From: none@none.com99   
      
   On 11/5/2024 4:56 PM, Joe Gwinn wrote:   
   > On Tue, 5 Nov 2024 16:40:54 -0700, Bob La Londe    
   > wrote:   
   >   
   >> First off let me emphasize I firmly believe based on hearsay, direct   
   >> knowledge, experience, and the opinions of experts that a flood of water   
   >> soluble cutting coolant like (but not limited to) SC520 and water is the   
   >> magic sauce.   
   >>   
   >> In my journey to that conclusion I tried a variety of other options from   
   >> standing there for hours with a spray can of WD40, to crappy little home   
   >> made mist systems, to brushed on cutting oil, to air blast, to vortex   
   >> tubes, and even ran flood *transmission fluid for a while.  Flood   
   >> transmission fluid was the best until I went to flood water soluble   
   >> coolant.   
   >>   
   >> As I bragged shamelessly about in another post I finally got around to   
   >> buying another CNC wood ripper.  Wood Ripper 2.  Wood Ripper 1 has been   
   >> disassembled and the parts stacked out of the way for some time.  Like   
   >> with Wood Ripper 1, Wood Ripper 2 was not intended to be used with   
   >> metals.  Atleast not initially, but now some of the projects seeping   
   >> into my front brain involve sheet aluminum.  I suspect some aluminum   
   >> cutting will be coming along sooner than originally planned.   
   >>   
   >> Now before anybody says, "Well I cut aluminum dry or with just a little   
   >> cutting oil brushed on all the time," I know.  I actually do too.  On   
   >> the manual knee mill I cut blanks square and to length all the time   
   >> before taking them over to one of the CNC mills.  A very light spray of   
   >> WD40 is what I usually go with.  Tap Magic is a little better, but a   
   >> spray can of WD40 is so much easier.  A quick sprits and wave and start   
   >> turning the handle almost as fast as I can.  Typically I make a rough   
   >> pass in climb to remove the bulk and a spring pass in conventional to   
   >> clean it up.  I know that may sound backwards to some, but it works.  I   
   >> do this with a 1/2 inch 3 Flute Alumacut mill from *Rogue Systems Inc,   
   >> and the one in the tool tray by that machine is several years old.  With   
   >> smaller mills I have run into problems, but that big old polished 1/2   
   >> inch mill is amazing.  Chips just fly, and big ones.  Once it gets a   
   >> little warm on the spring pass it can throw chips back on the finished   
   >> surface and they will stick if it doesn't get a sprits of WD first.   
   >>   
   >> Well on the new Onefinitey Elite I'd need an enclosure 64 x 68 inches   
   >> roughly square (bigger really) and the mother of catch basins to run   
   >> flood coolant.   
   >>   
   >> When I was still fighting flood every way I could I tried some of the   
   >> coatings that are supposed to be the juice for aluminum, and honestly...   
   >> well they aren't.  ZrN, PVD Diamond, etc.   
   >>   
   >> So now with this new machine coming into the shop I am regressing.  I'm   
   >> looking for a less than full flood answer to cutting aluminum without   
   >> chip welding, breaking cutters, and ruining work pieces.  So far my best   
   >> compromise might be spray mist with a vacuum recovery system.  Hopefully   
   >> the liquid from the mist would drop out in the separator like chips do.   
   >>   
   >> For now my conclusion is still that based on hearsay, direct knowledge,   
   >> experience, and the opinions of experts that a flood of water soluble   
   >> cutting coolant like (but not limited to) SC520 and water is the magic   
   >> sauce.   
   >>   
   >> *  Yes flood transmission fluid worked, the parts looked great, cutter   
   >> life was very good, and my shop smelled like a turbo hydro 350 burning   
   >> up because somebody put the wrong clutch piston in it during a rebuild.   
   >> It would consume the fluid.  Either burning it or vaporizing it, but it   
   >> produced great results.   
   >>   
   >> **  Rogue Systems Inc is a small (one man maybe) CNC grinding shop in   
   >> the PNW (No Snag, I don't think he's a slug) that produces a range of   
   >> solid carbide ball nose and square end mills sold on eBay and on his own   
   >> website.  Carbide Tool Source.  His Alumacut end mills are every bit as   
   >> good as any other aluminum geometry mill I have tried and a little   
   >> cheaper than most.  He also makes the least expensive solid carbide   
   >> multi flute single form thread mills I have run across.  Well and a few   
   >> other things.  Solid carbide boring bars, multi form thread mills, and   
   >> some other cool stuff.   
   >>   
   >   
   > I'd try alcohol in water, but dilute enough that it cannot catch fire.   
   >   
   > Joe   
      
      
   Yeah, IPA cools from evaporation.  You do have to have direct   
   ventilation or you wind up with a toxic work environment.   
      
   --   
   Bob La Londe   
   CNC Molds N Stuff   
      
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