Mist coolant

My only experience of spray mist was coughing profusely and sore eyes from the fog. Will not go there again, I much prefer WD40.

Had to use spray mist when gun drilling - the air and coolant went through the drill bit - the finish, size and direction were in the 0.0001" tolerance, wonderful tools. Still had me coughing and eyes smarting though especially if the coolant hadn't been thoroughly flushed before use (old spray mist stank of mouldy fabric).

Always cut dry now in the garage and squirt some WD40 when needing a finish or parting off.

Trevor

Edited By Trevor Wright on 10/02/2015 13:08:29

I think I remember seeing Arc Euro demonstrate a CNC Mill with cutting fluid drip metered into an air tube the end of which was located next to the cutter. The air flow was sufficient to clear the chips from the cutter and the cutting oil was delivered along with said air flow in a sort of splutter. Not really a mist I know but I thought at the time it seemed like a fairly simple and usefull system.

regards Martin

I worked in a factory where spray mist coolant was used on several horizontal borers, I wouldn't have it on my machine where I stuck to flood coolant. One afternoon I walked out, the "fog" was so bad, I had irritation in my throat and upper chest. I returned the following day with a formal complaint addressed to the MD. I will give him his due he spent £10K on installing roof extractor fans, trouble was it passed through our lungs before it got to the fans!!!

Modern coolants are expected to perform a whole host of functions other than just cooling the cutting tool and the job. To this end you will find biocides, rust inhibitors etc, all of which end up being breathed in by the operator in varying degrees dependant on the accuracy of the coolant dilution rate used!! To this end we installed a premixer on the neat coolant barrel, this was checked monthly by the coolant suppliers rep. We still had one clown who thought he knew better and would enrich the mixture claiming it would not harm us.!!!!!!!!!!!

HSE take many knocks these day but on the issue of spray mist coolant listen to what they have to say also google spray mist coolant problems and see what horror stories you find. Don't wear your ear defenders you are deaf, don't wear eye protection you are blind, damage you lungs and you will end up with a nice fitting box!!

regards David

Re air consumption, my spraygun delivers more fluid than you''d ever need for coolant and uses about 4 cu ft /min at 21 psi

Pic below sectioned view of the unit I use, all details in my Album.

Nick, I am saving up for a fog buster setup which does not cause misting (There's a couple of videos on youtube). But it is quite a big more expensive than the vertex setup so I'd be interested how you get on with the vertex set-up.

Heres the Noga same as Fog Buster in operation. **LINK**

Better suited to very light milling, lathe work forget it.

I did get delivery a couple of weeks ago.

IMHO Rubbish.!!! .......... A total waste of time and money.

Nick

.

+2

Got one thinking it would be better than the drip feed we rigged up for the show CNC's as mentioned in a previous post.

Not so, either all or nothing and when it was working you were eating it. Now gone back to a more engineered drip and air feed of the admittedly lashed up setup we had on the ARC demo CNC's.

This Vertex unit wants to be rehoused in that fiels just off the M1 at Shepshed where my Iphone now resides.

Replying to Bogstandard2 (mainly)

Not having ever set up a system and only ever having seen the system rigged up by Arc for the previously mentioned show my understanding was that the primary function of the air supply was to blow the chips away and prevent re-cutting (hence improving the finish) and the addition of the oil drip just added a little lubrication to the cut. The requirements for milling are obviously different to turning where the workpiece throws the cutting oil everywhere and getting rid of the chips is not an issue.

regards Martin

I am just thinking out loud here, has anyone ever considered vacuum removal of chips, I have a kool Mist system, I came across at auction, got it for a tenner I think, about 5 years ago, I've never gotten round to trying it, partly because the nozzle is missing and also I read about fogging problems so pushed it to one side, this thread has re sparked my interest, but I got to wondering if it could be workable to use a system of spray and vacuum, and possibly a centrifugal separator to remove chips " lets say Aluminium I machine a lot of this stuff, and re cutting of chips is the biggest cause of tool wear and poor finish, especially in deep pocket machining.

Your thoughts..........

Shaun

Most of my daily work is aluminium 6082 not the best to machine certainly not the worst. Can fill a wheelie bin in 1 1/2hrs to give you some idea. Cutters last absolutely ages even hss and leave a decent finish even at 1250rpm machines top speed (too slow.) Main reason I don't or try not to let the cutter and job heat up. If it starts to get warm I don't bother with Noga or coolant pump just a squirt with soap bottle and coolant.

Slotting deep I also do weekly mainly dry because can see what I am doing visually. Every so often blow out with air gun, no vaccum available will have half that power plus be cumbersome. Depths can be 6 dia x 24 deep to 8.5 wide x 42 deep interrupted or not, never a problem and need to be a good finish on expensive items.