what cutting fluid do you guys use?

just getting started and want to get a good general purpose cutting fluid I'll be cutting mostly 4140 and 416 stainless.

Thanks

Here is a product that I have been using for a number of years and works on everything. The only problem with this is that if you are really cutting hot chips, it smokes. This product is made from grain and as so is entirely non toxic. It works well on everything and can be used as a lubricant, cutting fluid and a raft of uses. It is called MX , made by the Emmx Corporation in Alice, Tx. Here are the specifics, I could not find a web site, but they probably have one:

Emmx Corporation
106 Leigh Street
Alice, TX 78332
map | driving directions
361-664-6515

Here is from the (pint) can:

Superior penetrating and cutting oil. Lubricates, dissolves carbon deposits, loosens rust scale, corrosion inhibitor.

Non toxic, non drying, non flammable, non conductive. Not a petroleum distillate.

*Industrial Plant and Refinery Operations
*Farm
*Marine
*Sporting Goods
*Aircraft maintenance
*Assembly and Breakdown Operations
*Chain saws
*Cutting lubricant and coolant
*Oil Field Equipment
*Guns
*Fishing Tackle
*Frees nuts, bolts, locks, pins, set screws, switches, pulleys, pistons, prevents metal seizure, displaces water.

MX-237 excels all other cutting lubricants and coolants on extremely hard or soft metals. It increases tool life by as much as 15 to 1 while maintaining close tolerances required by engineering specs. Scrap pile waste reduced by as much as 40% and man hours saved as much as 85%.

slightly corrosive on copper and brass over an extended period of time.

The unique properties of MX-237 qualifies it as the "Master Oil".


I know this sounds like a lot of snake oil being peddled in the horse and wagon days, but it works well and is a good product in my view. Once you order, expect a call from them every 6 months asking if you need more. Their sales people are dedicated and courteous.

TheMetalDoc

I use soluable oil where cooling is important as in drilling deep holes, the band cut-off saw, etc.

I use Rigid pipe (heavy and black) threading oil for cutting soft stringy materials.

I use WD 40 for light machining and tapping of aluminum and most other metals.

I use Rapid Tap for tapping most tough (like stainless) and hard (like 4140) metals.

These I squirt from a laundry bottle, dab on with an acid brush, or drool from the can spout.

The subject of cutting oils and coolants is a slippery slope for an enthusiast. Sooner or later someone will fire you up on the goo he favors. You'll buy a container and that starts the collection. First thing you know you'll have to put in a couple of shelves to hold it all while trying not to notice the hole in the budget.

The stuff is expensive, especially in a spray can. Their qualities overlap. Each of a class is nearly identical in efficacy. My list is all the cutting aids that that I've needed for many years of machining a wide variety of materials. Give anything new that looks promising a fair try but only if you get a free sample.

Another thing, avoid a waterbased flood cooling system even if your machine is equipped for it. They're great in production shops where the rent is paid by cutting power but in a home shop flood coolant is a maintenence and a cleanliness nightmare.

It might seem cool to run with the big dogs and drop phrases about running 4140 at 800 FPM and slinging coolant all over the shop but the wife may not appreciate smelly soluable oil on the laundry.

Did I say smelly? Ever have to skim the slime off the coolant so it doesn't suck into the coolant pump and plug it? Ever machine cast iron and have the crumbly chips bond into concrete in the pan from one week to the next? Also there's things in most coolant concentrates you don't want the family critters to lick off their feet.

Coolant atomizers are great but don't forget the drifting spray poses a lung and eye hazard plus the mess it makes when it settles yard away.

I remember being called away from a complex instpection job where I had half to tools in the world arrayed on the company 6 x 8 ft granite flat. About that time the guy up on the mezzanine set his fane to blow the mist from hsi job over the rail to settle on my work.

When I gat back, my jobsite was a sticky mess. I billed an hour to overhead cleaning it all up for you can't work to close tolerences when the transfer stand is stuc to the granite.

Next day I had to explain to the shop owner why I was spending his money. When I told him, he got a rueful grin and mentioned that stupider things happen even in good shops. Then he gave me what-fer for not covering the job before I left it. I gave him my best "you gotta be kidding" look. He gave me his best shrug. I loved that old guy; imminently fair.

Forgot to mention:

Bacon grease is among the finest cutting lubes to dab on most anything.

Peanut oil works pretty good too (cheap!!!) but it doesn't smell as good.

Gotta agree with Forest, been using bacon grease for tapping and drilling for years, of course it helps that my brother-in-law gets a pig butchered every year so I'm never in short supply. It always reminds me of breakfast when it starts to get hot. Kerosene is another great coolant, but be careful with it for obvious reasons. For most home shop use flood coolant isn't justified, you probably won't be running at a high speed and feed rate and won't overheat your tools, plus let that stuff sit for a week and turn it on and watch your nose curl. Not a pretty site!! Good luck

Paul

I would add one item to Forrest's list: milk. Gives a real nice finish on copper.(like a commutator). Just make sure you clean up afterward.

I also use some of the trichlor based cutting fluids on really critical stuff. It's illegal now, so I ration it carefully.

Old solvent (that has been strained through a paint filter)works good on alum.& mild steel,Crisco works well in about all tapping situations I've encountered.For your tougher materials a sulferized oil is what I use.

Cutting fluid as in tapping or coolant as in milling and lathe work? For tapping I use Tap magic. For coolant on my Bridgeport mill I use Rustlick 5050. I've tried everything from Valcool to Boelube (totally useless) and several others. Rustlick is a great product and you can change the concentration to meet your needs. By the way, many researchers have found that when you have the right geometry on your cutting tool, the right material, the right feed rate, speed, etc, that most of the heat generated goes out with the chip. I vary all the parameters until I get a blue chip - AND THEN I use Rustlick. I can usually touch the tool with a bare hand after most operations and it is barely warm.

If you are going to use a water soluble coolant be sure that is is semi-synthetic or fully synthetic not organic based like Rustlick 5050. This will help the coolant last longer in the sump, control foaming, and prevent the solution from going rancid if you let it sit for a while. Also some fluids will stain some metals so you have to be careful. I have had great results in all of my machines with Castrol's "Clearedge". But remember to follow the mfg's suggestions for proper dillution, I use a refractometer to measure this. Good luck.

I have been using a water soluable coolant for many years with excellent results. It is called Aqua-Syn 180 made by GC Lubricants of San Carlo, Ca. Never rancid, 0 reactivity. I also use this in my surface grinder and use small quirt bottles when I need lube on the lathe or Bridgeport.

TheMetalDoc

WD40 on aluminum for turning, milling and tapping. Mobilemet Omega for turning and milling on steel and stainless. MolyDee works best for tapping in stainless, 400 or 300 series, and if you are unfortunate enough to ever have to try to tap titanium, we used to use a combination of plumbers lead (looked like a white grease) and STP. It's been a few years since I've done a lot of this, but these were the tried and true solutions that we used to use. If you really have to use soluble, we used and had the best luck with Mobilemet S-122, but your asking for trouble IMO with that in the home shop inviroment, as it will go rancid if not run every day and kept under reasonable temperature conditions.

Brian

I use Tap Magic for tapping nasty stuff (SS, 4140) in a manual machine and Trim Sol for everything else.

I use parafin oil (very cheap by the barrel) for almost everything- straight for brass and free machining steel(1215,12L14,etc), spike it with a sulphur base oil additive for tougher steels and particularly for stainless, and cut it as desired with mineral spirits for aluminum. It is not, however, a Good idea to use this latter mixture for steel as the size of your fire may be limited only by the capacity of your machine's coolant sump.
Regards,
Tom

Note:Sulphur base additive will corrode copper alloys and discolor aluminum, so should not be used with these materials.

[This message has been edited by ObsoleteTom (edited 08-01-2002).]

I wonder if you have Rocol products in North America? I use Rocol Ultracut for drilling/tapping/reaming etc. I used to used specific fluids for stainless, and kero for aluminium etc., but found this one product works just as well on everything. Got rid of everything else. Its dark/black type stuff, I reckon it actually sharpens your tools as you cut!!!

OK, so this topic is 16 years old......Maybe 25 years ago a friend gave me a 5 gallon drum of MX-237 coolant. I have never tried it.....I would like to now. wanting to mix some with water and use in a Bijur mist coolant set up on my Gorton TraceMaster. I can find no information on mix ratios with water? It just says water "soluable"? Yeah, they even misspelled "soluble" on the label. Anyway, if you are still out there using this product maybe you can give me a hint on mixing ratios.


Kirk

1968FJ40 said:

OK, so this topic is 16 years old......Maybe 25 years ago a friend gave me a 5 gallon drum of MX-237 coolant. I have never tried it.....I would like to now. wanting to mix some with water and use in a Bijur mist coolant set up on my Gorton TraceMaster. I can find no information on mix ratios with water? It just says water "soluable"? Yeah, they even misspelled "soluble" on the label. Anyway, if you are still out there using this product maybe you can give me a hint on mixing ratios.


Kirk

Click to expand...

Goggle, present-day, can't even seem to find ANY info on it - even for disposal. Nor info on the maker - based in Alice, TX back when it was mentioned earlier (2002) on PM:

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/...id-do-you-guys-use-73292-post11304/#post11304

A 25-year-old "neat" mineral oil, I'd risk.

A 25-year-old soluble? Not worth it to me. Cleaning up a mess could cost more than the savings vs new and "known".

Worse - if it IS still good and turns out to be outright GRAND stuff?

You may whimper for years that you couldn't find any MORE of it when you run-out!

well, I did try a little. Was surprised to see that it had NEVER been opened. The raw product sure looked like nice oil. I did find a company (on Google) that I think is the current manufacturer. Applied Agrotech, LLC in Kyle Texas. But they don't give any useful info on their pathetic website.

1968FJ40 said:

well, I did try a little. Was surprised to see that it had NEVER been opened. The raw product sure looked like nice oil. I did find a company (on Google) that I think is the current manufacturer. Applied Agrotech, LLC in Kyle Texas. But they don't give any useful info on their pathetic website.

Click to expand...

Chemistry can be fun. Profits can be good off cheap materials. Dead simple to make rather good "napalm", for example. Or any of many types of explosives.

And/or it can be dangerous bizness. Very. High legal risks from side-effects, etc.

Small, poorly capitalized, and relatively unknown company sourcing would not be on my radar. This is how folks end up years later with cancers, kids with birth defects, and such.

Better to buy from someone with decent labs, good history, and a track-record of concern over liability.

2CW