[CNCJoseph]

What cutting fluid do you use in your Fogbuster?

I recently experimented with alcohol as a cutting fluid in my Fogbuster when cutting aluminum due to its environmental benefits. It worked really well. Tools stay nice and cool... maybe too cool, surface finish is great, and no residue or fluids to clean up since it simply evaporates. Using alcohol is actually quite common in Europe where environmental regulations are even stricter than here in the U.S. IMPORTANT side note. Never use alcohol as a cutting fluid when cutting steel based materials due to the risk of sparks / fire.

Two weeks after pouring alcohol into my fogbuster the reservoir started to crack (see attached images). I messaged Hench Mfg and they said that while they have customers that do use alcohol in their products, it only works with the one or two gallon Fogbuster models that use a Polypropylene reservoir. You also may need to replace the Buna N "O" ring in the sprayer head from time to time.

I'm not interested in upgrading my reservoir yet so I thought I would ask the community what their favorite Fogbuster cutting fluid is. What do you all like to use?

[Jim Dawson]

I made my own ''Fogbuster'', I use kerosene on aluminum, applied at about 1/2 cup/hour. Pretty much just evaporates, very little residue.

[QuinnSjoblom]

What cutting fluid do you use in your Fogbuster?

I recently experimented with alcohol as a cutting fluid in my Fogbuster when cutting aluminum due to its environmental benefits. It worked really well. Tools stay nice and cool... maybe too cool, surface finish is great, and no residue or fluids to clean up since it simply evaporates. Using alcohol is actually quite common in Europe where environmental regulations are even stricter than here in the U.S. IMPORTANT side note. Never use alcohol as a cutting fluid when cutting steel based materials due to the risk of sparks / fire.

Two weeks after pouring alcohol into my fogbuster the reservoir started to crack (see attached images). I messaged Hench Mfg and they said that while they have customers that do use alcohol in their products, it only works with the one or two gallon Fogbuster models that use a Polypropylene reservoir. You also may need to replace the Buna N "O" ring in the sprayer head from time to time.

I'm not interested in upgrading my reservoir yet so I thought I would ask the community what their favorite Fogbuster cutting fluid is. What do you all like to use?

I recently also added mist coolant. Ordered the cheap 17 dollar Chinese one on amazon. Actually ended up working excellent. Adjustable valves for coolant and air. Anyway, kool mist is designed specifically for this. It's working excellent for me. No noticeable smell, supposed to be safe. A gallon will last a lifetime. It's mixed 32 to 1 or something like that. Also purchased on amazon, I think 40 bucks shipped. Before that I was using a squirt of wd40 here and there, which helped, but not nearly as well as the kool mist and it made a terrible fog/smoke. None of that with kool mist and my parts/tool are cold after heavy cutting. I run a 1/4 3 flute at 12k rpm (about 800sfm) with 1.5mm stepover, 2 thou chip, cutter is literally cold right after cut

[CNCJoseph]

I recently also added mist coolant. Ordered the cheap 17 dollar Chinese one on amazon. Actually ended up working excellent. Adjustable valves for coolant and air. Anyway, kool mist is designed specifically for this. It's working excellent for me. No noticeable smell, supposed to be safe. A gallon will last a lifetime. It's mixed 32 to 1 or something like that. Also purchased on amazon, I think 40 bucks shipped. Before that I was using a squirt of wd40 here and there, which helped, but not nearly as well as the kool mist and it made a terrible fog/smoke. None of that with kool mist and my parts/tool are cold after heavy cutting. I run a 1/4 3 flute at 12k rpm (about 800sfm) with 1.5mm stepover, 2 thou chip, cutter is literally cold right after cut

I will definitely give Kool Mist a try. How well does it work when drilling deep holes and cutting deep slots?

[CNCJoseph]

I made my own ''Fogbuster'', I use kerosene on aluminum, applied at about 1/2 cup/hour. Pretty much just evaporates, very little residue.

Jim, thanks for sharing. It's been a while since I used kerosene. I thought about using it, but I'm a bit nervous about the health effects.

It was actually a common cooking fuel where I grew up in Africa. I remember a neighbor frantically coming over to ask for milk because her son drank a bottle of kerosene. The milk curdles in your stomach and lines your stomach and intestines, making it harder for your body to absorb poison.

[QuinnSjoblom]

I will definitely give Kool Mist a try. How well does it work when drilling deep holes and cutting deep slots?

Works great for me. For really deep pockets I find there's a bit of a trade off. I mill 7075 which doesn't really chip weld like 6061 so for deep narrow pockets I sometimes run dry with just air. Coolant tends to make chips stick together and clump so harder to get them up out of the pocket. If using coolant really deep, just go minimal coolant and plenty of air