Originally Posted by
cnczoner
As with others, I too am looking to move away from my current cans of WD40 cooling method. The only metal I machine is aluminum and roughly just 3-4 hours per week, usually all at once, but tool changes take up a good bit of that time. I don't want flood or cold-air blast, so that leaves me with...
(A) Handheld spray bottle with some other coolant (Kool Mist 77, 78, etc). Should work better than WD40, and cost is next to nothing, but it's still manual
(B) Mist. There are tank and tankless units, but I am not clear of the differences/pros/cons between these types. Apparently requires a significant compressor also.
(C) Fogbuster. Apparently the compressor requirements are much smaller, so I called the fogbuster folks and they had no clue how much CFM I'd need, but then had the audacity to suggest that "when I buy one", to call them back and let them know how much it requires. Really?! Don't these folks sell essentially just this one product?
(D) DIY fogbuster, with the info that Karl T and others posted.
At this point I'm going to do (A) anyway, as I probably have a spray bottle laying around, and I'd need to buy coolant anyway, no matter what other system I choose. So with minimal machining, should I still get a coolant system? I would be nice to walk away from the machine now and then, though I am not thrilled about the noise of a compressor. Sure I can build a sound-attenuating enclosure, but that's more space and cost.
From what I read on these forums, I was really thinking I'd just sink the money into a fogbuster and get it over with, but not anymore. So that leaves me with (B) or (D). I've read about the fog that mist systems develop, but wondering if it's still fine for my minimal usage? I'm in a warehouse-type unit, 40ft x 15ft with high (maybe 15ft to 18ft) ceilings, so not sure if I would be affected by the fog that apparently develops.
I would do a DIY fogbuster, but I think it will take some experimentation, and if I can avoid another project at this point that would be great. But the cost savings seems very appealing, and from what I read, the net result would be a very workable system with no side-effects.
Thoughts anyone?
Cheers,
-Neil.