I've been considering adding a flood coolant system to my mill/drill,
mostly because I'm tired of intermittent built-up edge problems that
lead to nice semi-circular divots in otherwise nicely-finished surfaces.

So what I'm wondering about is whether it's possible to keep the
splatter under control, so I don't have oil sprayed all over the walls
and accumulating on the floor around the mill. I've thought about
using pieces of light plastic to surround the cutting area, so the oil
that's flung out by the cutter hits the plastic and runs down it to the
mill table. It seems like that'd work, but I've thought that about
other ideas that led to "oh @#$%" moments.

Tove

Tove Momerathsson wrote:
I've been considering adding a flood coolant system to my mill/drill,
mostly because I'm tired of intermittent built-up edge problems that
lead to nice semi-circular divots in otherwise nicely-finished surfaces.

So what I'm wondering about is whether it's possible to keep the
splatter under control, so I don't have oil sprayed all over the walls
and accumulating on the floor around the mill. I've thought about
using pieces of light plastic to surround the cutting area, so the oil
that's flung out by the cutter hits the plastic and runs down it to the
mill table. It seems like that'd work, but I've thought that about
other ideas that led to "oh @#$%" moments.
I use Loc-Line tubing for the actual flood nozzle system, and
added a small brass valve right at the end of the Loc-Line to
throttle the flood. I use one of the smaller nozzles so i can
get a thin jet without projecting a huge amount of fluid.

I also stick pieces of plexiglas into the table slots when I am
using a heavier flood application or the specific tooling tends
to throw the coolant more forcefully. I do a lot of work on
aluminum panels and such with 1/4 or 1/8" end mills, and these
don't throw the coolant much if the stream is directed right
where the cutting tool touches the workpiece.

Jon

Jon Elson wrote:

I also stick pieces of plexiglas into the table slots when I am
using a heavier flood application or the specific tooling tends
to throw the coolant more forcefully.

Exactly what I am doing too. There's a collection of strips right to the
mill. Only thing is, I no longer can look through them. :-)


Nick
--
The lowcost-DRO:
http://www.yadro.de

In article ,
Nick Mueller wrote:

Jon Elson wrote:

I also stick pieces of plexiglas into the table slots when I am
using a heavier flood application or the specific tooling tends
to throw the coolant more forcefully.

Exactly what I am doing too. There's a collection of strips right to the
mill. Only thing is, I no longer can look through them. :-)

On the drill press, I use pieces of copper flashing bent by hand to fit
around the current machine setup. Copper is heavy enough that it will
stay where placed.

The spray is horizontal, so one can leave the top open and look down
over the edge of the flashing. Also would catch flying chip on a mills.

Joe Gwinn