Cutting lubrication

[JeffersonHouse]

Most of the fellows and shops in my area use ATF. Simple transmission oil makes a very good lubricant for cutting steel. It's cheap and readily available. I guy I know keeps a keg of used ATF he gets from the local garage to run in his sprinkler systems.

 

[tornitore45]

I use ATF with good results.
In the past ATF was from whale oil, possibly similar to lard oil, if this is the case it may explain the ATF suitability as cutting oil.
It remains to be seen whether the qualities than make whale oil derived ATF suitable for cutting are retained in the reformulated NEW ATF.

Before closing this post I have googled for Automatic Transmission Fluid ATF + "whale oil" and gotten a real education I suggest to read.

 

[goldstar31]

With a small homeworkshop, I have used purified lard oil on steel for many, many years. I suspect that it came from the catering industry but my local oil wholesaler got in- in a 5 litre can. Apart from possible religious issues, this was the old timer's cutting fluid and got thinned and cheapened with soaps and water.

Mine has only one fault and that it attracts wasps in summer and the odd little child who thinks that I have set up a rival Big Mac outlet. Apart from increasing food consumption, no problems.

 

[jbesowest]

I use a can of kitchen non-stick spray for a lot of turning, cutting, and tapping -- especially on aluminum. It is especially good for spraying on power sanding disks or sanding belts -- it will prevent clogging and gives good cutting action -- especially on aluminum. Use it on on saw blades when cutting aluminum. No bacon smell here, but you can get it in butter flavor if you like (I prefer the non taste stuff)!!

Another excellent drilling or tapping "grease" for mild steel or aluminum is the "patch lubercant" that is used in muzzle loading shooting -- several brands are available, and most any gun store will have it in tubes or jars. It is most likely an animal based grease (possibly lard and maybe a little lanolin), but has a nice wintergreen odor and does not seem to get rancid. It gets a little hard at cold temperatures, very soft at hot temperatures, but at normal room/shop temperatures is a smooth, easy to use product. I keep a small jar around and just dip my drills or taps into the jar before use. Easy and inexpensive for both products.

 

[CrashedAgain]

Don't know why you say WD-40 is not a cutting fluid. It certainly is, as much as anything else is a cutting fluid......

OK, I will amend that....

WD-40 is not designed to be a cutting fluid. It was originally formulated to repel water and prevent corrosion and owes it's popularity to really good marketing not to any outstanding abilities.

Yes, almost any fluid will serve as a "cutting fluid" to some extent but some are better than others.

Soluble oil (which originally started out as an emulsion of animal fats and water) is best at cooling because it contains a large amount of water for cooling effect.

Sulferized cutting fluids are better at improving the cutting action but are less effective as a coolant.

IMHO both are more effective than WD-40.

 

[gus]

For high speed machine work like drilling where the primary need is to cool the work, use a soluble oil which should be available from any machine tool supplier.
For heavy cutting or threading where the primary need is to make the tool cut easier and not tear the work, use a sulferized cutting fluid such as used by plumbers on power pipe threading machines. It is dark brown and messy. If you cannot find a supplier, talk to a nearby plumbing shop. The difference it makes has to be seen to be believed, power pipe threading machines simply will not work without it.
WD-40 is not a cutting fluid. Lard works but will eventually turn rancid and stink.

Hi CrashedAgain,
Seen guys pipe threading on the Rigid Machines. The dirty/evil/messy threading oil is best for threading but a bit messy for my balcony machineshop. Forced to stay with the expensive Tapmatic. But lately been trying out China Tapmatic and just usable. They claim it works well tapping Aluminium. Yet to try out.

 

[Tin Falcon]

Another excellent drilling or tapping "grease" for mild steel or aluminum is the "patch lubercant" that is used in muzzle loading shooting -

IIRC talow based ie beef fat .

I also remember using a lump of tallow or wax for flux t o melt lead.

bees wax can also be used for drilling. And appears to be used as muzzloader lube by some. one recipe for BP lubecalls for 5 part bees wax 4 part canola oil and i part Crisco.
Tin

 

[MarioM]

Beef fat, guess in English is called tallow. In this part of the world in Spanish it is called "sebo". It works great in steel, and mixed with lamp oil works great in aluminum. Great for tapping too.

Mario

 

[goldstar31]

I would agree with Tin about tallow which is still used to wipe solder filling on car bodies. I did my City And Guilds in Motor Vehicle Restoration using tallow. Before that, we used tallow to wipe underground electrical supply cables and I think that I was about 11 or 12 in the War when I repaired a burst outside pipe in - what you cousins call the John and we who were brought up in George Stephenson country- the 'netty' from the Roman Wall French 'nettoyage'

 

[jbesowest]

IIRC talow based ie beef fat .

I also remember using a lump of tallow or wax for flux t o melt lead.

bees wax can also be used for drilling. And appears to be used as muzzloader lube by some. one recipe for BP lubecalls for 5 part bees wax 4 part canola oil and i part Crisco.
Tin

Tin: Good comments. I have been shooting black powder muzzle loaders for over 65 years and used to use Crisco, auto water pump grease, etc. Shooting always left a gummy "black powder" residue which required frequent cleaning to continue shooting. Always wondered how the army guys could always keep shooting their muskets for a number of rounds between cleaning.. Turns out that the secret was animal grease -- generally lard, bacon grease, bear grease, whatever.. The new "patch grease" is just that -- what a difference it makes.

I just stumbled on to using it in the shop by accident when I ran out of tapping fluid and was tapping some #4 holes in steel. Remembered it being lard based and tried it -- worked beautifully. Now use it all the time.

 

[Lakc]

IIRC talow based ie beef fat .

I also remember using a lump of tallow or wax for flux t o melt lead.

bees wax can also be used for drilling. And appears to be used as muzzloader lube by some. one recipe for BP lubecalls for 5 part bees wax 4 part canola oil and i part Crisco.
Tin

Some of the muzzleloader crowd only wear animal skins, use deer bone powder horns, and are permanently stuck in the 1830's
Im pretty sure most of the stuff in tubes is synthetic, but you will find plenty in that crowd taking the "back to nature" route.

A little tapmatic goes a long way, and factor the expense of a broken tap, Ill stick to the high tech stuff myself.

For any cutting I bought a gallon of astrocut 200 concentrate for less then $20, almost half gone after 14 years.

 

[Tin Falcon]

when I was a youth in my late teens my dad started getting into black powder. My brothers and I cast projectiles and rendered down chunks of beef fat from the local butcher shop for the cause.
Tin

 

[clivel]

Always wondered how the army guys could always keep shooting their muskets for a number of rounds between cleaning.. Turns out that the secret was animal grease -- generally lard, bacon grease, bear grease, whatever.. The new "patch grease" is just that -- what a difference it makes.

Unfortunately that didn't always work out so well, hell it even caused a revolution:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_the_Indian_Rebellion_of_1857

The British had issued new gunpowder cartridges that were widely believed to be greased with cow or pig fat, which insulted both Hindus and Muslims.
...
...
To load both the old musket and the new rifle, soldiers had to bite the cartridge open and pour the gunpowder it contained into the rifle's muzzle, then stuff the cartridge case, which was typically paper coated with some kind of grease to make it waterproof, into the musket as wadding, before loading it with a ball.

 

[enfieldbullet]

also, tallow won't get rancid as lard will.

although i never had a problem with lard, i just try to keep it clean and refrigerated.

 

[Engineeringtech]

Depends on what you are cutting, and what operation you are doing. . Unless I am tapping I use water soluble oil in a mist sprayer. If I don't want the mess, and not cutting a lot of metal, I use kerosene for aluminum, sulfurated cutting oil for steel, and nothing for plastics, brass, or iron. I am told I should use milk on copper, but have never tried it. You could also hook up a vortex cooler and the cold temperatures will make your work a lot cleaner and without any solvent or chemical exposure.

 

[robcas631]

Larry it worked really good thanks!

 

[robcas631]

Jeff ATF? Wow.....I will give it a try! TY

 

[robcas631]

Wierd how tallow aka lard was used to grease early steam engines.