Drilling\cutting fluid

What do you guys use for cutting fluid, and what stores do you get it at?

 

Re: Drilling\cutting fuid

McRuff would be the man to talk to.

 

Re: Drilling\cutting fuid

If your wanting cutting fluid for drilling holes and a sawing you would be better off getting a water soluble oil like this:

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PARTPG=INLMKD&PMPXNO=946153&PMAKA=505-2049
Mobilmet S122 water soluble oil, mixed at 10 or 20:1 will net you 10-20 gallons of oil. Its $20.25 per gallon.
Just mix a gallon up and keep the rest till you need it, I mix it in quart sized spray bottles.

For tapping holes I use this:

Available from Enco also, for $4.75 per 8oz bottle. Crisco paste or Lard works pretty good for tapping and is a favorite of old timers and still very very good on really tough metals.

 

Re: Drilling\cutting fuid

Mike, whats your opinion on ACE Threading/cutting fluid? I used it when drilling 7/8" with a hole saw through 1" stock and the bit still looks brand new with a bit of paint missing...

 

Re: Drilling\cutting fuid

Sammy are you talking about Ace hardware. If so what you have is sulphur oil, that works fine but it will stain certain metals, turns it brown or black. Its also very messy and smokes when used, not good to breath if it smokes alot. It is a good cutting oil though. We still use it at work for certain things like die threading machines and tapping iron. For drilling and sawing water soluble is just more economical and doesn't smoke so breathing it is not a problem.

 

Re: Drilling\cutting fuid

Mike, yes sir it is from Ace Hardware, and yes it does smoke. I actually carried the drill press outside (not the lightest thing!) for I didn't want to cover the garage with oil, so I wasn't too concerned with breathing (will be more careful) It did stain it a bit.
Are they allowed to ship oil? I'll need to pick some up (and maybe a drill press with a straight arbor )

 

Re: Drilling\cutting fuid

Yep, I order some about every 6 months or so.

 

Re: Drilling\cutting fuid

i drain the oil out of the quart/gallon jugs in a bottle, and use that in the oil can for drilling/tapping/general use.

 

Re: Drilling\cutting fuid

:iagree: Smokes a bit and I try not to breathe it but seems to work well. I got a bag of little brushes from HF and use those to apply the oil, which makes less of a mess than the oil can I still use sometimes. I keep some in an old 35 mm film cannister and apply as necessary. Sort of goes with the crude yet unrefined nature of my garage work these days.

 

Re: Drilling\cutting fuid

I used to work for an old machinist and he always used ATF. I have been doing the same for the last 10-12 years and I still have most of the same bits. It does smoke a bit but seems to work well. I don't do any really presice stuff but I've had good results.

 

Re: Drilling\cutting fuid

OMG..........I never thought Id see this mentioned here. I guess there are some old timers still around. Ive been using lard to tap with for years and it works great. My f-i-l showed it to me years ago. He was a maint. supervisor at a manufacturing plant. Every time they butchered at the farm, he would fill a few coffee cans to take to work with him. A one pound coffee can of lard goes a long way.

 

Re: Drilling\cutting fuid

Ok - I'm new to this technique. (no wonder why the guys at the tool shop like me - I keep buying bits). Can someone give a rookie some advice of when to use (metal types/stock and thickness) and how much to use? Do you re-apply during the cut/drill for deeper jobs?

thanks

 

Re: Drilling\cutting fuid

Yes you re-apply. When drilling, your biggest enemy is heat, period!!
So if you can keep the bit cool and supply lube its even better.
Don't always run the bit the fasest it will go, you can use this little calculator to figure drill speed in rpm
http://littlemachineshop.com/Reference/CuttingSpeeds.php
it is the one at the bottom of the page marked drilling, put in the numbers and hit calculate. Most mild steel that you fabricate with will be 1018 or 1020 steel, use the fp for surface feet per minute and then type the drill diameter in decimal (ie .25 for 1/4") it will then tell you how fast of an rpm to run the drill!!

 

Re: Drilling\cutting fuid

Thanks Mcruff. I'm sure my drill press and bits will now like me better.

 

Re: Drilling\cutting fuid

Mcruff brought up a very good point with not wanting to breath sulfur oil smoke. Belive me when I say you don't want to breath sulfur dioxde fumes. These fumes attack your mucus membranes and can eventually kill you if you get enough exposure. At work we have full face masks with filters for this. The water soluble stuff works well. The machine shops in our area use it for drilling and tapping. We use drill chill from zep at work and it works not too bad. If you have the drill press at the right speed and you re-apply it will not smoke. Just my 2 cents though.

 

I just bought a gallon of "Cutting and Grinding Lubricant" from NAPA, cost ~$20.
Mix 1:10 for drilling, 1:20 for machining and full strength for tapping.

 

I've still got a can of buttercutt, a liquid-lard like substance made from animal fats. works good on the saws (cast aluminum or magnesium).