Suds

What's the Soluble Cutting Oil recommendation these days ? I've just used up the last of my ancient stock of 'Biokool GP', and the only supplier of that that I can find won't ship it anywhere. What's an alternative that I can get delivered to my humble hovel in wild west Wales ?

Several varieties for delivery on Ebay, in quantities from 1l to 200l.

I have no idea how far you may be from any reasonably sized conurbation in West Wales but there should be a lubricants dealer somewhere in the wider area, I would think. I live in a very rural area 25 miles from Lincoln where there is such a dealer, the Witham Oil and Grease Company which supplied a 20L container several years ago that will probably see me out given that I dilute it approx. 20:1 with a dash of Rocol disinfectant to kill the bacteria. I must admit that these days the machines are a little under-used to say the least but there is always a flow of coolant in reasonable condition when I do actually get round to doing something but this wasn't always the case before I discovered the Rocol additive.

I suppose the point I am trying to make is that a one-off 50 mile round trip to collect the oil, probably at the same time SWMBO wanted to go shopping, was no great hardship but we visit the city occasionally anyway for various reasons. Of course, I am assuming that you have some form of transport.

Edited By Chris Crew on 30/04/2023 22:16:38

Ah, the joys of living in the sticks !!

as Clive said loads on Ebay

A SEALEY agent or machine Mart should be able to help. Noel.

Any opinion on the "soluble" (i.e. white emulsions) and them newfangled "synthetics" i think they're called (actually soluble, producing a clear liquid)?

The chip tray on my machine is flat, so I loose a lot of water by evaporation. With the white stuff I can eyeball the concentration and adjust with water, that doesn't work with the new stuff (mine is from HMB).

Dwyfor Oils in Caernarfon would fit that description perfectly.

But I do appreciate that if Bob lives in "anialwch mawr gwyrdd Cymru"* as my friend Gwynfor used to describe where he grew up in mid-wales, then driving all the way up to Gwynedd is going to take about three times as long as the distance on a map would imply.

When I lived in Bangor I could generally get to Glasgow to see my family, quicker than I could cross mid Wales to see my friends living in Treorchy, I think the A470 is better now than it was, but there was one point during the improvement works when a journey to Fort William worked out quicker than returning from Cardiff a few days prior!

With that in mind, there's a branch of BMS Hayley in Aberystwyth which might fit the bill, and is sort of central for the western part of Mid Wales, if they will trade with you of course.

* With suitable bardic licence this was always translated as "The Great Green Welsh Desert", although my limited welsh language skills suggest a literal transliteration is more like "the big green wilderness of Wales".

Edited By Jelly on 01/05/2023 22:26:46

Thanks folks, and especially thanks to those who PM'd me. Hopefully I've found a local source now.