Ok so i'm tied of standing (actually sitting) over the mill while it runs for hours either spraying WD-40 on it or drops of A-9 Aluminum Cutting Fluid in front of the tool path. So the options are below.


Cutting Dry until the final pass
Continue dripping wd-40 or A-9 infront of tool path
Fogg Buster Low Air pressure and super fine mist
Mist High Air pressure and mist
Flood

Dry cutting, welding aluminum to the cutter bad
Dripping, boring and time consuming, cheap
Fogg Buster $310.00 ouch, super fine mist, Low air pressure and no Fogg = good
Mist - about $100.00 heavy mist, could cause clouding issues,
Flood - ENCO has a 10 Gallon unit for $100.00, Plumbing and chip issues, splash hazard

I don't know enough to make an informed decision, I have a partial enclosure made from Corian Counter Top stuff, so it's water proof, I'd need to seal the edges and cut a drain for flood. Right now I just scoop the chips.

Any suggestions are welcomed.

Smitty

I'm finishing a coolant system on my Taig mill. I bought a pump from ebay at 45.00, got some plumbing sullpies from Lowes and have a really nice coolant system, have yet too cut anything yet. Waiting for new Break out board. I get coolant from my Gf's father (machinist)

I use a vacuum to get chips that lie around.


-Speed

I use a micro drip system, but I'm using small cutters.

I use the fogbuster - well worth the investment IMO. It is easy to install, works terrific and has a wide range of adjustment(can blow air only or very little coolant all the way up to near flood coolant and everywhere in between air and coolant are adjusted seperately). It isn't cheap, but it works great.

Have you considered air-only? I have just bought a 70 litre/min aquarium aeration pump to try this out. I don't want to use flood and I figured I could always convert the air only system into a mister if needed. I got the pump from Ebay and locline will be from a UK supplier, total cost £40 ($80 US).

Is this going to be used on a CNC mill or conventional. Flood works pretty good but if you have to stand there and crank the wheels then you may have to wear a rainsuit. For conventional operation I like to mist and fogg stuff.

After looking at some other people setups cost, Clouds of vapor from mist, Drain issues.

I just ordered the Fog Buster, more expensive than flood, air, and mist, but I work in Fiber Optics and can't afford to mist $100,000 test equipment. That would be bad.

I got the good guy deal $5.00 off, plus tax, plus shipping. Looks like I need to be a gooder guy, for better deals.

It will be here Monday and than the fun will commence.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Smitty

I have a Fog Buster that I use with my Taig. Worth every penny, IMO. Well built, easy to install, easy to use, no problems at all. And I didn't even get the "good guy" deal. I just use brown paper towels to sop up what minimal coolant builds up on the stock / table. None at all gets into the air, from what I can tell. I use KoolMist formula #78, which appears totally inert and harmless (stains a little if you let it dry, though).

My only complaint is they didn't have any good requirements for air supply, so I bought a compressor that was too small and had to upgrade. I now use an 8 gallon, 2HP, 4cfm@90psi oilless compressor from Harbor Freight, which is located about 40 feet away in a separate room for noise suppression and so it's on a separate circuit from the mill (prevents browning out the mill circuit and causing missed steps). Works great when I keep the supply pressure at about 35psi...above that and the FB oscillates when it first starts up. As I said, worth every penny, IMO.

One caveat: be sure to align the FB each time you change cutters. I broke about 3 of my 1/32nd cutters before I realized the FB was pointed too low. It appeared to be working (saw coolant flowing) but it was cooling / blowing on stock rather than the contact point. I now use an inspection mirror and sight up the FB's nozzle tube from below the cutter to make sure it's pointing at the cutter contact point.

mTp

Imho, MonroePoteet has the right/best approach.

Flood coolant is a messy pita for everything except high production using ALREADY checked out programs and tooling.

Most of the hobbyists and small lot producers are hindered by not being able to see actual tool motion and cutter contact with the part to ensure they will not make (more) scrapped parts. :)

Pres

I have a Fog Buster that I use with my Taig. Worth every penny, IMO. Well built, easy to install, easy to use, no problems at all. And I didn't even get the "good guy" deal. I just use brown paper towels to sop up what minimal coolant builds up on the stock / table. None at all gets into the air, from what I can tell. I use KoolMist formula #78, which appears totally inert and harmless (stains a little if you let it dry, though).

My only complaint is they didn't have any good requirements for air supply, so I bought a compressor that was too small and had to upgrade. I now use an 8 gallon, 2HP, 4cfm@90psi oilless compressor from Harbor Freight, which is located about 40 feet away in a separate room for noise suppression and so it's on a separate circuit from the mill (prevents browning out the mill circuit and causing missed steps). Works great when I keep the supply pressure at about 35psi...above that and the FB oscillates when it first starts up. As I said, worth every penny, IMO.

One caveat: be sure to align the FB each time you change cutters. I broke about 3 of my 1/32nd cutters before I realized the FB was pointed too low. It appeared to be working (saw coolant flowing) but it was cooling / blowing on stock rather than the contact point. I now use an inspection mirror and sight up the FB's nozzle tube from below the cutter to make sure it's pointing at the cutter contact point.

mTp

I have my X-2 set up at work right now so I'll have shop air, if that 200 Gallon 120 PSI tank runs out of air, I won't be the only one screaming.

How bad do the chips blow around? You can see a picture of my mill in another post. Will I still be chasing chips all over, my side walls are about 10" high around 3 sides, I have the front, but have not put it on yet.

Sounds like I made a good decision, although more expensive. Kinda like the Geckos over some other stepper drives. LOL

I arrives Monday, can't wait.

Smitty

I made my own hench fog buster a few years back.
http://tinyurl.com/3aando

Many many folks have copied (and improved) this design. Look in practical machinist and here for more articles.

Karl

Karl_T: Since I'm a total novice at mill work, making my own wasn't really an option for me. Bootstrapping my ability to mill brass and aluminum at all was my priority, and "store bought" solution was definitely right for me.

Smitty911: There's an adjustment on the pressure for the FB, so how much the chips blow around will depend on that. Having said that, though, I keep mine at about 12-13 psi for all work, and the chips blow quite a bit downwind. That may be a little high, but it works fine and I have a full-box home-made enclosure, so it's not a problem for me.

mTp

I attempted to follow the links but recieved a Pager Not Found error.

I'll be reading the rest of your other post later.

Thanks again.

Smitty

WD-40 as a cutting fluid? Sometimes good lubricating oils have an opposite effect when used as a cutting fluid, causing the cutter to rub the surface instead of cutting into it (especially if the end mill is a bit on the dull side, or the material is tough). A good penetrating oil would probably work better. Not sure if WD-40 falls under the lubricant or penetrant category, but it seems to me it would be a lubricant. Anyone else have any feedback on using WD-40? Anyone use something similar?

I have a pretty super idea where we add a current sensor to the motor's power wire and use that to trigger the mist. So it'll shut off when the part's done or is just being shuttled around because there's very little current when the cutting motor's not getting loaded down. Also it can pulse the flow when cutter's experiencing less that full load because it's just doing a light shavedown pass.

That should keep it cool when it needs to be cool while minimizing the drips and slung water. Fog will still be fog of course, fog always results when the coolant does its job.

I have a Fog Buster that I use with my Taig. Worth every penny, IMO. Well built, easy to install, easy to use, no problems at all. And I didn't even get the "good guy" deal. I just use brown paper towels to sop up what minimal coolant builds up on the stock / table. None at all gets into the air, from what I can tell. I use KoolMist formula #78, which appears totally inert and harmless (stains a little if you let it dry, though).

My only complaint is they didn't have any good requirements for air supply, so I bought a compressor that was too small and had to upgrade. I now use an 8 gallon, 2HP, 4cfm@90psi oilless compressor from Harbor Freight, which is located about 40 feet away in a separate room for noise suppression and so it's on a separate circuit from the mill (prevents browning out the mill circuit and causing missed steps). Works great when I keep the supply pressure at about 35psi...above that and the FB oscillates when it first starts up. As I said, worth every penny, IMO.

One caveat: be sure to align the FB each time you change cutters. I broke about 3 of my 1/32nd cutters before I realized the FB was pointed too low. It appeared to be working (saw coolant flowing) but it was cooling / blowing on stock rather than the contact point. I now use an inspection mirror and sight up the FB's nozzle tube from below the cutter to make sure it's pointing at the cutter contact point.

mTp

I recieved the Fog Buster and Picked up a Gallon on Kool Mist #78 is it supposed to be deluted?

Thanks

Smitty

I built my own Coolant system, I'll post a video in a bit. Need to make an Enclosure, but you'll see.


-Speed

I use a sweet spray bottle armed with Kool Mist 77! It's really alot better than WD-40 is, it also doesn't have the fumes WD-40 does.

Yes Smitty, there should be directions on the bottle to dilute it. I dilute to the tune of 4oz Kool Mist 77/gallon of water. It works gangbusters on my mill and on my bandsaw. It won't rust either!

I like the Koolmist 77 as well. No smell, no rust. I use a little 3.5 gallon solvent tank that I converted to a coolant container. The pump and nozzle work well. I did add a little air valve inline to turn coolant down to basically a couple drips every few seconds in the low range or full flood when on high. The sides of my enclosure were only about 14" high and I just added another 8. It was fine while cutting, but when I would blow the vise off for the next part, I was getting too much spatter around the keyboard. The extra height really stopped all that. I need to put a regulator on that air line as well. No need to be clearing chips with 120 PSI. ;) I think 50 or 60 would do just fine.

"I use a sweet spray bottle" .....
I don't mean to be a smart a$$, but what is a "sweet spray bottle" vs, say, a sour bottle
or unflavored bottle?

Or perhaps, you got it at a sweet price?

or, or ?? :)

Pres

I built my own Coolant system, I'll post a video in a bit. Need to make an Enclosure, but you'll see.


-Speed

would like to see that

WD-40 as a cutting fluid? Sometimes good lubricating oils have an opposite effect when used as a cutting fluid, causing the cutter to rub the surface instead of cutting into it (especially if the end mill is a bit on the dull side, or the material is tough). A good penetrating oil would probably work better. Not sure if WD-40 falls under the lubricant or penetrant category, but it seems to me it would be a lubricant. Anyone else have any feedback on using WD-40? Anyone use something similar?

That is what I ended up using temporarily. I broke (2) 1/8" carbide bits within minutes of each other by running them dry. I picked up a store brand of WD-40 and drenched the cutting area each pass. I went through two chunks of 5/8" 6061 aluminum without any problems after that. The parts were about 1" x 1-1/2" x 5/8" thick. The stuff stunk though...at least according to my wife when I came from the shop.

I am going the enclosure and flood coolant setup now. I am basing mine off of Hoss's design.

Mike

This thing is so cool. I got the shop air run, pluged her in and mixed up some Kool Mist #77, light blue color. Turn on the mill and started going though the motions. Took a second to figure out the flow rate of the coolant, Next time I just spray in on a flat piece, adjust and than cut.

It's great being able to see the part being cut, the chips are out of the way and there is no MESS.

Love it.

Smitty

YouTube - Coolant Taig

Here is mine:

-Speed

ah i tought you made your own mist cooling system

I have'nt actually tried this yet, but, I got me a unit from MicroMark that looks perfect for small mills and lathes. It comes with a small pump, a small but strong magnetic stand, and various other things of interest, tank, tubing, nozzles, coolant and such. The most important things are; It's small, and, low cost, around $50.00 I think for the whole shebang. Check this out it may save some of us the inevitable failure of trial and error.

ATAxy- It's not mist, it's flood, duh. But I did make it though. I made a few things on it.


-Speed

i did notice it was flood, its just that since everybody was talking about mist i tought you where saying you made your own mist setup

A mister might be easy enough to make using something like a spray nozzle from a bottle and a small air valve or regulator. Perhaps even using a small spray bottle as a reservoir. Fix the nozzle open. Add two or three pounds of air and you have a mister. ;)

I live in a very small NYC apartment with my TAIG placed right next to my bed. I do have an enclosure, but nevertheless, any liquid/coolant is out. I've recently purchased a small 1.3HP air compressor and a very-simply DIY with loc-line and air tubing to provides a means of chip removing during milling operations. Check out the details and pictures!) on my TAIG Blog: www.nyccnc.com

Thanks!

I made a coolant mister out of an model airplane engine carburetor, it works fine. You can probably pick one up at a flea market pretty cheap.

You could set something up like an IV drip bag. Then you could regulate how much coolant you want to go into the airstream.

A question for those of you in this thread using fog buster or DIY versions.
What do I need in the way of a coolant/drip collection tray using a fog buster type system?

Currently I'm setting up a CNC'd X3 mill and have it sitting on a Formica bench top. I'm putting up guards round it and realised I need to be considering coolant methods and if/what I need to collect used coolant. Due to limited space I want to avoid a full flood system and keen on the fog buster droplet design. However I haven't been able to find any information on what collection system is necessary or if one is necessary.

When using a fog buster system do I need a full wide base tray covering the whole bench like a flood system that requires draining excess coolant into a separate container? Will the worktable be enough with the drain on the end or will I need something in between the two?

Without having seen one in operation it's hard to know what is required.
Thanks.

A question for those of you in this thread using fog buster or DIY versions.
What do I need in the way of a coolant/drip collection tray using a fog buster type system?

Currently I'm setting up a CNC'd X3 mill and have it sitting on a Formica bench top. I'm putting up guards round it and realised I need to be considering coolant methods and if/what I need to collect used coolant. Due to limited space I want to avoid a full flood system and keen on the fog buster droplet design. However I haven't been able to find any information on what collection system is necessary or if one is necessary.

When using a fog buster system do I need a full wide base tray covering the whole bench like a flood system that requires draining excess coolant into a separate container? Will the worktable be enough with the drain on the end or will I need something in between the two?

Without having seen one in operation it's hard to know what is required.
Thanks.

With a properly functioning FogBuster type mister, you don't need *anything*. If you're collecting more than VERY small amounts of coolant, you're doing something wrong. I run a home-made FogBuster on a knee mill, and after running all day on the most aggressive cuts (1/2" wide, 1/2" deep, 30+IPM), there may be a few ounces of coolant collected in the T-slots. With the kind of cuts you can do on an X3, there should be virtually nothing.

When properly adjusted, you should see just a few *very* small droplets of coolant skittering away from the tool, and the stream coming out of the nozzle should be virtually invisible. If you can see the stream coming out of the nozzle, or you're actually getting more than very small coolant accumulation anywhere, you've got it turned up too high.

Regards,
Ray L.

Also this link.
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87439&highlight=fogbuster
Al.

Thought I'd post a few pics of the Fog Buster style mister I built. I really haven't played with it enough to find the best pressure setting. Around 20psi works pretty well. It can push out a surprising blast of air for the low pressure. Easily adjust from all air to all fluid.

The tanks is PVC pipe stuff. Should hold 2 gallons or so of mist fluid.

With a properly functioning FogBuster type mister, you don't need *anything*.

Great thank you for your reply Ray. I'll continue on with the semi enclosure I'm making it should be just fine.

Here's a link to the directory with the zero fog mister plans (at the bottom) as mentioned in the other thread:

http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/_2002_retired_files/