antifreeze for cutting fluid??

[gordfraser]

Has/does anyone use truck antifreeze for cooling/lubing annular cutters?

Sounds like an ideal liquid (to me anyway)
premixed has 50% H2O- for cooling
the other 50% makes it realy slippery- lubricant.

only downside i can see (so far) is the H2O may cause rust of left on bare ferrous metal

G

[Rojodiablo]

Never thought about it, but it makes sense. Really toxic, maybe one drawback, but who knows??

[dave powelson]

Originally Posted by gordfraser

Has/does anyone use truck antifreeze for cooling/lubing annular cutters?

Sounds like an ideal liquid (to me anyway)
premixed has 50% H2O- for cooling
the other 50% makes it realy slippery- lubricant.

only downside i can see (so far) is the H2O may cause rust of left on bare ferrous metal

G

Considering the cost of the cutters and minimal cost of known, proven, recommended industrial cutting fluids both water soluble and oil based why would one gander to do this?

Cutting fluid, also provides high pressure lubricity--something that antifreeze doesn't have.

That being said--Go for it!

Most cutters get burned up due to excessive cutting speed and lack of adequate lubrication.

[Fred Paul Jones]

Is truck antifreeze different from car antifreeze? Go back to the books and get the right lube for the job. Don't try to re invent the wheel.

[gordfraser]

thanks for the opinoins!
just to remind you this was the question:

"Has/does anyone use truck antifreeze for cooling/lubing annular cutters?"

didnt say i was/had used it.
or that anyone else should.

G

[farmersamm]

I bought a bunch of Universal(trade name) coolant made in Michigan by Synthetic Lubricants Inc.

I was worried about it freezing in the shop because it isn't heated. So I called 'em up, and asked if I could add regular anti-freeze to the coolant tank. The guy said that it might be ok. (great answer). It got me to wonderin' too.

I really don't think anti freeze would be a good coolant because it doesn't seem to leave a residue behind after it dries. The commercial tool coolant leaves a residue, that I assume fights rust. So I didn't mess around tryin' experiments. Cutters are pretty expensive, and so is the iron work on your machine. There's also anti foaming agents in the coolant, plus some lubricants that might not be found in anti freeze.

So now, I just pump out the tank with the coolant pump before a hard freeze, and don't give it a second thought.

[Fred Paul Jones]

Thanks for reiterating the question gordfraser. No I haven't and have no reason to.

[STwelder]

And antifreeze is flammable. I suppose it still is I should say. I opened a radiator cap once and the engine/antifreeze was warm a little steam coming out of the radiator. Don't know what I was thinking but light the bic lighter to see the fluid level and flow and pahwoofff, flash flame. Only lasted a second but none the less could smell burning hair, allthough upon looking in the side mirror couldn't see any loss.
Was in the early 1970s, never forget that one.

[tnjind]

I put automotive antifreeze in my cold saw. has not hurt anything yet.

[jamlit]

I have mixed regular antifreeze with my cutting oil in my band saw with no trouble. Sometimes mt bandsaw is in teh cold and I didn't want the water to freeze. Only down side is that the oil sometimes start to stink after awhile.

[kmaysob]

Originally Posted by STwelder

And antifreeze is flammable. I suppose it still is I should say. I opened a radiator cap once and the engine/antifreeze was warm a little steam coming out of the radiator. Don't know what I was thinking but light the bic lighter to see the fluid level and flow and pahwoofff, flash flame. Only lasted a second but none the less could smell burning hair, allthough upon looking in the side mirror couldn't see any loss.
Was in the early 1970s, never forget that one.

thats odd, ive never seen antifreeze burn, its got a pretty high flash point of 230 deg. f.

[denrep]

Originally Posted by kmaysob

thats odd, ive never seen antifreeze burn, its got a pretty high flash point of 230 deg. f.

I'm surprised the flash point is that low.

Maybe Stwelder's fireball was from alcohol engine coolant, rather than ethyl glycol?

I've never seen ethyl glycol burn either; I'm surprised the flash point is that low.

As for a cutting fluid, EG doesn't seem to extract heat from metal like water does.
If you dunk a hot piece of metal in EG, the cooling effect is nowhere near as much with as ordinary water. But... it won't freeze, and some coolant is better than no coolant.

[lugweld]

Antifreeze is also anti-boil. It doesn't conduct heat very well. That's why you don't use over a fifty percent mixture for general use in engines. Most antifreeze additives have alcohol in them to improve heat transfer.

[gordfraser]

So in a 50% mix, which is a common way for it to come "ready mixed" off the shelf, would the 50% H2O help with the cooling part of the equation?

not that i'm a chemist.

G

[denrep]

Actually water and 50% diluted EG is what I was comparing.

No scientific proof, just from the experience of quenching hot metal in a bucket of used antifreeze vs water; the water seems much more effective. In engines too; up to the boiling point, water seems to transfer heat much better than EG.

A few years ago I read about a super coolant that was supposed to transfer heat so well that a heater core would cool a 350 hp diesel. Never heard any more about it.

I have used water and oil as annular cutter lube/coolant. Just shake it up and do the best you can.

[MoonRise]

Water transfers heat pretty well. But it freezes and it boils, so "antifreeze" is used. For vehicular cooling anyway.

Water also doesn't burn, at least in almost any 'normal' circumstance.

As a cutting lube/coolant, water can cause tool and tooling and part rust/corrosion, so plain water is -usually- not used.

Oil doesn't cause rust (usually), but it can burn and it doesn't (usually) conduct heat as well as water.

So they came up with the water-based mixtures for 'cutting fluids'.

Use the 'right' stuff. It's really not worth the effort to 'roll-yer-own', just buy the stuff.

For the radiator fireball, I'd guess it was probably more of some volatile vapors (raw gasoline or rich combustion products) in the coolant/radiator than the coolant/antifreeze itself. Although a reference indicates that EG will begin to breakdown at temperatures of 230-250F, and that would mean possible reversion to ethylene (flammable!).

Oh, and that relatively low breakdown/flashpoint temperature of EG means it would really not be all that good as a cutting fluid.

[lugweld]

Anything I got to drill or cut, I use Tap Magic. A dab will do you. 7.49 per quart can.

[lugweld]

Anything I got to drill or cut, I use Tap Magic. A dab will do you. 7.49 per pint? can.