Coolant recomendation

[JasonR]

Picked up a 2002 Haas mini mill. Looking for some recommendations for a good water soluble coolant for use machining 6061-t6 aluminum.

J

[Nastyzen]

Hey Jason'
If you hate the smell of coventional coolant and the fact that it makes thing rust,go synthetic.
I was using Rustlick until recently.Nothing rusts and it smells great,butI have been turning brass in great quantity lately and discoverd that it reacts with the brass.
It turns a nasty greenish colour and leaves streakes all over the machine.Takes hours to clean up the mess.
I am now trying Cincinatie millacron which in the mixing barrel looks alot like coffe with a touch of milk in it..........Scary at first but looks whiteish when in use,smells neutral and
for now is working well with T6 as well as metal.
I have mixed brass shavings and the new coolant in a cup 3 days ago and all seems well so far.
Syth. is more expensive but so are cnc machines!The previous owner used regular coolant in my cnc lathe and it cost me big $$$ to have the hydraulic cylinders reground and built up again,not to mention the seals from England and the time it all took.
As a result I chucked the balance of the 5 gal. regular water soluble crap I had left over.
Should you not be convinced from my experience....Use a refractometer often to check your juices!
Best of luck
Claude

[Donkey Hotey]

It may depend on what has been run in the machine in the past. I understand that coolant systems are a lot like fish tanks: they have a bio system in them that can remain stable or can get out of hand.

I'd start with a good biocide from the coolant manufacturer that you choose. That will clean out the system and kill off any nasty bacteria that might be lurking in the lines or castings. If you fail to do this, your brand new coolant could be stinky and out of control in a few weeks.

I bought both of my machines new: 2004 and 2007). I use them for bursts of time, then they literally sit for months. I have had exceptional luck with Blaser's Vasco 1000. It's a little on the pricey side (I usually pay about $100 for 5 gallons--enough to make 50 gallons of 10% premix). I've only recently had some problem with odors under the vises. That was due to three used vises I bought that had some stinky residue from the machine they came out of (I really should have bleached those things ).

The Vasco is vegetable based, leaves no rust, minimal staining under the vises, does zero damage to the paint, smells good and is only mildly irritating to the skin (attacks the fat in your skin and makes it itch a little).

http://www.blaser.com/index.cfm?type...id=451&land=us

[JasonR]

Thanks for the replies. Any sources for these in the Phoenix, AZ area?

J

[Donkey Hotey]

I'm 60 miles from my nearest vendor. They ship same day and they stock the Vasco 1000 as well as the biocide cleaner.

http://pmindustrial.com/

[apeman88]

The Vasco is vegetable based, leaves no rust, minimal staining under the vises, does zero damage to the paint, smells good and is only mildly irritating to the skin (attacks the fat in your skin and makes it itch a little).

http://www.blaser.com/index.cfm?type...id=451&land=us

I was using Trico TC1 for about a year and upon a friends recommendation, switched over to Blaser 2000 Universal about 4 months ago. It is Mineral oil based. It EATS PAINT!! and controls rust okay if you keep the concentration high... which I think leads to faster paint eating. Maybe the Vasco series (Vegetible Oil based) is better.... but be warned the 2000 Universal (Mineral Oil Based) will eat your paint. I just spent my Sunday today cleaning out my machine (only took 5 hrs to empty the tank, wash, scrub tank and machine) and am going to go back to Trico TC1 (Synthetic). TC1 is almost clear with a blue tint (compared to Blaser 2000 which is milky) so the TC1 is easier to see the part being cut. Only down side to TC1 is the coolant smells like sweat when it dries and it leaves a tacky film on your machine when it dries. As far as rust... no rust unless the concentration drops to below 4... no damage to paint... and no irritation.

[Donkey Hotey]

The Vasco 1000 did absolutely zero damage to the paint on my machines. The coolant tank on my VF-2 has had a full charge since November 2004. The paint in the tank is still perfect, as is the interior of the cabinet. No damage to the paint on the Kurt vises either.

I haven't used anything else to compare but it seems to do a good job at what it's supposed to do. I do 99% aluminum with the occasional brass, steel or stainless. It taps pretty well in aluminum. I generally run it in the 10-12% range if I'm going to be tapping.

[apeman88]

The Vasco 1000 did absolutely zero damage to the paint on my machines. The coolant tank on my VF-2 has had a full charge since November 2004. The paint in the tank is still perfect, as is the interior of the cabinet. No damage to the paint on the Kurt vises either.

I haven't used anything else to compare but it seems to do a good job at what it's supposed to do. I do 99% aluminum with the occasional brass, steel or stainless. It taps pretty well in aluminum. I generally run it in the 10-12% range if I'm going to be tapping.

Thats good to hear. Perhaps it is only on the 2000 series. I ran the 2000 Universal at 6 to 8% and it eat the paint off my machine. I just cleaned my tank out today and I have spots of bare metal at the bottom of the tank and rust along the edges on top. Had to brush all the rust out and sprayed on a coat of paint.

[Donkey Hotey]

No, we have a 2004 TL-1 and VF-4 at work. Both of them have their paint peeling off of everything. Heck, there is a Vidmar cabinet about two feet away from the end of the lathe and just the coolant fumes and splash going into the tank have bubbled its paint. There are definitely some nasty coolants out there.

There are occasionally old Haas machines on eBay (more than 10 years old) where the interior still looks good. This is a 1995 machine. The paint still looks pretty good, there is little rust and everything is clean:

[Geof]

I will put in my 20 cents worth.

Shell Dromus B

Just put this into Google and you will get loads of hits. You can get it at most commercial Shell outlets. Works like a charm on aluminum, washes off without a trace using just hot water and does not cause any staining of aluminum. Does not attack the paint in the machines very much at all. Is less expensive than many of the other coolants. Does not attack polycarbonate or acrylic. Soft on the hands and in my experience less likely to cause irritation than many other coolants.

Only problem we have ever found is that some 'rubbers' swell like crazy and go soft. I use ' ' because it was one of these holey rubber floor mats and I don't know if they are natural rubber or synthetic. We had liined the botton of a machine with it to prevent the aluminum parts get dinged as they fell down from parting; worked great. Then after a few months even after washing we started to see a dark residue on the parts that was very difficult to wash off. It was the rubber mat which had swollen to twice its thickness and was all sticky. But I guess these mats are not really intended to be bathed in coolant all the time.

[Haas_Apps]

At the Haas Factory we use Castrol products. For 6061 I would recommend Castrol AW30

[rlabonte18]

I was told they use Fuch's products at the factory and the HFO recommended coolant.