oil spray mister

[Alistair Hosie]

I wonder since I don't use my suds pump on my lathe if a small artists paint pen I have a cheapish one with a small bottle below if I filled this with oil and let go a few blasts now and then would this be suitable and I am surprised no one has mentioned this before .Alistair

[BobWarfield]

A lot of folks are concerned that the mist systems are bad for your lungs if used very much. If not used much, it's just as easy to swipe the work with a chip brush every now and again. I keep an array of squeeze bottles, the cheap plastic condiment holding kind), nearby with different cutting fluids for the purpose. I've got some kerosene, some sulfurized oil, some lighter oil (WD-40 like), and some TapMagic cutting fluid. And, I'm never without a whole bunch of chip brushes, so it's easy to shoot a little coolant in every now and again.

As I get my machines converted over to CNC, I'm going to have to rethink this approach, but will likely use some sort of flood coolant or air. I have one of those nifty vortex cooling tubes for the purpose. In that application, clearning chips is just as important as lubricating and cooling, and I don't want to be reaching a chip brush into a region where things are moving about under their own power at potentially high speed!

Best,

BW

[Tin Falcon]

Ailistair :
that sounds like a cool Idea. I would try some sort of natural fluid in it . I have used olive oil for cutting oil with good results. If you cant eat it, it is probably not a good Idea to breath it.I have managed to develope some form of "Ocupational Asthma" over the years an it is not fun.

[DancingBear]

Alistair,
Sounds interesting, I'd think it would do a great job cooling the work, maybe not as well at clearing chips. I've never messed with flood coolant on a lathe, but I have done it on a mill. It's really helpful when milling deep slots to keep the chips cleared out, this avoids recutting them and improves the finish dramatically, especially milling aluminum. I haven't messed with the mist due to the health warnings.

Bob, how much air do those vortex coolers consume? The sale flyers tend not to mention it, makes me wonder how much compressor I'd need to use one.

Walt

[sch]

ANY kind of oil, edible or not, is toxic to the lungs if inhaled in sufficient quantities. Vaporized alcohol would seem to be a significant fire if not explosion hazard. Fuel air explosions can take out entire houses. Absent a vapor scavenging system which assumes a completely enclosed machine and outside air exhaust systems mist of any kind is a bad idea in the home/small shop environment. One aspect of vortex coolingdevices is that they are noisy. High pressure air released by a small nozzle in amounts enough to cool tool bits can make a racket depending on the nozzle design. Cooling is necessary mostly for very high speed carbide/ceramic cutting at speeds higher than most HSM machines generate. Lubrication is more useful at HSM speeds than cooling is.
Steve

[Tin Falcon]

I am also one that usualy just squirts or dabs a little cutting oil on the work or tool as needed. Even with that the stuff tends to vaporize into the air. One of the things to remember here is ventilation . When I ran the CNC lathe for a day job we would have to add 3-5 gallons of cutting fluid mosly water to the sump each day. That shows how much was turned to mist and went in the air. From what I have seen the mist units spray mostly water with a small amountof water soluable oil a quart of water to an ounce of oil. The water soluableoil mixture is probly the safest and least toxic option for cooing lubricant.
Tin

[BadDog]

I've been wrestling with the same questions.

I've seen what flood coolant can do to a "home shop" that was much more fastidiously maintained, organized, and regularly cleaned than mine. And that was only on a lathe. No thanks! So, I run my mill and lathe "dry", only dabbing on appropriate "lube" using cheap HF "flux brushes". I've got one for TapMatic Gold, one for cheap Enco glycerin based coolant, and so on. My biggest problem so far has been with chip elimination, particularly with cut contamination when milling aluminum. So I was looking at the misters and finding the same problems mentioned. Worries about health issues, mess from fog condensation, and of course noise from both the jet AND the compressor kicking over regularly.

There seems to be no good solution for HSM, so I keep dobbing with my brushes...

[CCWKen]

I was using a mister for a while until I looked up once and I was in a cloud. I switched over to a pressurized tank--One of those two gallon yard sprayers. It was better but still hard to control and it splashed everywhere. It wasn't until I bought a drill press that came with a coolant drip and recovery tank that it dawned on me--Why not just go gravity flood? It works pretty good!

[Fasttrack]

For my cheap drill press with HF el'cheapo bits i use a quart bottle of automotive oil with a hole drilled in the top a bit of tubing stuck in the hole. I just use old motor oil from small engines - empty the old oil into a quart bottle, screw on the cap with a tube in it and then flip it upside down in a little wire hanger to drip on the piece as i drill it. Seems to work pretty well, although it seems to smoke at a lower temp than cutting oil does.

[matador]

Alistair,I don't use coolant much since it makes such a godawful mess(I lke a clean lathe).But when absolutely neccessary,I use a printer ink refill bottle filled with coolant.Since it's used so little,I fill it with "Tapmatic".
A little squeeze now and then works wonders.
This method is especially helpful when parting off a thickish bar.
I also use it when milling,just a stroke along the surface to be cut before engaging the feed.
But by and large,on the lathe it's mostly not neccessary.
Of course,this is only the opinion of a dumb dutchman,so YMMV.
Greetings from down under.