Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Looking for a decent milling tutorial

Hi Danny,

Aluminum needs lubrication more than it needs cooling. WD40 on it's own
works well. If you are exclusively cutting aluminum you could fill your
mister with WD40 or AC90 (I prefer AC90). It isn't all that expensive if
you buy it in gallon cans. You can use white soluble oil coolant (suds).
It can help to make the mix a bit stronger than the manufacturers
recommend for steel cutting. Suds tends to be more messy than WD40/AC90.

If you haven't yet got a mister, have a look at microdrop systems. They
use an undiluted vegetable based oil that is relatively non-toxic.
Compressed air provides the cooling and the oil provides lubrication. I
found it works well on aluminum. On steel you need carbide tooling
because it doesn't cool as well as water based coolants. It also doesn't
clear the chips as well as flood coolant but is a lot less messy. If you
get the delivery rate right you just end up with a thin film of oil on
your finished parts.

Les


dannym@... wrote:

> How would I provide lubricant for say a Taig? And I saw the stuff on cooling misters, I understand lubrication is a different function than cooling. If it's being kept cool, does it still need lubrication though or has this prevented the problem of sticking aluminum to the mill? I saw there is an additive to mix with misting water, does this provide lubrication? Does a water mister conflict with WD40? My observation is that WD40 floats on water so if the water condenses into a pool then it'll float the WD40 off the surface, is this a real-world problem?
>
> If I set this up to run for a few hours I probably will not be coming by to add WD40 every minute. I picture that spraying it down beforehand will provide initial lube but as oil is slung off and totally new surfaces created that were never oiled then this doesn't seem adequate.
>
> So I'm just trying to get a complete picture of what I need.
>
> Danny
>