to get a good feel...

Milling ... 70% Al, 20% plastics (I run coolant on plastics except nylon), 10% stainless/mild steel/brass.

My lathe is still using Trim 685 until I can push through the remaining stock, then I'll switch that over to BC935SW.

Regards.

Mike

Wheres that popcorn eating emogy ?
You are going to get many opinions on this subject...so here is mine..

I just canned Valcool after using it many years went with Oemeta(about 2 months ago) so far Im happy .
The machines are cleaner its way more manageable the tramp floats on top and I use a wire strainer once in a while to remove the crap.

Its been great for copper and aluminum I have some 17-4 s/s coming up Im interested in that result.
So I dont have any experience with s/s ....yet.

Also my vices and tables dont show rust any longer.But Im milling not running lathes.

I know it's like asking which car is best but as long as I can weed out the Pintos, Gremlins, Delorians (and whatever under performing death traps there were) and get a top 5 or so I'll be happy. Just want to be in the ball park when I make a purchase and I need to order soon.+

So looking into it Blaser products seem to get really good reviews. But purchasing seems to be somewhat difficult. I am waiting to hear back from a sales person as you can not buy it from the usual vendors. However my local machine shop supply house seem to stock trim. I have not found a lot of feed back online about trim products. Any one have any feedback? I would appreciate some input even if its a quick, "I use x type for x material and like it. It doesn't stain alum and has good sump life"?
Also I am not up on the whole synthetic, Semi synthetic, water soluble deal. How do I tell which coolants are meant to be diluted if you can not depend on the term water soluble as an indicator? Searching around on the topic has shed little light...

Tuff Luck Tom said:

However my local machine shop supply house seem to stock trim. I have not found a lot of feed back online about trim products. Any one have any feedback? I would appreciate some input even if its a quick, "I use x type for x material and like it. It doesn't stain alum and has good sump life"?

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Trim 685 gave my skin an allergic reaction. I had to get off of it in the VMC, still pushing the last of it through the lathe. Other than that, it did foam up quite a lot in my 16,000 RPM VMC. Not an issue in the 2,000 RPM lathe. Never had an issue with sump life, and my lathe has a pretty low duty cycle so the coolant that's in there now has had long periods of idle time.

Regards.

Mike

Been using Trim Sol for 30 years. Tried Blazer and got real tired of the machines and parts having a sticky residue on them. Big neighbor uses Blazers and have for years, but my experience was different.

Blaser all the way. I've tried Trim-sol it's fine, HoCut gave me rash, some specific Derma cut or something was okay. In Utah our Blaser maintenance guy comes in every quarter does Ph tests and cleans out the machines completely, for a nominal Annual price of course, but it is nice to not have to deal with it-----EVER.

R

cmccull166 said:

Wheres that popcorn eating emogy ?
You are going to get many opinions on this subject...so here is mine..

I just canned Valcool after using it many years went with Oemeta(about 2 months ago) so far Im happy .
The machines are cleaner its way more manageable the tramp floats on top and I use a wire strainer once in a while to remove the crap.

Its been great for copper and aluminum I have some 17-4 s/s coming up Im interested in that result.
So I dont have any experience with s/s ....yet.

Also my vices and tables dont show rust any longer.But Im milling not running lathes.

Click to expand...

So I the in last four years I have used Cimcool, Valcool VP tech and now Oemeta a Novamat 900.

The cimcool had something in it that keep getting me sick. The rep said it was likely the imeans? package. Reguardless I had to can it but I did like how clean it ran and how it worked for my steel parts.

Valcool was good for a few month's and always got sicky and I had to run double the concentration as the Cimcool to get comparable lubrication.

Now the Oemeta is by fair the best coolant I have used todate. It just flat out works for me in every way. No heath issues stays freash and clean. I love how well it resists tramp oil too. Its smell is a bit odd though.
FYI My buddy is the one who turned me on to it and he has been run it with aluminum parts for 2 years now. All my parts are steel.

I've been running Hangstefers S500 in my machines with pretty good luck. Cutting brass, copper aluminum and stainless. Doesn't seem to make a big difference what material I'm running. Only time I have a residue issue is when I get a shot of hydraulic oil from the bar feeder blown into the lathe. (Actually considered running straight water soluble oil in it instead of hydraulic oil). One important consideration is however, what is your water quality. I have a neighbor running a machine shop who had lots of trouble with hard water.

Spruewell said:

I've been running Hangstefers S500 in my machines with pretty good luck. Cutting brass, copper aluminum and stainless. Doesn't seem to make a big difference what material I'm running. Only time I have a residue issue is when I get a shot of hydraulic oil from the bar feeder blown into the lathe. (Actually considered running straight water soluble oil in it instead of hydraulic oil). One important consideration is however, what is your water quality. I have a neighbor running a machine shop who had lots of trouble with hard water.

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The water here without a doubt is hard... I wonder if it would be worth while to source some water off site to mix up? After all I'm only running flood coolant in one lathe and a saw. And would not imagine I would have to top off more than 5 gallons a week as I'm not quite that busy. Thanks much for all the input. I know there are several threads out there like this. But I found myself still wondering. One in particular talked about nearly impossible to remove brown sludge forming inside the enclosure of the machine. In my limited experience I have not seen this and would consider it totally unacceptable. But that is one of the reasons I didn't want to trial and error it.

ONLY use distilled water in the machines, never use any type of tap water. I buy industrial distilled water in 30 liter canisters, since I started using that, my coolants have never "turned" and that was over 4 years ago. And none of my machines run every day, so even after sitting, no more problems.

Tuff Luck Tom said:

The water here without a doubt is hard... I wonder if it would be worth while to source some water off site to mix up? After all I'm only running flood coolant in one lathe and a saw. And would not imagine I would have to top off more than 5 gallons a week as I'm not quite that busy. Thanks much for all the input. I know there are several threads out there like this. But I found myself still wondering. One in particular talked about nearly impossible to remove brown sludge forming inside the enclosure of the machine. In my limited experience I have not seen this and would consider it totally unacceptable. But that is one of the reasons I didn't want to trial and error it.

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A rep from Hangsterfers recommended I use S-506 or S-506CF instead of S-500 as the 506 formulation has a hard water additive. They said this was their standard recommendation for people in the SW USA since water is typically harder here. I have 5gal of S-506CF but have yet to run it.

Here is the direct quote from his email:

...in your area, with consideration for your materials, water quality, machine-size and all other influences, I am recommending the S-506 CF. This soluble oil contains a “hard-water” additive the helps prevent residue on machine surfaces (attributable to hard or partially hard water)...

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They also sell way oils and hydraulic oils designed to work well with their coolants.

~300L of tap water in my 2 sumps, no stink or growth issues, and my enclosures are nice and clean.

Regards.

Mike