What's the best coolant?

[Guyinthedesert]

We've been using Blaser, but we have a huge problem with Monday morning stench. We got a new machine about 3 mo ago so I filled it with Cimcool. It seemed to work good, however after about 6 weeks, the chip screens started clogging up with this gooey gray snot. We drained it, cleaned it all out and refilled it. All was well until here we are, 6 weeks later the screens are all clogged with snot. Also, I like my beer with a head on it, but not my coolant. The inside of the machine looks like a bubble bath.

 

So, Needless to say, Cimccol is out.

 

I've heard good things about Castrol. Anyone using it?

[mkd]

Blaser=stinky mondays at every shop that uses it.

 

no stink or coagulation with goldenwest 5470 Semi syn. $100+ per pail.

castrol; priced that on MSC...ordered more 5470

 

but really you need to choose best for your material application....

[Guyinthedesert]

no stink or coagulation with goldenwest 5470 Semi syn. $100+ per pail.

castrol; priced that on MSC...ordered more 5470

 

I saw that, the price at IDG is about half of what MSC wants.

 

Material is mostly aluminum, with 17-4, 15-5 and 718

[brandon b]

Try toilet cleaning bleach tablets in your stinky coolant tank. I do it on one of our machines that only has mist only.

[Brando]

we get that snotty crap too on just one machine we have and its nasty as heck aint!!, it usually happens when sombody lets the concentration get too low for a while, then dump alot of concentrate in to compensate, im not sure why it does it

our shop uses chemetall 8620 it works good but not a great rust inhibitor

we've used castrol mb-50 at one point and it was the best semi synthetic that i've ever used, never stank and tool life was great!! its more expensive than the chemetall , but imo the true cost is less, i can give you a contact to call at castrol if you're intrerested

[Guest]

Oil s best. It's the bigget PITA, if you don't cool it, It does get warm but in terms of too life, non destruction of the machine tool, you can't beat it.

[crazy^millman]

Was in a shop a few year ago where oil was being run a on lathe. Was a good idea until the machine caught on fire and smoked the whole place out. Oil was never used on that machine again. Oil is messy and if not filtered and cleaned like it should be will smell worse than coolant in the long run. I cleaned out a broach machine in my late teens that was from WWII. I threw up about 5 times cleaning that nasty thing out. Switched it over to coolant and never had a smelly part again.

[Joe788]

We use Hangsterfers S500 with good luck. Great lubricity in aluminum. I spent some time drinking free beers in the Fuchs booth at IMTS in 2010, and was pretty impressed with their demos and lists of customers using it. If I was gonna switch, Fuchs would be my first test.

[Newbeeee™]

We use Hangsterfers S500 with good luck. Great lubricity in aluminum. I spent some time drinking free beers in the Fuchs booth at IMTS in 2010, and was pretty impressed with their demos and lists of customers using it. If I was gonna switch, Fuchs would be my first test.

We used to use Hangsterfers and it was really good. The sales rep used to say it was non toxic to the point that you could actually drink it.

Well you can drink any liquid, but it may not go down too well...

We use Stuart oils and it is an excellent all rounder. No smell or tramp and we're roll tapping M1.2 in ally as well as cutting stainless with good tool life.

Lathes and mills.

[Guest]

Blasocut, I booted Cimcool out, junk IMO

 

There is no such thing as a stinky Monday if you take care of your coolant(Blasocut)

 

The guys love it, no more complaints

 

We used the Castrol when I was at Sig and my hands broke out, cracked and bled, I wound up having to wear gloves while working in the machines

[mkd]

Oil s best. It's the bigget PITA, if you don't cool it, It does get warm but in terms of too life, non destruction of the machine tool, you can't beat it.

I'm seriously considering switching to oil. I don't run enough cycles to warm or catch fire. Between the rust and evaporation, water based is a bit of work.

 

The first shop i worked in ran oil, plus a boat load of Moly-Dee (and boy did that sulfur stink). other than mist settling on any horizontal surface, it didn't seem there was any maintenance involved. But that was a long time ago. IIRC they ran some stainless with .500 carbide rougher @5000-ish RPM and some high RPM single point boring all bathed in oil. seemed pretty impressive at the time.

I don't see getting a couple days of tool life with water based under that abuse..on a FADAL>

[megaman]

We moved over from fuchs to Ometa . Its much cleaner and the parts and tools come out with almost no residue at all.

[Bob W.]

I am using Ometa as well, switched from Blaser. Once I started running the horizontal mill hard I was going through a 55 gallon drum every 6 months. The Ometa is a two part coolant and you can just add water to the sump when concentration gets low. The two parts are the detergent and the oil and concentrations of both are monitored independently. It lasts very long and there is no stench whatsoever. I never had any issues with Blaser and I take good care of my coolant, topping off the tank daily, or sooner depending on workload. I am very happy with Ometa and have no plans to switch. We keep our sumps topped off at all times and monitor the concentration closely. If the shop you work for doesn't take that approach you should complain. After all, it is YOUR health at stake. It would suck to work in a $hithole of a machine shop and crappy coolant can make about any shop a $hithole very quickly.

[Micromoldmaker]

Monday morning stench means anaerobic bacteria are farting under a floating level of oil and there's a build up of gas under that layer. Keep a fish tank aerator running over the weekend and you shouldn't experience the problem anymore. Unless you have other issues with the oil I wouldn't change it.

[Jim at Gentex]

We use Hangsterfers S500 with good luck.

 

Same here.

Been using it since early 90's and have no reason to switch.

[GoetzInd]

Keep a fish tank aerator running over the weekend and you shouldn't experience the problem anymore.

 

+1. Are you running a coolant skimmer?

 

Mike

[#Rekd™]

I am using Ometa as well, switched from Blaser. Once I started running the horizontal mill hard I was going through a 55 gallon drum every 6 months. The Ometa is a two part coolant and you can just add water to the sump when concentration gets low. The two parts are the detergent and the oil and concentrations of both are monitored independently. It lasts very long and there is no stench whatsoever. I never had any issues with Blaser and I take good care of my coolant, topping off the tank daily, or sooner depending on workload. I am very happy with Ometa and have no plans to switch. We keep our sumps topped off at all times and monitor the concentration closely. If the shop you work for doesn't take that approach you should complain. After all, it is YOUR health at stake. It would suck to work in a $hithole of a machine shop and crappy coolant can make about any shop a $hithole very quickly.

 

Bob what Oemeta coolant are you using?

 

We are using Novamet 900.

[Pilot Plant Supervisor]

Hangsterfer's here. We were using S500 with no problems, now we are using S737. The S737 seems to have better lubricity and really keeps the inside of the machine clean.

[Joe788]

Hangsterfer's here. We were using S500 with no problems, now we are using S737. The S737 seems to have better lubricity and really keeps the inside of the machine clean.

 

Interesting. My tool guy hasn't mentioned the S737 to me. What materials are you running? Did you have to empty the tanks and clean out of the old S500 beforehand? Or did you just start adding S737 to the 500?

[GF8er]

Interesting. My tool guy hasn't mentioned the S737 to me. What materials are you running? Did you have to empty the tanks and clean out of the old S500 beforehand? Or did you just start adding S737 to the 500?

Hangsterfer's here. We were using S500 with no problems, now we are using S737. The S737 seems to have better lubricity and really keeps the inside of the machine clean.

 

We used to use the S-500 also but have switched to the S-787 about a year ago and haven't looked back. We were having problems with the S500 foaming up, the S-787 doesn't do that and leaves a lot less residue on the parts.

[Pilot Plant Supervisor]

Yes, we drained and cleaned the sumps when switching from S500 to S737. S500 is oil based, and S737 is semi-synthetic, hence the sump drain and clean. We did notice some foaming with S500 when using 1000PSI through spindle coolant, that was the main reason for the switch. I am happy with the S737, as it eliminated the foaming, and the machine stays much cleaner.

We work with mostly refractory metals here, but the coolant is used primarily on Titanium and Steel. The S737 does seem to react with our Silver infiltrated Tungsten material, where the S500 did not, but only in the band saw.

[THEE THAINZ™]

+1 for the HANGSTERFER'S, running an aerator, and skimmer. If you ever run Ti go with the S500 CF cholrine is not allowed on Ti products durring machining. If your on the west coast your rep should be Randy Rice cell # 1-760-580-1357 he can help you answer any question you have.

[Bob W.]

Bob what Oemeta coolant are you using?

 

We are using Novamet 900.

 

I am using HYCUT CF-21 and I really like it. It has pretty much cut my coolant costs in half from Blaser, if not more and there isn't any compromise in performance.

[THEE THAINZ™]

+1 for skimming and aerating the coolant I use HANGSTERFER'S S500 CF the CF is for chlorine free. If you machine any Ti you want to make sure not to use coolant with chlorine in it. Keep it clean and free from as much tramp oil as possible is always a ggod rule of thumb for any coolant. I can put you in touch with HAGSTERFER'S regional manager for the west coast if you want.

He can help with any questions you might have.

[Aaron Eberhard]

I've gotten the best surface finish with Hangsterfers cutting aluminum with long porting tools.. I never got to try the S737, though. The S500 kept the machine fairly nice until the water evaporated too much, then it got fairly foamy. If you had checking the water/concentration as part of a daily routine, you'll never have a problem with it.