# Water Soluble Cutting Fluid?



## GummyMonster (Jun 10, 2021)

Morning everyone,
 Well, my lathe and milling machine are finally in Canada. Somewhere between Vancouver and their new home. Waiting impatiently.
 Anyway,
I bought some cutting fluid at Princess Auto the other day. I was kinda hurrying and I didn't read the front of the jug. Turns out it's water soluble cutting fluid.
 Anyone else use this? It says to mix it between 5:1 and 20:1 water/fluid mix. 
 Maybe it's fine, but it seems odd to me. At 20:1, you're using almost straight water.
 I used it to drill through a truck hitch and it seemed ok, but it seemed like it was just washing away the chips and swirls more than anything.
 I just wanted to see what you experienced folks think before using it on anything more important, precise. And I don't want to be damaging the drill bits either.
Thanks for any input you can give,
Ken


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## 6.5 Fan (Jun 10, 2021)

The stuff i use is water soluble, bought a 5 gallon pail of it years ago, Esso cut well 45. Same stuff that we used in the tech school when i got some formal learnin.  Use different oil for threading though. It works fine and is relatively cheap.


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## boilerhouse (Jun 10, 2021)

Ken - I'd like to hear more about the lathe and mill. Can't leave us in suspense LOL - Models?  New?  Did you go through a supplier, if so, which one?


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## RobinHood (Jun 10, 2021)

I use the same cutting fluid from PA that you bought, Ken. Been using that stuff for 2+ years now.

As I don’t have the coolant pumps setup on either the mill or any of the lathes, I just drip or brush it on. In those applications I use it undiluted, 100%. Works really well. Easy to clean. No rusting.

On the bandsaw, I do have the coolant pump setup. There I use it diluted - maybe in a 10 or 15:1 ratio (I don’t measure just go by what looks good). Here I like it less viscous, because I want the chips flushed out of the cut. I make small batches of it - maybe a gallon at a time. No rust on the saw or the chips even after a year sitting in the chip pan (yeah, I should really clean it out - another project).


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## Mcgyver (Jun 10, 2021)

The joys of coolant (afaik unless you're using oil or air its all water soluble oil).  Here's some appetizing pics ...the two different brands KBC sells.  Just ends up a rotten, smelly, humongous petri dish in a few months (the oil is food for bacteria).  The microsol 585, photo at the bottom  otoh is great, it just doesn't seem to go bad - highly recomended.   The tank btw is the Mark I "coolant server".  Since scrapped, the Mark II is plasma cut and waiting in the wings for me to find time


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## GummyMonster (Jun 11, 2021)

Thanks RobinHood, now I'm not concerned about using it. I'll try different ratios and see which I prefer.

I'm planning to set a up mist coolant system on my machines, but I won't have big storage tanks for whichever coolant I'm using to go bad. Small batches will work fine for me.

boilerhouse - After a LOT of researching, I ended buying my machines off AliExpress, from the Numobams Store . Link : https://www.aliexpress.com/store/204419

I bought the - VM18LD 750W Brushless Motor 2 Axis Digital Grating DRO Metal Milling Machine and the - Update WM210D 850W Brushless Motor All Steel Gear Metal Lathe/38mm Spindle Bore Hole with digital readout metal lathe.

I can't say yet how good they will be, but they had a few key features I really liked. A 38mm spindle bore and a little bigger motor on the lathe, and they both have digital readouts . I'm hopeful that the quality will be good. The company was good to deal with, we even haggled over total cost and they came down a little. 
Getting them here has been a hassle due to the Pandemic, but they're close. 
I'll do a proper write up once I get them and spend some time messing around with them.
Have a good one,
Ken


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## boilerhouse (Jun 11, 2021)

Nice purchase.  Good luck with them.  I am sure many of us would be interested in any follow up once they are set up and put through the paces.


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## George (Jul 3, 2021)

I got my Machines from Alibaba, i was looking for cutting fluid and never even thought about princess auto, I shall be there tomorrow  thanx for the prompt.


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## Dabbler (Jul 3, 2021)

@GummyMonster I use the same PA water soluable fluid.  I started with 5:1, but find that it works well up to 1:1.  For using HSS drills, I find the 20:1 or even 50:1 to work well.  I mix up a small batch and use a hand sprayer.  If it goes bad, I'm only discarding 200ml or so.  The sprayer isn't all that open to the air, so there is less opportunity to bring in bacteria and mold - it will go off, just takes a little longer.


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## GummyMonster (Jul 5, 2021)

I've been using it for various cutting and drilling and it seems to be working well.
I actually have it in a precision needle tip bottle like this - 
I did so mostly because the pump can I bought shoots it farther than a super soaker and I needed to use the fluid without waiting that day.
It works good, you just have to refill it fairly often.
Happy I found it so far.
Ken


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## George (Jul 5, 2021)

Yeah I will be using these i got off AliExpress, I paid just under $20 for 2 of them


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