Thread: Coolant for stainless steel

Maintenance shop at a beverage producer. Mostly stainless. Can anybody suggest a suitable coolant for general turning and milling?

Mark

Castrol SW3505.Keep it at 8-9% for stainless.4% for anything else.

Originally Posted by Stewen

Castrol SW3505.Keep it at 8-9% for stainless.4% for anything else.

Best is OIL.

I use Mobil Omega for 416 stainless. Also, the dark, sulphurized threading oil used for pipe threading works pretty well, and is cheaper.

From what I figure and hope, anything used in a plant around food and related machinery has to be rated for use in an FDA approved food plant ask you EHS guy about this first. On top of that, if you plan to weld, stay away from sulphurized oil.

Ray

Most water soluble coolants will work just fine on it, its really just taking the heat away. When picking a good coolant I'm more worried about it not rusting the machine or going bad too rapidly. I work mostly with 304/316. Cutting oil is ok for small work and tapping but will fill a shop with smoke in seconds. Using the proper insert grade and running them at the proper speed is where you'll see the biggest change, as that is what is doing the cutting.

I run 416 and most the other 400 series dry, same for 303.

When it comes to welding, as long as all parts are properly cleaned with acetone and that the finishes don't trap any oil there is no problem that I know of and I weld a lot of it....

Being that it is for food grade equipment, you may want to look for a coolant that doesn't leave a film that is hard to wash off. I think there are some "natural" blends, but I don't know how good they protect machines.

Originally Posted by DobermanDave

Best is OIL.

It is oil based.
We are using it in all of our machines and it works very well.
I run only stainless in my machine and I haven't any problems.