Cutting oil

[Gary BrookeParticipant @garybrooke63895]

Just to show my inexperience ,

is this a silly question is it possible to use vegetable oil as a cutting fluid or will it damage machinery . Perhaps it is better to machine dry.Hope somebody has time to put a newbie on track.
Regards
Gary

[Gary BrookeParticipant @garybrooke63895]

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Most vegetable oils will polymerise in time, thus turning into varnish which will gum everything up. They will also tend to decompose and become rancid. If they get hot during cutting, which they will, you will be engulfed in an aroma of chips. Therefore I suggest that they are not suitable. I use Cutmax or similar proprietry brands as (used to be – sigh) supplied by Myford. Warco and others supply similar straight cutting oils. These can be mixed with paraffin, I tend to use a 50/50 mix applied from a squeezy bottle.

 

cheers,

 

Rod

[Gary BrookeParticipant @garybrooke63895]

Thanks Rod for that prompt reply. Best go and clean up and put back in chip pan where it belongs before the boss finds out.
Just been on the Warco website found what you suggested but they will only supply with a new machine. Whilst that’s tempting,justifying that to senior management might be hard.
So ideas as where else to try would an engineering suppliers sell in small quantities
Thanks
Gary

[PatParticipant @pat]

Hi Garry

 

Plenty of suppliers on ebay – just type in Neat cutting oil. I like the water miscible oils but this is a personal choice and is also dependent on material being machined as well as the feed rate and the cutting tool being used. There are also mist cooling systems – flood cooling as well as dabbing with a brush or drip can – explore all and make your choice an informed one.

 

Regards – Pat

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

For small work I use WD 40, I have a plastic lid and I spray a little into it and use a small brush.

This works on steel, brass and some plastics.

I also use it when drilling.

 

Clive

[_Paul_Participant @_paul_]

WD40 for aluminium and some brasses, it’s expensive in aerosol form so I buy mine by the gallon then dispense using one of SWMBO’s old hair dye bottles with a syringe attached to the tip with heat shrink tubing, dont waste much and get it right on the spot.

 

Machine mart sulphur based cutting fluid for all ferrous (except CI) again bought by the gallon and dispensed in the same fashion as the WD40.

 

Soluble cutting oil I buy from “The Baltic Oil Works” locally for about £20, a gallon lasts me for about 12 months used mainly in my old Qualters & Smith donkey saw.

 

Regards

 

Paul

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