bgray
Plastic
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2010
- Location
- Milan, OH, USA
I am turning cast arylic. Specifically polymethyl methacrylate.
My .187" boring bar has a through coolant. With new machinery, I finally have the ability to us a through coolant. Haas lathe with their Bolt On Toolholder. Previously, I was shooting a flood coolant from the exterior of the hole, but not through coolant.
The through coolant hole is obviously very small. When turning acrylic, it’s not that uncommon for the material to melt if friction is high.
I’ve noticed that the through coolant hole can clog here and there with melted acrylic, or just get jammed with tine pieces of swarf that find it's way there, melted or not. I took a tiny tiny drill dit that's smaller than the hole and did my best to clear it out. Then also compressed air from both sides. It worked once, but the second time, I’m not having so much luck.
I am using a second method of shooting coolant through the tool block. So coolant is shooting from the tool block, and also through the boring bar. But I’m still getting some instances where I get clogs.
My thoughts….
1. Perhaps I’ll make the drill go deeper where I can, hopefully giving more clearance into the hole for boring. But I can’t always do this for every part, so this really is not the best solution.
2. I have another coolant outlet in the tool block. So I could shoot 2 sprays of coolant from 2 places in the block, as well as the boring bar through-hole.
3. However, is spraying coolant through the tool block a good idea at all? Maybe I shouldn’t use the coolant block nozzles at all? Maybe I should always have flow going in one direction from the boring bar out or the part, rather than from both the boring bar and also the coolant block. Coolant coming from 2 directions could keep the swarf from exiting the hole rather than keeping all coolant flowing in the same direction, being from the boring bar out the hole?
Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance.
Brian
My .187" boring bar has a through coolant. With new machinery, I finally have the ability to us a through coolant. Haas lathe with their Bolt On Toolholder. Previously, I was shooting a flood coolant from the exterior of the hole, but not through coolant.
The through coolant hole is obviously very small. When turning acrylic, it’s not that uncommon for the material to melt if friction is high.
I’ve noticed that the through coolant hole can clog here and there with melted acrylic, or just get jammed with tine pieces of swarf that find it's way there, melted or not. I took a tiny tiny drill dit that's smaller than the hole and did my best to clear it out. Then also compressed air from both sides. It worked once, but the second time, I’m not having so much luck.
I am using a second method of shooting coolant through the tool block. So coolant is shooting from the tool block, and also through the boring bar. But I’m still getting some instances where I get clogs.
My thoughts….
1. Perhaps I’ll make the drill go deeper where I can, hopefully giving more clearance into the hole for boring. But I can’t always do this for every part, so this really is not the best solution.
2. I have another coolant outlet in the tool block. So I could shoot 2 sprays of coolant from 2 places in the block, as well as the boring bar through-hole.
3. However, is spraying coolant through the tool block a good idea at all? Maybe I shouldn’t use the coolant block nozzles at all? Maybe I should always have flow going in one direction from the boring bar out or the part, rather than from both the boring bar and also the coolant block. Coolant coming from 2 directions could keep the swarf from exiting the hole rather than keeping all coolant flowing in the same direction, being from the boring bar out the hole?
Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance.
Brian