I am purchasing a Tormach mill for home use and am weighing whether to get a flood coolant system or a Fog Buster. I would prefer flood coolant, but I will need to machine several large and deep bowl shaped parts. I am worried that the coolant will pool in the part causing problems. Is this something I need to be worried about, or are there ways to work around it?
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Flood Coolant for Concave Parts
- Thread starter pdiffley
- Start date
- Replies 10
- Views 1,549
ChipSplitter
Titanium
- Joined
- May 23, 2019
- Location
- Maybe
T*rmach is practically unspeakable here. It's kind of like taking a Yugo to a car show.
That aside, you'll need to provide a lot more details.
Part type?
Cycle time?
Material?
Tools?
Gobo
Titanium
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2013
- Location
- Oregon, USA
Drill a large hole in your part to drain the coolant.
bryan_machine
Diamond
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2006
- Location
- Near Seattle
It's never been a problem for me, I suppose it could be if you say broke something like a drill down in the coolant, and then couldn't see what was going on, and thus broek the following tap.
If the machine has compressed air that will often blow it out.
My machines are rather larger than the one OP is asking about, and the coolant pumps have much more force, that may affect the answer.
My experience with MQL systems is that unless you have an enclosure, they make a could of oily mist that actually worse than flood coolant.
If the machine has compressed air that will often blow it out.
My machines are rather larger than the one OP is asking about, and the coolant pumps have much more force, that may affect the answer.
My experience with MQL systems is that unless you have an enclosure, they make a could of oily mist that actually worse than flood coolant.
Hardplates
Stainless
- Joined
- May 8, 2019
- Location
- What once was a free country
I prefer to cut with compressed air and save the coolant for the washdown system 
mhajicek
Diamond
- Joined
- May 11, 2017
- Location
- Maple Grove, MN, USA
The problem with machining a bowl shaped part on a Tormach is that you won't be able to get the chips out of the bowl, and will keep recutting them over and over, breaking down your cutter and ruining your surface finish. Get something with TSC, preferably 1000PSI, and it'll blast everything out of the bowl. On the Tormach you'd have to stop over and over, more frequently as you near the bottom, to manually clear the chips.
Hillside Fab
Cast Iron
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2014
- Location
- Missouri
I prefer to cut with compressed air and save the coolant for the washdown system
Or walk away and come back to a feed mill buried in chips 2" deep still happily running. Nice thing about steel parts.
Wsurfer
Cast Iron
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2013
- Location
- Austin Texas
Ive been down that road with a Novakon (similar to tormach). I put a lot of effort into flood cooling, but the enclosure is just not designed for it unless your dribbling, which is not much good. I sliced the flat pan, made huge drain holes so the chips wouldn't constantly clog up the holes, starving the pump. The stands,enclosures are poorly designed for "walking away" while the machine runs. In the end, I still had to babysit the machine to keep chips clear and coolant from overflowing etc. Just a massive PITA. Better off standing there and blow chips out of deep pockets. Mist cooling has its own set of problems. Hobby machines are what they are. The "mill on top of the stand "design limits what is possible.
Hillside Fab
Cast Iron
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2014
- Location
- Missouri
I've never even seen a Tormach in person... the walking away was more of a comment on machining steel with air blast in general, vs any of the sticky stuff where you need coolant. I'd be looking at a used baby Haas or Fadal instead...but never been around them either. Just big old stuff here.
trochoidalpath
Cast Iron
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2016
In steel: run dry, and air blast the chips out of the pocket. (You can also rig something up with Loc-Line to achieve this if you're using a SmartCool and having angle problems.) In aluminum: run flood, try oscillating, otherwise plan to hit feed hold and blow out the pocket with a compressed air gun.
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