Dry Aluminium Cutting Problem

[Tenson]

Thanks Jonathan, I'm glad it's not a problem specific to me. I'll have to think about the best way to do flood coolant. I went with the HDPE bed specifically so I could use coolant, but I know it will be messy.

Could I ask people to post up or link details of their coolant set-ups to give me inspiration?

[Jonathan]

but I know it will be messy.

It is.

Could I ask people to post up or link details of their coolant set-ups to give me inspiration?

I don't think you'll find many people on this forum use flood coolant. My setup is merely a pond pump in a bucket, connected with some 16mm hose to the Z-axis upon which I've clamped a coolant hose to the spindle. There's a picture in my build log.

You might find that mist coolant would be enough to reduce the heat build up since although it clearly wont conduct much heat away, the coefficient of friction between the cutter and the material is reduced so less heat is produced to start with. Did you use any lubricant at all when cutting the part pictured?

[birchy]

Aluminium is a bitch for clogging up tools. Plenty of cutting oil and/or coolant is the only way to reduce it.

[Robin Hewitt]

Could I ask people to post up or link details of their coolant set-ups to give me inspiration?

Here's a pretty one I made for home use, had to pass wifely inspection.

One of those aluminium boxes with the O ring seal to make it weather proof. The lid is bolted to the end of the bed with a hole to drain the suds back in to the tank and type blue gasket compund so it doesn't drip.

In the bottom of the tank is a fibrous mat designed for filtering Koi carp pond water under a mesh to keep it in place. The oil goes down through that into a coffee machine pump I got on ebay. Spare pump on top of the tank. Then a hose to a magnetic nozzle.

I put it all together, switched on and found the pump was MUCH too powerful. Hence the knob at the back of the tank which allows most of the suds straight back into the tank.