What coolant are you using in your cnc lathes?

Mtndew · Oct 21, 2021

Our cnc lathes evaporate the coolant like crazy so we end up going through a barrel every 2-3 months for 7 lathes.
Our mills usually take a month or two longer to empty out a barrel of the same stuff.
Right now we're using a local coolant supplier and are raising the price. So if we can get a different coolant that will last longer to justify a higher price that's a no brainer.
Thanks.

dww6eng · Oct 21, 2021

I use Oemeta Novamet 900 in both my mills and lathes. It seems to stay in the tank, even after adding water several times. Their way oil and tapping oil dissolves into the coolant as well, so tramp oil is a non issue. I cut aluminum and stainless, its been the best coolant I've had so far.

Ianagos · Oct 21, 2021

I like qualichem 251c

It’s nice my lathe also evaporates a lot but I don’t run as much as you do. I probably have. To add 10 gallons every week or 2 or what I actually do is let it get too low to pump and add 40 or so gallons at a time.

gregormarwick · Oct 21, 2021

Castrol Hysol XF.

Our lathes evaporate a lot of water of the coolant when they're running hard. Like 50+ litres of water a day, but we rarely top up the oil.

We have electrostatic extractors on them which drains the oil & condensate back into the tank.

Are you monitoring your concentration?

tonymor · Oct 21, 2021

We had been using Cimcool Cimperial 1070 but had very bad bacterial growth in multiple machines.

Now using Quaker/Houghton Hocut 795 and seems much better.

EmGo · Oct 21, 2021

Mtndew said:
Our cnc lathes evaporate the coolant like crazy ...

The difference is probably the chucks. Your mills don't spin the part in a big fan thingy, right ? Lathe guys who run collets lose a lot less coolant.

Mtndew · Oct 22, 2021

EmanuelGoldstein said:
The difference is probably the chucks. Your mills don't spin the part in a big fan thingy, right ? Lathe guys who run collets lose a lot less coolant.

It evaporates because of it turning to steam not the speed of the lathes. They don't usually go faster than 2k rpm except on 2 of them but the smaller lathes don't do any hoggin.

Basically I'm curious to find out if we're going through a abnormal amount of coolant due to this. I used to run cnc lathes all throughout the 90's but I can't remember how much coolant I went through back then.

cnctoolcat · Oct 22, 2021

Most of your evaporation loss is water. You don't want to add just pure water back though! (The coolant in the tank can fail to emulsify with the plain water.)

Mix about 1/2% coolant-to-water for top off.

And monitor your concentration with a refractometer. Running your coolants richer than needed can cost serious dough over time...

ToolCat

EndlessWaltz · Oct 22, 2021

EmanuelGoldstein said:
The difference is probably the chucks. Your mills don't spin the part in a big fan thingy, right ? Lathe guys who run collets lose a lot less coolant.

^^^ This guys knows. That big chuck atomizes the coolant more. When you can still breathe it in through 4 layers of a mask, including a special filter, it is on a very small molecule level now. So spinning 3 jaws at 4k rpm ...shits vaporizing. Drilling a 2in hole at the same time 8in deep raising the temp of said coolant that much quicker too.

gregormarwick · Oct 23, 2021

Mtndew said:
It evaporates because of it turning to steam not the speed of the lathes. They don't usually go faster than 2k rpm except on 2 of them but the smaller lathes don't do any hoggin.

Basically I'm curious to find out if we're going through a abnormal amount of coolant due to this. I used to run cnc lathes all throughout the 90's but I can't remember how much coolant I went through back then.

gregormarwick said:
Castrol Hysol XF.

Our lathes evaporate a lot of water of the coolant when they're running hard. Like 50+ litres of water a day, but we rarely top up the oil.

We have electrostatic extractors on them which drains the oil & condensate back into the tank.

Are you monitoring your concentration?

I ask again. The only real oil losses we see are out of the conveyor...

Fancuku · Oct 23, 2021

A barrel every 2-3 months for 7 lathes is not bad at all in my opinion. We have 5 lathes in the area i work at and a barrel never makes it past two months. All lathes run 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

charlie gary · Oct 23, 2021

We're using CIMTECH 320 from Cimcool with good results. One thing my boss told me about it is that it's important to buy it from Cimcool and not someone who's licensed to make it, as the licensees don't seem to be able to mix it properly.
We clean out the sumps once a year, and the only time it develops a smell is when we cut acetal.

DouglasJRizzo · Oct 23, 2021

I use Quali-Chem Xtreme Cut 231.
Been very happy with it.

edge22 · Oct 25, 2021

DouglasJRizzo said:
I use Quali-Chem Xtreme Cut 231.
Been very happy with it.

I use this also in my lathe and its great. In my mill not so much, it has a high pressure pump and I have issues with foaming.

Mtndew · Oct 25, 2021

Yes we use a refractometer, and we also have a meter/mixer to ration it at the barrel.
I think we just have shit coolant because it's not just the water that's turning to steam, if that were the case then the ratio would be sky high in the tanks. It's normal.

maf1909 · Oct 25, 2021

I've got Synergy 735 in our new lathe. It seems to do fine, although I do mostly delrin and aluminum and not really any production work. The water definitely evaporates pretty quick, I go through 10-20 gallons a week, but I rarely lose much oil other than on chips, so I don't run the chip conveyor all the time. The mist collector definitely helps clear the enclosure quicker, I give it 30-60 seconds after a program is done before opening the door.

BT Fabrication · Oct 25, 2021

Mtndew said:
Yes we use a refractometer, and we also have a meter/mixer to ration it at the barrel.
I think we just have shit coolant because it's not just the water that's turning to steam, if that were the case then the ratio would be sky high in the tanks. It's normal.

is it going out with all the chips then? thicker coolant will stick to chips a bit more. what is your concentration % at?

i mix a 2% to top it up, and only run it at 5-7% and get fantastic results with Qualichem 230. different materials need different coolants though.

Gobo · Oct 26, 2021

BT Fabrication said:
is it going out with all the chips then? thicker coolant will stick to chips a bit more. what is your concentration % at?

i mix a 2% to top it up, and only run it at 5-7% and get fantastic results with Qualichem 230. different materials need different coolants though.

We have timers set on our chip conveyors. Turning them off and on at intervals allows much of the coolant sticking to the chips to drain back into the tank before exiting. Mixing too rich will increase carry-off.

Mtndew · Oct 26, 2021

BT Fabrication said:
is it going out with all the chips then?

This is definitely a possibility. I'd have to ask the operators.

Gobo · Oct 26, 2021

Something else we have done to cut coolant use- we fabbed our own chip tubs and put wheels on them to make moving them easier, in addition to putting drains on them. The coolant in the chip tubs drains into 5 gallon buckets which are then dumped back into the machines.

What coolant are you using in your cnc lathes?

Diamond

Plastic

Stainless

Diamond

Aluminum

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond

Cast Iron

Diamond

Cast Iron

Stainless

Titanium

Aluminum

Diamond

Plastic

Titanium

Titanium

Diamond

Titanium

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