Soluble cutting fluid hazards

[Jaydee]

I’ve been using a small toolroom type mill and lathe for about 10 years in my own workshop, I use water soluble cutting fluid

I’ve never given much thought to breathing in the vapour from the cutting, should I be concerned?

I use a low pressure pump and an air-gun just to remove the swarf

I’m normally good on health & safety (Eye & ear), but never considered the cutting fluid as hazardous other than dermatitis

 

[memphisjed]

If it irritates skin it is irritating lungs.

 

[Mtndew]

I’ve never given much thought to breathing in the vapour from the cutting, should I be concerned?

I've been breathing it in for 35 years. I'm still alive and kicking!

:knock on wood:

Honestly though, unless you're huffing big clouds of it on the regular I wouldn't worry too much about the mist droplets in the air. Sure you could get a mist collector if it's that bad.
But typically just use the air gun to blast away the smoke and mist.

 

[Jaydee]

Can’t say I get too much smoke, (its more steam from the cutter), but my workshop is tiny

My lathe only has a top speed of 750rpm and the miller is 2100rpm so its not exactly high speed cutting!

I’ve worked in a few tool rooms and on capstan lathes over the years and never had any measures for extraction.

 

[Joe Gwinn]

I used to use KoolMist, and my shop would soon fill with a dense mist bank, and it caused me to cough and things started to rust, so I got the correct 3M face-mask for oil mists et al. This did work, even if I looked like a WW1 soldier in Flanders Field. And things still rusted.

So KoolMist was too much trouble, and didn't work well on heavier cuts, so I switched to Rustlick WS-5050 soluble oil in drip/flood. Much better; still use it. It has caused me no problems, even though I do get it on my hands from time to time.

 

[Philabuster]

I’ve never given much thought to breathing in the vapour from the cutting, should I be concerned?

If you die from this, can I have your car?

 

[gustafson]

Depends on the coolant depends what you are cutting. I use non chlorinated.

 

[boslab]

I’d guess it’s not so much the droplets as the bacteria and stuff grows in it, getting those in your airways can give you some bad things going on ( I think I read somthing about the mucosal lining and some weird thing called “ compartment syndrome” whatever the hell that is, samples were taken from all the machines in work regularly, liquid from sumps and a dip strip bottle for incubation ( like a portable agar dish essentialy a lollipop in a sterile bottle) the microbiology used to show some nasty shit, polio!, streptococcus, legionella, all the funguses, ( ok fungi) I asked about viruses but he told me the extent was bacteria and fungi, they didn’t touch viruses ( or don’t ask as the case may be)
They had additives ( I’m assuming antibiotics for lathes)
There were dont breathe mists and aerosols signs up, wear face protection, change it daily, grinding machines had giant extraction pipes to exhaust fans outside, they were scared of coolant mists no doubt, legal fears I suppose.
Mark

 

[jscpm]

I have been drinking that stuff for years and I am still alive. How do you define "hazardous"?

 

[Joe Gwinn]

Any bacteria growing in water that is later sprayed into the air can cause problems when the resulting aerosol is breathed in. The finer the droplets, the deeper in the lungs they reach. And some of the growing stuff makes a stink, but not all, so lack of smell isn't a sufficient test. So it's a good idea to prevent growth. First method is simply to bubble air through the standing fluid, as many of the growing critters cannot tolerate oxygen. Then there are bacteriocides, which are not typically antibiotics, they are things like a bleach of one kind or another, or vinegar, copper sulfate, et al.

And "compartment syndrome" is a real thing, and is usually quite serious:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compartment_syndrome

 

[kb0thn]

One thing that surprised me is that soluble oil is oil, once the water evaporates. My janitor wasn't doing a great job cleaning under a CNC lathe. Had a welding spark get under there to an oil soaked paper towel or something and got a nice little fire going. Previously it never really occurred to me that the stuff was flammable, because I was used to dealing with 95% water and 5% oil.

 

[FamilyTradition]

The manufacturer of whatever brand of coolant you are using, should have a Safety Data Sheet on their product. It might not give you all the side effects of it, as sometimes only time will tell, but it will give you a good idea if you're working with something relatively benign, or something that will send you to an early grave.

In my experience, cutting oils and fluids are not the most dangerous substances you will encounter in an industrial setting. (Although anything that is not food, water, or air, is probably not good to get in or on your body, at any rate.)

I have noticed that solvents can be pretty nasty. Back in the day, trichloroethylene was a common one used for parts degreasing. A friend's grandfather died from exposure, and the town and the DEP are still dealing with contamination at an old factory in town, even though it hasn't been used for production for over 20 years.

 

[Kingbob]

The manufacturer of whatever brand of coolant you are using, should have a Safety Data Sheet on their product. It might not give you all the side effects of it, as sometimes only time will tell, but it will give you a good idea if you're working with something relatively benign, or something that will send you to an early grave.

In my experience, cutting oils and fluids are not the most dangerous substances you will encounter in an industrial setting. (Although anything that is not food, water, or air, is probably not good to get in or on your body, at any rate.)

I have noticed that solvents can be pretty nasty. Back in the day, trichloroethylene was a common one used for parts degreasing. A friend's grandfather died from exposure, and the town and the DEP are still dealing with contamination at an old factory in town, even though it hasn't been used for production for over 20 years.

Not at all disagreeing with you or advocating for this but your mention of trichloroethylene reminded me of a story my gramps told me. They kept a bucket of trichloroethylene for cleaning carbide prior to brazing and realized it cleaned the coffee pot and cups just as well. He said it's a "shame" you can't get it anymore, he just turned 89. Must be genetic, shame my dad is adopted lol.

 

[FamilyTradition]

Not at all disagreeing with you or advocating for this but your mention of trichloroethylene reminded me of a story my gramps told me. They kept a bucket of trichloroethylene for cleaning carbide prior to brazing and realized it cleaned the coffee pot and cups just as well. He said it's a "shame" you can't get it anymore, he just turned 89. Must be genetic, shame my dad is adopted lol.

Funny enough, the industrial site with TCE contamination, my grandfather worked at for decades, and he passed on at the ripe old age of 97. Perhaps just lucky? Who knows.

 

[Kingbob]

Funny enough, the industrial site with TCE contamination, my grandfather worked at for decades, and he passed on at the ripe old age of 97. Perhaps just lucky? Who knows.

I think they ate better (real) food.

 

[Joe Gwinn]

If I recall, the fear of TCE arose because some rats that were fed large doses of TCE developed liver cancer, this result then being scaled linearly to low doses over large populations. Even if you accepted that methodology (many don't), the risk was actually quite low. And rats are different than humans, and dose rate also matters.

 

[Blaser Swisslube]

As others have mentioned, review the safety data sheets (SDS). We'd also recommend reaching out to the cutting fluid rep if you don't find the answers to your questions.