Drilling Lubricant/coolant

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Slocumotion

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I've just been using water when drilling S/S on my pillar drill, but a Google search brought up the suggestion of using an emulsion of 2 parts water, 1 part Olive or Sesame oil plus a teaspoonful of washing up liquid ( the poster leapt from proportionality to absolute measure with a fine disregard for mathematical rigour)
Would this work better? Would I not need to dry everything off and spray with water repellent after using?Why Olive /Sesame and why not Corn Oil? So many questions.
Diesel was one other suggestion. Any comments?
 
Why not just buy a bottle of proper cutting fluid (at school we called it "soluble oil", not sure if that's the proper term) ?

I bought a litre from Machine Mart years ago when I bought my drill, and it's still going strong.

Pete
 
There are many different substances recommended for the many different metals being worked.

If it is just limited DIY you are doing then a light oil should suffice. Your local tool shop may have small tins of cutting lubricant for DIY use.
 
prv said:
Why not just buy a bottle of proper cutting fluid (at school we called it "soluble oil", not sure if that's the proper term) ?

I bought a litre from Machine Mart years ago when I bought my drill, and it's still going strong.

Pete
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£12.95 plus £4.95 p&p for 1/2 litre. 'Nuff said?
 
awol said:
Cutting oils used to be carcinogenic - not good for lathe operators who had a habit of spraying their dangly bits with the stuff. Be careful!
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I doubt they are any longer, probably like most stuff it's why it doesn't work as well as it used to, all the nasties that made it work have been removed.
 
David2452 said:
I use Bosch cutting fluid, not because it's Bosch but because its in a little pump bottle with an application tube so is really economical to use and lasts ages.
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When it's cooling you're wanting though, how long is that £18-worth of cutting fluid going to last? I had quite a stream of water going over my cheap Cobalt drill bit. A squirt of some foamy spray stuff I found and used until it ran out lubricated okay but just seemed to boil off.
 
MikePalmer said:
When it's cooling you're wanting though, how long is that £18-worth of cutting fluid going to last? I had quite a stream of water going over my cheap Cobalt drill bit. A squirt of some foamy spray stuff I found and used until it ran out lubricated okay but just seemed to boil off.
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I generally only use it as a lube, I try to go steady and not let stuff get too hot, the quantities I use will be useless for cooling as you say.
 
awol said:
Cutting oils used to be carcinogenic - not good for lathe operators who had a habit of spraying their dangly bits with the stuff. Be careful!
Click to expand...

I was pushed into a car industry engineering apprenticeship in 1967 (Midlands lad, in those days it was car factory or nowt) but walked out after three months because I was fed up going home soaked in suds though to my underwear. Then it was just oil, water and detergent and usually old oil!
 
Hadenough said:
I was pushed into a car industry engineering apprenticeship in 1967 (Midlands lad, in those days it was car factory or nowt) but walked out after three months because I was fed up going home soaked in suds though to my underwear. Then it was just oil, water and detergent and usually old oil!
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No lasting effects on the dangly bits I hope, or is that a sore point (so to speak)?
My Google recipe would seem to be pretty much the vegetarian version of your erstwhile daily douche.
 
MikePalmer said:
When it's cooling you're wanting though, how long is that £18-worth of cutting fluid going to last? ...
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I was countersinking some 316 stainless, and burned out one bit (at £15 each) after cutting 2 of 8. I got some soluble oil. Mixed it up, put it in a Fairy Liquid bottle and kept up a steady stream, while my pillar drill stood in a wide bowl to catch it. When I ran low, I refilled the bottle. The countersink bit is still OK.
 
Many, if not most, hydrocarbons are carcinogenic if one is exposed to them in high enough concentrations for sufficient time. For more about this particular scrotal cancer look under mule-spinner's disease.
 
Any old oil will do,the main thing is to make sure you don't dwell when pressing down or you will work harden the surface.That is the surface of the job you are working on or the tool bit your private parts should'nt be anywhere near the job anyway!
 
Yes and the beauty of engine oil is that if you do get the job too hot it pours out lots of smoke to tell you. So stop and let it cool down when that happens. olewill
 
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