Iggy,
Actually, the splash is worse with soluable oil because when the water
evaporates it leaves a very sticky film that is very difficult to remove. On
that note, I use a very concentrated form of 409 that is sold by the barrel
and is used to clean truck taupalins on commercial trucks. It emulsifies oil
better than anything I have found and I wash all my machines with the stuff
about once a year. The only downside of using cutting oil is that I
experience water accumulating at the bottom of the sump on the big lathe. It
sits in the unheated part of the shop and experiences some condensation in
the winter months, hence the recommendation for the petcock. If oil splash
hits the floor, I use speedy-dry and simply sweep it up. I also like the
lubricating properties of cutting oil, not present in soluable oil. On your
question of using hydraulic fluid, I guess you could, but those lubricating
properties of cutting oil would not be there and the fact that cutting oil
is much less expensive than hydraulic oil, why would you bother. Here is
another possible tip. I order my machine and cutting oils from my local
heating oil supplier by the barrel. They can also order the oils in 20 Liter
plastic containers. It is much less expensive than an industrial supply
house. Of course, that may not be the same where you are, but it is worth
investigating. I keep in stock a barrel of light machine oil 100-150 Saybolt
and 250-350 Saybolt. The first for spindle bearings (headstock) and the
second for gearboxes and machine ways, as well as cutting oil. I do use
soluable oil in a portable Cool-Mist system for the mills when needed.
Steve

"Ignoramus31261" wrote in message
...
On 2009-05-09, Steve Lusardi wrote:
Or you could run cutting oil and be done with the hassle, as I advised a
few
months ago. I made the same mistake many years ago, switched and haven't
regretted it since. The fact is that as a hobby machine, we simply don't
use
the machine enough to prevent this from occurring with soluable oil. If
you
do not have a drain petcock on the bottom of the tank, you should install
one once the machine is cleaned.

I would say Steve, maybe I will learn a thing or two from using
soluble coolant, plus the splash from it on the floor is not as bad as
it would be with straight oil.

That said, I remain open to changing my mind.

Would hydraulic fluid, perhaps, be a suitable substitute? I have two
sealed buckets of it at the moment, hence the question.

i


"Ignoramus31261" wrote in message
...
Due neglect and mismanagement, the coolant in my lathe finally went
bad after several months in the sump. I have to add here that I have
all ingredients for setting up both the skimmer, as well as aerator,
to run on two timers, something that I plan on doing soon. But as of
now, I want to make sure that I properly remove old coolant.

As far as I understand, I should try to really get rid of the harmful
bacterias that live in the present coolant. I have a easy to use water
pump that I can use for this purpose.

So my plan was, pump out the coolant, rince the sump a couple of times
with just hot water with some Simple Green, then put water with bleach
for an hour, and rinse some more. Would that seem to be a good plan?

i