I did my research and koolmist states many times over that their 78 cutting fluid is safe for aluminum and does not cause corrosion . I grabbed 2 jugs to try and mixed the 4oz/gal as recommended for flood . One thing that stood out was that it didn't have much smell which is a good thing . The second thing that stood out is it made a days worth of aluminum parts brown , purplish and blackish . I didn't notice this at first but after leaving a part on the mill for an hour it was extremely discolored . I went through the other parts and they are all trash . I always rinse my parts then lean them to drain off the water , so the parts that were rinsed immediately weren't as bad . Since these are long running parts the portions that were freshly machined vs the areas that were sitting is evident in the discoloring .

The recommendation I got from kool mist was to use purified water . In 30 yrs of machining I have never had to use purified water and I'm not about to bring in 60 gallons of purified water to dilute these 2 jugs , well a jug plus some now .

Next message he flat out stated my water is too hard , actually it's to the contrary . the water here is super soft which if anything causes excessive foaming under high pressure systems .

Then he goes on to state that kool mist isn't for every machine operation . It says that it is safe for aluminum and that it can be used as flood coolant . I am cutting aluminum and I am using it as flood coolant , what portion of this isn't correct ?

As it stands I'll need to drain my mills and go back to what I know works and is safe for my aluminum parts and my mills . This is going to be an excessive amount of coolant to save for my saw , but it'll get used up eventually as long as it doesn't rust the crap out of my saw .

What pisses me off throughout my conversation is that everything in this is the fault of something else , mostly the water . I have used so many brands of coolants throughout the years and they all work as stated , with the same water . And having to use distilled water or purified water with machine coolant is flat out ridiculous . Not only is it inconvenient it is not cost effective when I am pouring 15-20 gallons at a time . If I was a weekend warrior then I could deal with it , but since this is my livelihood then this is nothing but a set back

I know this may sound like a rant and I suppose it is , but if it helps to prevent someone else from having the same problem then good . I've done a lot of reading since this issue and though there are guys using this successfully with aluminum , there are guys who have had the same problem