Carbide grinding with diamond. Lubricant?

We have a baldor carbide grinder at work. Just bought. Have the typical plate mounted diamond wheel. We always used a drip of kerosene to lubricate. But the safety department......

Would WD-40 work? or any suggestions?

Plain water works that's what I use. But doesn't provide any rust preventative. So you must oil the slide and table after use. Or any bio-cool mixture with the water would suffice. Just enough to keep the table and slides from rusting. While coolant is required, lubrication is not required during the grinding process. I would not use an oil based coolant.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards,
Bob

Carbide does not rust so tap water is good/great
Home made coolant is washing soda and water. This is for rust avoidance only as water alone is good. and good because you can dump it with no fear of pollution. Dump on the grass is OK. (n0T the kind you smoke)

Pink liquid soap(Calgon best) and water is OK/good, about as bad as washing machine soap going down the drain.

Any store bought bio / coolant

QT HotRolled:[ I would not use an oil based coolant.] agree, it gets stinky and not bio friendly.

Good to shut the coolant before turning off the wheel so coolant is less likely to get into any bearings.

* How washing soda (not baking soda) works is that it leaves a fine powder on the surface so the water dries with not rusting, but the metal is clean so an oil rag wipe is a good follow-up. Washing soda coolant on a hot surface will leave a paint like coating that is not easy to remove.

A broken chunk of green wheel or a dressing stick will lower the wheel bone to let the diamonds stick out for better grinding and less wheel wear, Mount wheels with less than .002 face runout with using copy paper shimming is OK, this assures that at the end of wheel use the wheel will not run out of diamonds on one side. Watch for a hole or indent hollow at the wheel face and then try to work that out with grinding on the high place to keep the wheel as flat6 as possible. The same is for right or x left of wheel face to not get high get high -> try to keep the flat 90* to travel.

A Box shield can be fabed up to keep almost all coolant from going about the shop. not a bad idea to wear a decent mask for such grinding.... of plexiglass allows good light to show in.

We used an alkaline soap solution, bidegradable and helps prevent rust. Similar to Michiganbuck, I bet. Drip fed.

on my slow grinder, I use Windex

Do you have any machine tools using water based synthetic coolant?
If so just use that so as not have a rust problem.
Pure water will leech the cobalt binder out of the outer skin of the carbide but in your case you will not be in the water that long so no worries. Just be sure to dry the part after grinding with a rag or paper towel.
Best not to let sit wet and air dry but that a really, really fussy worry.
Have used Windex, prefer water and some dish soap or Tide. Helps prevent wheel loading.
WD-40 a no for grind speed and if using kerosene now I think you will find the water cuts much better.

Another fussy type thing if an eco nut. Technically you can not dump coolant used to grind carbide down a drain or outside. This due to the cobalt binder.
If you mop the floor around a carbide grinder You can not dump the mop water and if the Gestapo comes in be prepared to prove such.

I do not like straight water or water and soap alone due to the rust problems which means drying the machine after a grind and spraying it down with WD-40 or some such ilk.
One does not want to "lube" a diamond grinding wheel in carbide, in fact you want the opposite.

Buck's advice is good. A stick here is your best friend. If you do not stick a wheel in this type grinder you are missing out.
Cheap cardboard shield with a duct tape coating and a tiny shop vac golden.
Bob

Thanks for the advice. We use some type of blue toilet water for coolant on the CNC machines. Works great. Biostable.

I wonder why the old man used kerosone? Swore by it and wouldnt hear of anything else.

QT Bob [WD-40 a no for grind speed and if using kerosene now I think you will find the water cuts much better.]

I don't like these (W-D and kerosene)because they are a fire hazard around grinding.

We used a vegetable oil coolant in CNC grinders but it was a fire hazard , and we did have a few fires.

In a legitimate shop it is best to use a catalog coolant product in case the Man comes by to check.

In a home shop home made is OK

michiganbuck said:

We used a vegetable oil coolant in CNC grinders but it was a fire hazard , and we did have a few fires.

Click to expand...

You lit a few machines up. Like that experience,