cutting oil question

Disadvantage of having one's shop in the house.... One of the best gear cutting oils is the MobilMet oil with sulphur. With my shop in the house I can't have 5 gallons of sulphur oil in the machine because of the smell, and I have determined that I have a chip clearing issue with simply brushing the oil on as it cuts.

Is there an oil that is almost as good as the sulphur oil that doesn't smell that I can fill the machine reservoir with and use the proper flood oil system to get chip clearing action? I only make steel gears infrequently, and usually use 12L14 for the free cutting.

Edit because of post below. The MobilMet I have is 766. The 762 and 763 are sulphured as well.

I have used Mobilmet 427 on everything from production reworking Allen screws and making Allen screws from ETD to brass and aluminum. You could check to see if there is a heavier viscosity in that series of oils. 427 and Mobilmet Nu that proceeded it are nonstaining on brass and can do well in stainless and ETD. No smell to speak of and the 427 is about as clear as water. Others have recommended oils from other manufacturers, but Mobil is all I have ever used in my own shop, so I have no clue what is almost as good or better from other sources.

Blaser Vascomill CSF-22 works well for machining in Swiss machines. No idea how it would compare though. I don't think it smells. My girlfriend who washes my clothes might disagree a little bit. But my BO overpowers the oil at the end of a day of work.

Castrol Syntilo little to no smell and it's clear so you can see the work.
CASTROL SYNTILO | WELCOME | CASTROL USA

bll230 said:

Disadvantage of having one's shop in the house.... One of the best gear cutting oils is the MobilMet oil with sulphur. With my shop in the house I can't have 5 gallons of sulphur oil in the machine because of the smell, and I have determined that I have a chip clearing issue with simply brushing the oil on as it cuts.

Is there an oil that is almost as good as the sulphur oil that doesn't smell that I can fill the machine reservoir with and use the proper flood oil system to get chip clearing action? I only make steel gears infrequently, and usually use 12L14 for the free cutting.

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I use MobilMet 766 for screw machine work. Great on stainless, as it thins out I move it to 12L14.

I just bought a barrel of 423 for AL and low carbon steels < 200 BHN. I opened it and it is really thin and runny like mineral spirits. I needed something that wouldnt stick to the AL chips as easily. The thicker stuff wouldnt drain all the way to the sump fast enough towards the end of the day and caused the coolant lines to sputter.

The 766 doesnt mess with my skin and doesnt smell that bad. I dont know if it has sulphur in it or not. Should be great for gear cutting. If thats the one you cannot use I believe the other option is 426 or 427. 423 and 424 are for AL and 426-427 are thicker for heavier cutting steels.

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Mobilmet 423 and Mobilmet 424 are recommended for machining aluminum, magnesium and copper, brasses and bronzes and, in addition, are recommended for steels and cast irons having a Brinell hardness up to 200. They can be used for severe cutting operations of difficult-to-machine non-ferrous alloys such as silicon-copper, silicon-bronze and copper-nickel. They are very effective lubricants for the machine tool lubrication system under a wide range of temperature conditions



Mobilmet 426 and Mobilmet 427 are recommended for critical machining of non-ferrous metals and automatic operations on materials having a Brinell hardness up to about 300

Thanks for all the info, the 766 is the sulphur oil, it is the one I am trying to replace. I'll investigate all the suggested options.

Might come down to what oil comes in a 5 gallon pail. Possible another shop will fill a bucket for you? I would do it for you if you were close.

thermite said:

Mobil has competition, after all.

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Yep. See comment #2, the last sentence.

Thanks all, I have come up with two possible alternatives. The specs for both show them as similar to the MobilMet766. MobilMet 446 and Trim OM 287. Any thoughts on these two?