General lathe cutting fluid - What do you use ?

[riflemonkey]

My question is what do you use for your cutting fluid on the lathe in general ? Not the high sulfur oils for chambering, but just in general ?

Thanks,

Riflemonkey

 

[Dusty Stevens]

High sulphur cutting oil

 

[GenePoole]

Water-based coolant.

 

[paperpuncher]

For somebody like me who uses his equipment as a hobby and only occasionally I just use a good cutting oil. If you use the machine more frequently this may not apply. Some of the coolants require maintenance and get contaminated when you try to use oil and coolant on the same machine. I also found that the water based coolant I tried stained my lathe bed and crosslide, that might be a concern for some. There are probably some good coolants available that mitigate these issues, just relaying what I experienced with the ones I tried. FWIW I had some old moly d that I used to tap some holes and it left dark stains on my lathe as well, purely cosmetic but unsightly none the less.

 

[Jester560]

Water/coolant mixture for general use. For tapping, I use a tapping specific lubricant.

 

[DaveTooley]

99% of the time

ASTRO-SWISS HD MV - Monroe Fluid

Astro Swiss neat cutting oils are designed for the most demanding Swiss style screw machining applications where speeds and feeds are the most important aspect of the machining operation. The Astro Swiss will reduce bar stock galling and scratching due to the guide bushings clamping. The Astro...

www.monroefluid.com

 

[Walt Krafft]

I use Castrol Syntilo 9974 for everything.

 

[B Nettesheim]

Moly dee
I put that sh$t on everything

 

[skeeljc]

Cool Tool II

 

[tobnpr]

Another for the same dark stuff...

 

[LVLAaron]

Kool Mist or Astro Swiss if I'm not tapping.

The stuff Tooley linked to is great. No odor, clear, low smoke.

 

[Scott-ak]

Microsol 585XT

 

[urbanrifleman]

High sulphur cutting oil

Which one? The best one I have tried so far is just plain Rapid Tap.

 

[urbanrifleman]

I use Castrol Syntilo 9974 for everything.

Are you buying the 320 gallon tote hahaha

 

[LVLAaron]

I hate rapid tap. Stains machines and burns your skin.

 

[Walt Krafft]

Are you buying the 320 gallon tote hahaha

Haha. I started with a 5 gallon bucket. When I needed more they only sold drums. I bought one. Just sold the 42 remaining gallons to the place taking over my job so I can retire, again.

 

[urbanrifleman]

I hate rapid tap. Stains machines and burns your skin.

I hadn't noticed either. My machine looks fine and I wear gloves when I work.

 

[urbanrifleman]

Haha. I started with a 5 gallon bucket. When I needed more they only sold drums. I bought one. Just sold the 42 remaining gallons to the place taking over my job so I can retire, again.

Well that would make it difficult to try it. Of course I could buy a tote from MSC for $14k.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Which one? The best one I have tried so far is just plain Rapid Tap.

Just get dark thread cutting oil from your local electrical supply house or smaller qty bottles from home depot/lowes

 

[LVLAaron]

Gallon of Ridgid dark oil is 20 bucks at home depot. It smells bad but it'll make your hands baby soft from the paraffin content.