Hello everyone. New to this forum, new to CNC. I recently sold off my Bridgeport series 1 Jhead, bought a Tormach 1100 CNC. Then I was horrified of the machine so I took a solidworks course, and Ansys course and a CNC course. I'm getting through it. Still freaked out by something called a mill that doesn't have cranks and dials.....
OK then, so the machine has a large sump, a pump, Gcode easily turns on coolant, I built a reasonable enclosure out of acrylic. But I have some concerns. I hear that water based coolant tends to rust things. Water, ions, corrosion, anodes, cathodes....yup, that's consistent. I'd rather not hear of some magic snake oil in water that doesn't have these problems. they all do. Further, I don't like the notion that these things can develop bacterial problems. So do I drill a hole in the tank, install a water heater element bung, screw in an element and kill off the microscopic beasties once a week? whew, who wants that? Water based coolant is off the table in my humble shop for these reasons, snake oil or not.
But then I was thinking of simply using WD40. I've used it for eons, welded over the stuff, got it way too hot, made careful note of the left over slime once the kerosene vapes off. How bad do you reckon the fire hazard is? I don't like having lots of kerosene surface area exposed in the tank....so maybe add a plenum and a baffle, or a P-trap.......
Please, asking your thoughts. Sure, the specific heat of WD40 isn't anywhere near water, it won't get rid of the heat as efficiently....but it's better than air no? It won't rust stuff, no electrolyte action with disimilar metals (cast from the Kurt vise vs the cast from the table), no galvanic potential. Just a simple, cheap dielectric lubricant that always seemed pretty hard to burn.
PS, I have no interest in working at ludicrous speeds. Easy enough to slow down and wait a while. She's still faster than old 9" x 42" "Hank", although I do miss the knee.
Thanks for the read, may the mill rise up to meet you! (I put mine on risers, tired of bending over machines designed for short people).