Thread: Canola oil as a coolant ?
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11-05-2014 #1
I have just spent nearly £3k on a new lathe. The old one had a sudsoil system and I still have 2l of the undiluted stuff left. It stained the bed of the little bugger and the stuff turned green when I was machining brass (a lovely pale sage green). So I am a bit wary of water on machinery. I am using some surplus engine oil diluted with paraffin at the moment in a hand sprayer. This seems to have a good cooling effect but I don't like the idea of flood cooling with it. My reservoir tank takes about 10litres, so that is under £20 in budget engine oil terms and £8 for veg oil.
Vegetable oil (especially rapeseed) is £8 for 2x5l at ASDA and has several advantages :-
- It is cheap
- It has a high flashpoint and autoignition temperature
- It has good lubrication properties
- It is non-corrosive
- It is not carcinogenic
- It won't stain the machine
- You can buy it at most supermarkets
- It doesn't smell that much
- You can recycle it for bio-diesel
- And it's cheap.
So why does it not seem to be being used. Is the thermal transfer not good ?
Last edited by cropwell; 11-05-2014 at 09:36 PM.
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11-05-2014 #2
Yep - just compare the specific heat capacity of water and your favorite oil. Oil does 'lubricate' better (i.e. lowers the co-efficient of friction between the tool and material more), so less heat is generated in the first place compared to with water, but I think that effect is only dominant for materials that are very hard to cut - i.e. the ones where people recommend using neat oil.
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