Oil or coolant for horizontal band saw? - infrequent use on 6061 and plastic

[wesg]

If you're worried about staining on a saw cut, you probably don't want that coolant in the machines doing your finish work.

Coarser pitch blade has more rounded gullets so the chips don't get packed in. And set it up so the tail end of the bar is higher than the cutting zone. Coolant won't run uphill. Long cutoffs are still going to be a problem of course. Bucket or drain pan fixes that, mostly. Never tried it, but maybe some fake grass in the pan would help.

 

[Plane Parts]

Get the right blades and run dry.

 

[rk9268vc]

Get the right blades and run dry.

I got a starrett 6-10 TPI blade but cutting 6in 6061 bar the blade keeps getting stuck unless i spray some oil on it as it is going.
I would like to run dry because less mess, but i cant seem to get a right combination of blade speed and down feed for the blade to not get stuck randomly.

I called Blaser but they dont really have anything in low enough volumes for what im doing. The coolant sump is only like 4 gal on this saw and it doesnt get used enough that i would worry a coolant would go bad. Looks like i might just try dumping a gal of WD-40 in the sump and see what happens. It has a low flash point, but is a lot nicer to clean off than some other options, and like mentioned, i cant seem to find a better oil in a 5gal or smaller container.

 

[hvnlymachining]

Watch out, WD-40 dries very sticky. And will likely gum up your saw.

For a 6" bar you will definitely need coolant/ lubricant to prevent galling and welding of the chips, but don't worry about flash point since AL doesn't spark. I've even cut 12" steel bar with straight diesel, saws shouldn't be getting hot enough to create a fire hazard. If it does you're doing something very wrong!

 

[Greg Menke]

I got a starrett 6-10 TPI blade but cutting 6in 6061 bar the blade keeps getting stuck unless i spray some oil on it as it is going.
I would like to run dry because less mess, but i cant seem to get a right combination of blade speed and down feed for the blade to not get stuck randomly.

I called Blaser but they dont really have anything in low enough volumes for what im doing. The coolant sump is only like 4 gal on this saw and it doesnt get used enough that i would worry a coolant would go bad. Looks like i might just try dumping a gal of WD-40 in the sump and see what happens. It has a low flash point, but is a lot nicer to clean off than some other options, and like mentioned, i cant seem to find a better oil in a 5gal or smaller container.

McMaster sells "saw fluid" coolant, works well- $20-ish per gallon. Mix with water to any of a variety of ratios, it keeps well. Easy to clean up and doesn't promote rust I've seen.