What Coolant should I use

I haven't gotten around to putting coolant in the Mini Mill yet and I was wondering what you guys use and or recommend. I do 95% steel and some stainless. I would rather use something that isn't smelly and doesn't go foul. A nice extra would be a good finish.

Thanks,

Rick

I use Blasocut 4000 and am happy with It. The only issue i have is that if i let the concenrtratiin get low, it will foam. i keep a small aquarium pump running Which will help keep the bacteria balanced.

Gabe Newell said:

I use Blasocut 4000 and am happy with It. The only issue i have is that if i let the concenrtratiin get low, it will foam. i keep a small aquarium pump running Which will help keep the bacteria balanced.

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I have to agree with Gabe. I used Blazocut 2000 for years and never had a problem. I just ran it a little on the rich side for cutting steel.

Blazocut ain't cheap, but it works.

Another vote for Blaser. Excellent cutting fluid. I've actually never had mine foam - even when it gets low (great, now I've jinxed it)

No fowl scent from Blaser either from my experience.

I'm using cimcool Qualstar, seems pretty good so far. Oil separates out of it well enough, no paint pealing, haven't noticed any rusting, and doesn't have much of a smell.
So far out of the coolants I've used its the most pleasant I think. But I never got to use Blaser and some of the other names mentioned here so I can't compare between those.

tc1999 said:

Another vote for Blaser. Excellent cutting fluid. I've actually never had mine foam - even when it gets low (great, now I've jinxed it)

No fowl scent from Blaser either from my experience.

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Same experience for me using blasocut 4000. Only aluminum, brass, and ss here though.

Curtis

I have used Blasocut in the past and it works good. I changed to Fuchs Ecocool and I like it better. It seems to last longer in the tank. I cut 6061 and then I will switch to polyurethane for a month or two and Blasocut would have a little bit of a smell. With Ecocool I have not had that problem.

Happy cutting.
A.J.

I've been using Cimcool Simstar 540 forever and like it a lot, but I am also curious about alternatives. I have no complaints about Cimcool, but I have been using Cimcool products for so long that perhaps there are other "good" or "better" solutions. Most of my parts are aluminum, but occasionally do some stainless and Titanium parts. I have never had any machine rusting problems with Cimcool, but it does have some smell after it gets old. Also notice that if the concentration gets just a little low, taps have a tendency to gall up on my aluminum components. This isn't the fault of the coolant, it's my fault for letting the concentration get off. Am thinking of trying Blaser.

I use Rustlick WS5050 in all of our machines, bandsaws, drilling taping machine,Hyundia HIT18S lathe, and Hass mini mill. Great results, longer tool life, very little rusting, stable,needs to be changed after about six months or some rusting will occur.

I must be the only person in the world to use Trim-Sol. The low reactivity is essential for us because we seldom know what the hell material we're working on, and never in advance.

metalboy said:

I must be the only person in the world to use Trim-Sol. The low reactivity is essential for us because we seldom know what the hell material we're working on, and never in advance.

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Not the only person! I use it also and love it. I have tried rust lick 50/50 and didn't carer for it. I will be putting Trim-Sol in the new TL2 when it gets here next week.
Larry

Koja said:

needs to be changed after about six months or some rusting will occur.

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I don't know if you think you're saving money, but the more expensive Blaser lasts MUCH longer, so in your case would be less expensive. The last batch of Blaser lasted 4 YEARS without any issues whatsoever. The only time I ever change it is when I machine some magnesium parts...that will ruin any coolant not specifically designed for mag if any chips are allowed to sit in the sump.

So yeah, 4 years, not one spot of rust anywhere, smelled nice the whole time and never ate any paint. Oh, and it even works good as a coolant!

I also use blasocut 4000 and I machine mostly aluminum. I like the blaser products but choosing the right one can be a bit confusing. There's a soft water and a hard water version, and some other variations. I though, soft water should be better right? I mean with hard water, the minerals and concentration varies from place to place so it's probably harder for formulate a coolant for hard water.

So, I got the software version, got a big 55 drum of RO water to top off the coolant tank. A couple month ago I was talking to a blaser rep at a trade show about the different version and I was told that for the soft water version they deliberate add .. . forgot the mineral. . to it to help cut down on the foaming.

Now I am wondering if I just get the hard water version next time and use tap water. It's too late now since I don't do a lot of machining, and blaser just seem to last forever, and I still have an extra 5gallon pal.

Which of the 4000 series are you guys using?

I use Wallover WS-6900
Great stuff !!!


http://www.wallover.com/pdfs/WS 6900.pdf

John W, if you send a sample of your tap water to Blaser (or have a rep come out and test it), they will tell you which coolant to use. It's a free service. They suggest BC20SW for my area because our water is mostly from snow runoff and very soft. It's actually so soft that I have to add (can't remember the additive, sorry) to it to harden it up some to keep it from foaming.

From what I was told by my rep, BC20 versus BC40 is the 40 is slightly more slippery, but not worth the extra cost unless you machine a lot of difficult to machine materials like Inconel, etc.

When I got my new Haas VF-2 in August of 2009, I put Blaser Vasco 1000 in my sump http://www.blaser.com/index.cfm?type=start&navid=48&land=us. It has been there ever since with no issues. It is a vegetable oil based coolant and is a little pricier than other coolants I looked at. I have frequent periods of inactivity in my shop and can go a month between times I start up my VF-2. Still, it has been great coolant for me. I now use it in my CNC lathe and my cutoff bandsaw too. When I first got the lathe I put Liquid Ice in it. That coolant stripped the paint right off. No issues like that with the Vasco 1000 in my VF2. No rust issues at all except for some staining under my vise if I leave it in place for extended periods of time. To date I've used about three 5-gallon pails.

I did two things at the recommendation of those who know more than I when I put the coolant in my new mill:
1- I installed a Zebra Muscle Coalescer to keep my coolant clean Muscle™ Coalescer - Economical, Portable Coalescer for Separating Oil from Cutting Fluids. Works like a champ. When I look in my sump the day after a lot of machining...it just looks like pure milk. No oils, no debris, nothing but perfectly clean coolant. Get the model with the "Sumpster" not the "Hammerhead" for the pickup. Pricy but worth it for the hassle free coolant care.
2- I installed a "Chip Trap" to keep the fines out of my sump Chip-Trap Coolant Filter Systems. Even after nearly two years of use there is no sludge or layer of crud in the bottom of my sump. I got the F15DF model Muscle Coalescer. That includes a "fine stopper" filter. Kind of redundant with my use of the Chip Trap, but no crud in my sump so I'm OK with it.

At least when I got my Blaser, they had a promotion where they would fill the sump of your new CNC machine with the coolant of your choice. That equated to a 5-gallon pail for my VF-2. I don't know if they are still doing this, but if they are it is a heck of a deal. Ok, at least according to these guys Blaser still has the promotion: http://www.machsys.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=908.

I'm not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned here. Just a satisfied customer.

Eric U

Eric, regarding the Chip Trap, how do you think it would do with very fine chips from 3D surfacing? I do a lot of that and with aluminum, my coalescer (same one you have) picks up most of that since it floats, but with brass fines and cast iron, they sink, stick to the sump sides and turn the coolant green (brass) or blue (cast iron). Cast iron chips are just an evil thing to deal with in a coolant sump anyway.

Another problem I have is after machining magnesium, the coolant gets ruined. I made my own coolant pre-filter system that pumps the coolant out of an intermediate sump, through two bag filters, then back to the main sump. This system really helps with small fines and cast iron, and I'm hoping it will help with the mag contamination since the chips won't be in contact with the coolant for very long, however, if the Chip Trap will do the same job with no moving parts, I'm sure it'll be more reliable over time.

Your thoughts?

Matt,

I've yet to machine either cast iron or magnesium on my machine, so the jury is out on those. Basically the Chip Trap is a plastic tray with holes in the bottom for the coolant to drain out of. The tray sits on top of a plastic stand so it doesn't sit in the coolant. Into the plastic tray go two layers of foam-like filter material.

I do some 3D machining and probably take too light of a cut most of the time so my fines are pretty small. It seems to do a pretty good job of keeping them out of my sump though. I took out the "fine stopper" filter from my Muscle Coalescer after a year of use and it had nothing in it at all, so I'm guessing the chip trap is doing its job. I'm doing 90% aluminum and 10% steel.

Attached are pictures of my Chip Trap. You can see the sumpster coolant pickup for the Muscle Coalescer in the left hand side of two of the pictures.

Relatively speaking, the Chip Trap is cheap insurance. If the filters that come with the Chip Trap aren't fine enough, you could probably lay a cut-open filter bag in the bottom of the tray to get those really fine particles.

Hope this helps,
Eric

Well, 2.5months since I posted, my cimcool started to change smell the last few days.

About how much is one of those Zebra skimmers? I didn't see anything about pricing or where to order on the website.

SND, the Zebra coalescer PN F15DF.2 with SK10A7 pickup, without drum dolly is $649. Been running mine for about 8 months and I would do it again without hesitation.

You'll have to call Zebra for a list of dealers, or you can buy from the same guys I did in Ca. Let me know if you want their contact info.

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As an update to my own coolant pre-filter setup: It's been about 3 weeks since I last machined magesium and about 4 since machining brass. My coolant is now staying good with no effort on my part. And by good, I mean that it looks/smells/performs like it's a brand new charge. Money well spent.