On 14/02/18 22:55, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"rangerssuck" wrote in message
...
On Wednesday, February 14, 2018 at 10:52:20 AM UTC-5, Larry Jaques
wrote:
On Tue, 13 Feb 2018 20:50:03 -0600, Ignoramus14057
wrote:

I bought a very large geat cutting machine for scrap. This machine
is
sitting in a pit full of oil. I spoke to the person who maintained
it
and he says that the oil is only lube oil and NOT cutting oil.

I have a oil fired furnace Clean Burn CB2800. I burn all my oil,
mostly used hydraulic oil, in it to save on natural gas costs. The
instruction to the furnace says "DO NOT USE CUTTING OIL". I am not
sure why exactly, either the furnace will be damaged or due to
environmental regulations.
Regulations or not, some oil additives or contaminants may end up
making nasty fumes that you may end up breathing. Lab tests for oils
are cheap - $28 from this place
https://www.blackstone-labs.com/standard-analysis.php I'm sure you
could find a place in the Chicago area to do it, and then you'll know
for sure what you have.

============================

According to this
https://www.blackstone-labs.com/spec...of-the-lab.php
they can test only for elements that correspond to fixed slit
positions (wavelengths) in the spectrum. The elements of interest in
engine oil come from the gears and bearings and aren't all the same as
in cutting oil. I would ask them if they know and can test for the
additives in cutting fluids, such as halogens.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emission_spectrum
"On a simple level, flame emission spectroscopy can be observed using
just a flame and samples of metal salts. This method of qualitative
analysis is called a flame test. For example, sodium salts placed in
the flame will glow yellow from sodium ions, while strontium (used in
road flares) ions color it red. Copper wire will create a blue colored
flame, however in the presence of chloride gives green (molecular
contribution by CuCl)."

I learned spectroscopy on an instrument built in the 1930's that
projected the spectrum from the sample onto a glass plate negative.
-jsw


Sounds like optical emission spectroscopy where in the old days the
machines would be tailored to the type of samples being analysed by
placing the photomultiplier tubes on the spectrum lines to detect the
elements signature lines spread out by the prism. I worked in that field
for a number of years but not at the detailed end , mainly the user
interface end but you still pick up how it works and I was shown some of
the old gear where you had to take the readings off meters. These days
as I understand it they use CCDs and the instrument is more versatile in
its analysis range. I'm out of that field now so things may have moved
on further but the background science is the same but the means of
accessing it improves.