I know there are other threads. I've searched and read many of them. Mainly I'm looking for what people are using right now, and whether they're happy with it's performance.
We used Blasocut for a number of years. All of my machinists hated it because when the water evaporated, it would become a slimy, sticky mess on tools, machines, and parts. A year and a half ago, I began testing Schaeffer's 0511 semi-synthetic coolant in one of our VMCs. I ran it in that VMC for 6 months as a trial. I could not see any measurable difference in tool life. The machinists loved working with it compared to the Blaser, because it blew off parts easily, did not stick or leave residue in the machine, on the tools, etc. They even commented about how they liked not bringing the coolant home with them, as the Blaser seemed to not wash off their hands very well. I could relate to that, when I was on the floor, I couldn't stand how it would stick to my clothes in a film, get in my vehicle, my house.
So, with no negative effects from the coolant, and with increased job satisfaction from the people working with it, I went ahead and switched all of our machines over to the 0511. My first mistake was that my 6 month trial was November to March. The 6 coolest months of the year. June rolled around and this coolant did a 180 degree shift. Bacteria bloomed, like I'd never seen before. Sticky globs of biofilm that resembled fungus or mold. Drains and filters were clogged. Rotary unions clogged and burned up. At one point, it even caused a machine crash because the casting that the Z drive nested in acted as a bowl and caught errant coolant that it could not drain due to plugged drain holes. The drive was flooded while in operation, lost it's place and slammed the (brand new!) spindle into the work.
I've tried conditioners, biocides, pH tablets, aeration, and I cannot keep this coolant from degrading at a rate that makes it prohibitively expensive (replacing at 2x the rate of the Blaser), or disgusting to work with (smell, globs, growth.)
Concentration levels are checked daily and tracked. Where we used to have no inclination towards a cutting fluid management program, we are trying to develop and implement one now. Lab results do not show appreciable levels of tramp oil in many machines, but always without fail show a bloom in bacteria in a short period of time.
Is there a truly biostable semi-synthetic out there? Our machines to not sit idle very often or for very long. We run our operations 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, although not all of our machines are staffed at that extent. One of our machines is a Quickmill 180, which sits idle more often than anything, and it has the least problems of any of the machines. I can deduce that is for 2 reasons, 1 being the nature of the machine (large, open bed vertical gantry) means that when it is operated, the coolant is exposed to air more than any other machine in our shop, and 2, linear guide ways outside of chip/coolant collection mean very, very little oil makes it to the coolant sump.
But I need to make a change, or implement a solution to this problem. The guys don't like working with it, maintenance is all over me about clogged screens and filters, and frankly I feel like crap because even though I thought I did due diligence with testing, and evaluating, and I sought the opinion of the guys using it daily, it was ultimately my decision to switch.
I will not go back to the Blaser soluble oil. We have in the last year changed from tooling at each machine to a central tool setting system, all of our tools are now set up and broke down by job, and having to clean that sticky mess would either take too much time, or more likely, not get done, resulting in a mess of epic proportions in that area.
I'm open to any suggestions. I will be testing a Perkins Perkool formulation in the near future. I'm willing to test more than one fluid at a time. This time I will test through the summer months (fool me once.)
Thanks.
We used Blasocut for a number of years. All of my machinists hated it because when the water evaporated, it would become a slimy, sticky mess on tools, machines, and parts. A year and a half ago, I began testing Schaeffer's 0511 semi-synthetic coolant in one of our VMCs. I ran it in that VMC for 6 months as a trial. I could not see any measurable difference in tool life. The machinists loved working with it compared to the Blaser, because it blew off parts easily, did not stick or leave residue in the machine, on the tools, etc. They even commented about how they liked not bringing the coolant home with them, as the Blaser seemed to not wash off their hands very well. I could relate to that, when I was on the floor, I couldn't stand how it would stick to my clothes in a film, get in my vehicle, my house.
So, with no negative effects from the coolant, and with increased job satisfaction from the people working with it, I went ahead and switched all of our machines over to the 0511. My first mistake was that my 6 month trial was November to March. The 6 coolest months of the year. June rolled around and this coolant did a 180 degree shift. Bacteria bloomed, like I'd never seen before. Sticky globs of biofilm that resembled fungus or mold. Drains and filters were clogged. Rotary unions clogged and burned up. At one point, it even caused a machine crash because the casting that the Z drive nested in acted as a bowl and caught errant coolant that it could not drain due to plugged drain holes. The drive was flooded while in operation, lost it's place and slammed the (brand new!) spindle into the work.
I've tried conditioners, biocides, pH tablets, aeration, and I cannot keep this coolant from degrading at a rate that makes it prohibitively expensive (replacing at 2x the rate of the Blaser), or disgusting to work with (smell, globs, growth.)
Concentration levels are checked daily and tracked. Where we used to have no inclination towards a cutting fluid management program, we are trying to develop and implement one now. Lab results do not show appreciable levels of tramp oil in many machines, but always without fail show a bloom in bacteria in a short period of time.
Is there a truly biostable semi-synthetic out there? Our machines to not sit idle very often or for very long. We run our operations 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, although not all of our machines are staffed at that extent. One of our machines is a Quickmill 180, which sits idle more often than anything, and it has the least problems of any of the machines. I can deduce that is for 2 reasons, 1 being the nature of the machine (large, open bed vertical gantry) means that when it is operated, the coolant is exposed to air more than any other machine in our shop, and 2, linear guide ways outside of chip/coolant collection mean very, very little oil makes it to the coolant sump.
But I need to make a change, or implement a solution to this problem. The guys don't like working with it, maintenance is all over me about clogged screens and filters, and frankly I feel like crap because even though I thought I did due diligence with testing, and evaluating, and I sought the opinion of the guys using it daily, it was ultimately my decision to switch.
I will not go back to the Blaser soluble oil. We have in the last year changed from tooling at each machine to a central tool setting system, all of our tools are now set up and broke down by job, and having to clean that sticky mess would either take too much time, or more likely, not get done, resulting in a mess of epic proportions in that area.
I'm open to any suggestions. I will be testing a Perkins Perkool formulation in the near future. I'm willing to test more than one fluid at a time. This time I will test through the summer months (fool me once.)
Thanks.
