Build Thread- In need of Clarifying my Coolant Education

[JWB_Machining]

Sorry I posted this under General metalworking machinery not realizing It was better suited for this forum.

Originally Posted by Geof
Also always use coolant, flood preferably but on a TM-1 you may get a shower so you have to compromise.

We were talking about Machining Aluminium

What is flood and what is shower in terms of using coolant? I know misting is misting the tool and work piece with mistable coolant but what exactly is flood and what exactly is shower? Also what are the benefits and drawbacks of them?

Also I've been told the following:

1)Do not use coolant when cutting steel with carbide to prevenet thermal shock fracture.

2)Use Coolant when cutting alumium with Carbide to prevent sticking.

3)Never use Coolant when cutting with ceramic inserts.

And now more questions What if the Carbide End Mills are Coated with TiCN, are there any special rules for that? What if they're coated with AlTiN? All I know about AlTiN is don't use it on Aluminium. So on top of coolant questions what do these Coatings do?

I beleive TiCN prevents chips from welding to the cutter, so does that mean don't use coolant with them when cutting alumiuim?

-JWB

[djr76]

Geof means by "shower", the flood coolant will be coming out of the spigot like a hose, and the TM-1 being an open design will be flinging coolant all over the place, hence the "shower" you be receiving lol. 1-3 are all correct, use uncoated carbide for aluminum and use coolant on it. TiCN is for alloy steels and stainless steels, AlTiN is a dry machining coating. You can always call the manufacturer of your carbide and get tech support from them. MSC http://metalworking.mscdirect.com/ has great tech support and will get any technical data or personal help from any of there suppliers.

[ALLtra Mach]

Huh, I don't know what part of this conversation I missed, but no coolant on steel?
Though dry cutting is becoming more and more prevalent, that's definitely not quite correct.
Why woould so many carbide tools be coolant thru?
If your wanting high feedrates and any tool life at all you had better be using coolant on carbide drills!
Basically I think that would be a gross generalization.

I guess I must've really missed part of this discussion?

[Geof]

Originally Posted by ALLtra Mach Huh, I don't know what part of this conversation I missed, but no coolant on steel?... .....I guess I must've really missed part of this discussion?

Yes you did miss some; go to this thread:
In need of Clarifying my Coolant Education

[ALLtra Mach]

Lol...Yup, In that case I agree completely and retire to a corner and simply appear stupid without proving it.