Coolant recommendation

[cameraman]

Agreed. They do seem to participate so I genuinely asked. I used to get questions answered at the trade shows. Westec used to be every year. Whatever I might want to chat about could wait.

Then Westec went to every other year. And Blaser didn't show up to the last one. How would they even reach a potential customer walking the show? The website won't do it. Titan saying "Boam baby" isn't telling anyone what's good or bad about each product.

The Blaser website always struck me as weird and only slightly useful. I once got MSDS sheets from it. I think back then you could download a PDF copy of the paper brochure they used to have for each product. Maybe that's still on there? I can't find it. I downloaded brochures and studied them myself.

The people at the trade show booths have always been 100% helpful, insightful and ambassadors of the company. I have nothing but glowing things to say about the support. That's why it's such an odd disconnect from the presentation of the website.

It used to be this comical mix of seemingly random people and drums of product. It was never clear who these people were or what they added to the page. Thanks to the Wayback machine, here's a glimpse of ten years ago:

View attachment 433514

In New Mexico / Balloon Fiesta they have a SWISS LUBE balloon ~ Of course nobody (civilian / "Normies" ) have any idea what Swiss 'Lube" is... And start wondering if behind closed doors (in spite of external appearances and buttoned down nature of the Swiss ) are actually pretty kinky / "liberated".
.
The shape of the balloon doesn't seem to communicate its purpose either ? Somehow they figure EVERYBODY knows .... (what) Swiss Lube is ?

 

[Triaged]

It sure would be nice if there were some industry standards used in the coolant world. Tool steels, carbide, grease and oil, all have standardized tests and often you can get that data without difficulty. Why not a ranking of which coolant has better lubricity, which one can grow less stuff in a petri dish, which one will rust your parts/machine, which one will foam like a bubble bath etc. Don't just tell me they are all good for grinding, milling, turning, and slicing bread and not which one is better than another in some meaningful way.

 

[TeachMePlease]

In New Mexico / Balloon Fiesta they have a SWISS LUBE balloon ~ Of course nobody (civilian / "Normies" ) have any idea what Swiss 'Lube" is... And start wondering if behind closed doors (in spite of external appearances and buttoned down nature of the Swiss ) are actually pretty kinky / "liberated".
.
The shape of the balloon doesn't seem to communicate its purpose either ? Somehow they figure EVERYBODY knows .... (what) Swiss Lube is ?

We see the calendar every year with the Swiss Lube balloon on the cover. Neat and all.

But I'd kill to get my hands on one of the pen holders that's made to look just like one of their 55 gallon drums, but about 4" tall. It'd be cool on my desk.

 

[snowshooze]

I run Blaser Swisslube on EVERYTHING 10%
585 if I remember correct. Never change it. It never rots.
And Phillips Hydroclear on the way-lube. Exclusively.
No tramp. I think it sticks to the chips.

 

[Donkey Hotey]

But I'd kill to get my hands on one of the pen holders that's made to look just like one of their 55 gallon drums, but about 4" tall. It'd be cool on my desk.

They occasionally hand them out at the trade shows. Maybe that's what the sales guy brings by your shop with the water kit and the brochures?

 

[TeachMePlease]

They occasionally hand them out at the trade shows. Maybe that's what the sales guy brings by your shop with the water kit and the brochures?

Maybe whoever's working the Blaser account here at PM gets my info and sends me one

 

[Donkey Hotey]

Maybe whoever's working the Blaser account here at PM gets my info and sends me one

A buddy of mine got one at the booth at Westec one year. They handed it to him. I never got one even though I was the one with all the questions. He hasn't touched a machine in ten years. The Blaser can moved from his desk to his house to his son's bedroom. The kid is almost 8 and has no idea who Blaser is. He's my future business partner so it's in good hands.

 

[Blaser Swisslube]

Since you pop in from time to time, I must ask: why is the Blaser website so bad? Why is there no page for each product, explaining what the advantages are? What is the point of the rest of the site? The company seems to have such amazing products. The website is like a bad marketing exercise, done by a middle schooler who has no idea why someone would visit a website in the first place.

Example: Vasco. We see a short list of bullet points and a link to the Data Sheet. Okay. That's not going to sell anybody on your product but, maybe I need the data sheet. Clicking takes a person to a page asking to enter an article number. What article number? I don't have an article number. Where does a person find an article number? Why should they need an article number? I already clicked on Vasco.

More broadly: why can't a person go to the Blaser website and browse through the different products with more information than 3-4 bullet points? Why does each product exist? What are the performance differences? None of this is possible on the website. Yes, I realize Blaser likes to have someone contact the user but, sometimes a person wants to do their own research. Maybe the person will discover an aspect of a product the sales person never thought to share. Maybe the user never thought to ask? Maybe the user needs to point management to a web page, with all the performance advantages. It's not always the management that a sales person will interface with.

I can go to the Haas Automation website and research all their different machines. I can look for spare parts, download manuals, create quotes and all kinds of other things. On the Blaser site, we get hot air balloons and awkward, smiling faces.

I'm here telling people of how happy I am with one of your products and there isn't a single bit of information I can point them to on the Blaser website. There is no static web page about it (Vasco). There isn't a single video on YouTube when I search for Vasco. All I can get is a few bullet points on Vasco and similar for Synergy? That's it?

Your feedback is definitely appreciated, the website is always being worked on. As you said, we strongly encourage people to reach out to us directly so someone from Blaser can assist in selecting the best possible product for them. Since every situation is unique, we feel that collaboration is the best way to approach coolant selection. Someone may spend time researching on their own and believe that one product is right for them to then be told differently once they reach out. There is an array of products within each line, each with its own advantages in specific scenarios. Having all this information may be overwhelming for some. There can definitely be a middle ground where some more information is made available on the site, we can see if that is currently being worked on by the team at this time.

The article numbers for products are on the packaging when you buy a product from us and can be given to anyone the requests them even before making a purchase. If the individual products were listed on the site, the article numbers would also be listed with them. Again, we can see if that is in the plans for the website.

Thank you for speaking so highly of our coolant here, it's great to hear that Vasco is working so well for you. We will do what we can to get the website up to the same quality.

 

[Blaser Swisslube]

Agreed. They do seem to participate so I genuinely asked. I used to get questions answered at the trade shows. Westec used to be every year. Whatever I might want to chat about could wait.

Then Westec went to every other year. And Blaser didn't show up to the last one. How would they even reach a potential customer walking the show? The website won't do it. Titan saying "Boam baby" isn't telling anyone what's good or bad about each product.

The Blaser website always struck me as weird and only slightly useful. I once got MSDS sheets from it. I think back then you could download a PDF copy of the paper brochure they used to have for each product. Maybe that's still on there? I can't find it. I downloaded brochures and studied them myself.

The people at the trade show booths have always been 100% helpful, insightful and ambassadors of the company. I have nothing but glowing things to say about the support. That's why it's such an odd disconnect from the presentation of the website.

It used to be this comical mix of seemingly random people and drums of product. It was never clear who these people were or what they added to the page. Thanks to the Wayback machine, here's a glimpse of ten years ago:

View attachment 433514

The individual product brochures are available on the website. In the dropdown menu go to the Downloads section. Scroll down and there are a range of PDFs available for download. It may make more sense for these to be on the page that shows the different coolant product families or at least have a link to them.

 

[Blaser Swisslube]

A buddy of mine got one at the booth at Westec one year. They handed it to him. I never got one even though I was the one with all the questions. He hasn't touched a machine in ten years. The Blaser can moved from his desk to his house to his son's bedroom. The kid is almost 8 and has no idea who Blaser is. He's my future business partner so it's in good hands.

You can ask the Blaser sales rep that works with you to send you some. They could probably get you some.

 

[Blaser Swisslube]

Maybe whoever's working the Blaser account here at PM gets my info and sends me one

If you are a Blaser customer, you can reach out to your sales rep and ask for one.

 

[Donkey Hotey]

The individual product brochures are available on the website. In the dropdown menu go to the Downloads section. Scroll down and there are a range of PDFs available for download. It may make more sense for these to be on the page that shows the different coolant product families or at least have a link to them.

Ahhh, there they are! See, that's what I'm talking about. I navigated to the Vasco page and then hit a dead end. I'm not sure why those sheets couldn't have been linked from each individual product page. I do have to admit that I just downloaded a couple of other documents on care of the coolant and other subjects that are probably full of good information.

When I previously saw the Downloads link, I assumed it was going to take me to the same page that asks to enter an Article number.

While I may not be happy with the organization of the website, once again, the human (you) have shown what Blaser product support is like. I also spent an hour on the phone with my local, very helpful Blaser rep the other day. Got the lowdown on Vasco 601 and introduced to B-Cool MC-660. For other Vasco users: (@Philabuster ), 6000 is no-more and changed again.

To clarify to you how a person like me gets involved between you and a customer: I have a network of friends who have shops that maybe don't specialize in pure machining but, they have machines for their own work. That might be one-off prototyping, special effects, repair parts for the energy sector, etc. They know me for staying more plugged into things than they have bandwidth for. They ask me questions like what coolant I like this week, what tool to do a certain job, etc. Sometimes I do programming or part design for them.

What I get out of this: I get exposed to far more broad applications than I might if I stayed in my bubble. After the phone call with your rep and discussing MC-660, I might go against 20 years of Vasco use and suggest it to a new guy for his soon-to-be-delivered machine. So I'm not necessarily the end user but, I am at the same time. My friends might not know what questions to ask so they trust me to know what their specific needs might be.

But going back to your own methods of reaching new customers: I'm not sure how they would have ever found you. They don't watch youtube videos. I advocate for going to trade shows but, Blaser didn't go to Westec. Maybe those booths don't generate many leads and that was why you guys weren't there. I get it. Just sharing so you guys can figure out how to find those new customers.

 

[Blaser Swisslube]

Ahhh, there they are! See, that's what I'm talking about. I navigated to the Vasco page and then hit a dead end. I'm not sure why those sheets couldn't have been linked from each individual product page. I do have to admit that I just downloaded a couple of other documents on care of the coolant and other subjects that are probably full of good information.

When I previously saw the Downloads link, I assumed it was going to take me to the same page that asks to enter an Article number.

While I may not be happy with the organization of the website, once again, the human (you) have shown what Blaser product support is like. I also spent an hour on the phone with my local, very helpful Blaser rep the other day. Got the lowdown on Vasco 601 and introduced to B-Cool MC-660. For other Vasco users: (@Philabuster ), 6000 is no-more and changed again.

To clarify to you how a person like me gets involved between you and a customer: I have a network of friends who have shops that maybe don't specialize in pure machining but, they have machines for their own work. That might be one-off prototyping, special effects, repair parts for the energy sector, etc. They know me for staying more plugged into things than they have bandwidth for. They ask me questions like what coolant I like this week, what tool to do a certain job, etc. Sometimes I do programming or part design for them.

What I get out of this: I get exposed to far more broad applications than I might if I stayed in my bubble. After the phone call with your rep and discussing MC-660, I might go against 20 years of Vasco use and suggest it to a new guy for his soon-to-be-delivered machine. So I'm not necessarily the end user but, I am at the same time. My friends might not know what questions to ask so they trust me to know what their specific needs might be.

But going back to your own methods of reaching new customers: I'm not sure how they would have ever found you. They don't watch youtube videos. I advocate for going to trade shows but, Blaser didn't go to Westec. Maybe those booths don't generate many leads and that was why you guys weren't there. I get it. Just sharing so you guys can figure out how to find those new customers.

Good to hear you found the brochures! I agree that having them more advertised on the main page could be helpful. Word of mouth has worked well for Blaser for a while but we have been putting more focus on social media and sites like this in the recent years as well. We do still attend trade shows, we just missed out on Westec apparently. It's always great to hear when someone not only appreciates the coolant but the service that comes along with it. So far, the feedback for B-Cool MC 660 has been great. It's not surprising that your rep brought it up to you. Any constructive critical feedback is appreciated too, we are always looking to better serve our customers.

 

[prime_mover]

Here are some pictures of the end result of my unfortunate trial with the utterly toxic smelling Hangsterfers 5080.

Everything is coated with difficult to remove waxy crud, which started building up even when the coolant was fresh. Looks like this will be the last job for my 10+ year old nylon brush:


The sump of my 2013 mini-mill is full of fines and such thanks to the geniuses at Haas, having designed the worst sump in the history of modern machine tools. I would like to find out who designed this tank and scoop their eyes out of their skull with a spoon. It is possible to position a short and narrow filter / catch in here under the return, but I have never taken it upon myself to build one. I let this sump go a while without cleaning it out, getting through some major jobs, awaiting the switch to another coolant.



I used a clean shop vac to pump out the sump, which made quick work of the task. This is definitely the way to do it. After vacuuming out the sump, a thick layer of metallic colored foam was floating on top of the coolant:



And finally, I am back to my good old Syntilo 9918, which is transparent and nearly odorless. The 9918 is softening up the remainder of the waxy crud stuck to my machine and it seems like I will be able to just wipe it off with paper towels soon.