On 2013-05-19, Joe Gwinn wrote:
In article , Karl Townsend
wrote:

Depends on what you are doing, but I use coolant a lot. It makes a big
difference in surface finish and precision.

You will want splash shields - it can be messy.

Joe Gwinn

i use a mister, then skip the splash sheilds. They get in the way. I
do have a piece of plexiglass on the wall where it hits and a wet
track on the floor is normal when it runs.

I used a mister for a while, but would have fog banks in the shop after
a few hours of work. And then I'd be coughing for a few days, from
breathing the coolant mist, so I got a 3M filter mask. This worked,
even if it did make me look like a Preying Mantis (much to the wife's
amusement). But everything in the shop became coated.

So, I stopped using the mister and went to drip cooling, with option to
open the valve wide open to full flood. This works well. The flood is
essential when parting or trepanning.

I built the splash shields afterwards, to contain the mess.

The whole setup is powered by a small Little Giant coolant pump.

You may have the setup and space to use cutting oil, versus soluble
oil. I use black sulfur oil for some things (like stainless steel),
applied with a brush.

Joe Gwinn

Coolant is very nice when it is contained. I use coolant on my milling
machine all the time and it is awesome. Makes everything run very cool
and smooth.

With the lathe, the only problem is that I need a splash guard, and I
cannot use the lathe pan as a storage area for "stuff".

I do have plenty of coolant pumps, tanks and whatnot, and I will
probably end up setting it up. I had coolant on my previous POS
Colchester lathe, and coolant was very nice to have.

i