Thread: What are you guys paying for cutting fluid/coolant?

Originally Posted by Graziano

So guys, what are you paying for water soluble cutting fluid/coolant?. I was quoted $275 +GST + $25 freight locally for a 20 litre container of non synthetic fluid today.

In April, Shell Dromus BL(Non Syn. water soluble) 20 Litres $128.13 plus GST $12.81 = $140.94. No freight, I pick up local from Blackwoods they usually always have it in stock, even if they didn't there wouldn't be any freight.

Cheers.

The Hocut 787B was $48.50+GST for 5litres when I purchased it back in 2010. Its non-synthetic. I recently got a price for 4 gallons of the Trico-TC1 (fully synthetic) for approx $290+GST. Comparing the prices based on volume alone isn't straight forward as different products recommend different dilution ratios.

Christian

Whatever the price is it is ridiculously expensive for what it is .
No wonder our metal industries are going broke . I bet it's cheap in China and India .

Thanks for the info, the jump in price can't be justified by the increases in crude oil alone. It's more likely a local price gouging thing, everything is more expensive up here .

I recently did a run around Mackay, checking prices for water soluble coolant. Mackay is renowned for its high prices on everything, locals call it the " Miners Tax ".
Some places lived up to the reputation, the highest price was close to $300 for 20 litres. The best I could do was $128 +gst (20 litres)from the Mobil depot. Cant remember what the part number of the product was but the guy at the depot went through all his product literature and this one was the best for what I wanted to do.

Originally Posted by Ironwood

The best I could do was $128 +gst (20 litres)from the Mobil depot. Cant remember what the part number of the product was but the guy at the depot went through all his product literature and this one was the best for what I wanted to do.

Was it Solex by Prolube?

Originally Posted by .RC.

Was it Solex by Prolube?

It was a Mobil branded product. I will have a look what it is and get back.

I just had a look on the Mobil website, I am pretty sure it was Mobilcut 102.

Hi All

Somebody on this forum is using lanolin based lube , might be a hand cleaner or similar , mixed with kero 50/50 ...he says it works OK . Lanolin is a natural oil , so it should be Ok healthwise ..sheep like it

Yes, seems like a rippoff for what they want for the proper stuff . Mike

Originally Posted by morrisman

Hi All

Somebody on this forum is using lanolin based lube , might be a hand cleaner or similar , mixed with kero 50/50 ...he says it works OK . Lanolin is a natural oil , so it should be Ok healthwise ..sheep like it

Yes, seems like a rippoff for what they want for the proper stuff . Mike

That would be a bit of a worry in my shed, WOMP

Been researching an emulsifier called sodium stearate which is an "oil in water" emulsifier that should allow mineral oil to be suspended in water. I rang around a few local companies only to find no one had heard of the stuff and it would cost a lot to get it in. Then I did a bit more net reading and found it's a major component in soap made from beef lard. So....in theory at least, a mix of beef lard soap and mineral oil should be emulsified in water, any extra caustic soda in the soap would make the mix alkaline which tends to inhibit rust. Will try some experiments soon and see how it goes, sodium stearate is biodegradable so bacteria will attack it eventually.

Didnt coolant get its name "suds" because in the early days it was soap and water?

Stuart

Originally Posted by Stustoys

Didnt coolant get its name "suds" because in the early days it was soap and water?

Stuart

Mixed some "Lux" soap flakes with engine oil and water last night, it formed a milky fluid readily and with the ratio of about 1:10 oil to water the foamy suds disappeared. The solution began to separate after ten minutes or so and after sitting overnight the oil floated on the surface in a layer. Most of the soap products I could find at the supermarket contained sodium tallowate which indicated that it was tallow based soap but made no mention of sodium stearate which is the emulsifier needed to keep the oil emulsified. It's possible that the stearate is removed from the soap for separate sale which would explain the separation of the mix. I'll have to see if I can find some "home made" soap at the markets or make some from caustic soda and tallow.

I notice the soaps also contain sodium chloride or table salt, this might be to help prevent the tallow from going rancid, the same way cheese and butter contains salt. The added salt may pose a corrosion problem from such a coolant mix which I understand was a problem with some older coolants anyway.

Hi Graziano,
Here is an old recipe for grinding coolant from an old AMC crankshaft grinder manual. It's probably not a great deal of help to you as you are trying for soluble oil but it may give some ideas/insight.

Quote from manual.

"As the cooling water has several purposes, viz, cooling the work, laying dust, lubricating the grains of the grinding wheel and preventing rust on the machine and on the work, the composition of the coolant is of great importance to the quality of the grinding and to the grinding time.

For ordinary grinding, the composition may be e.g:
50 Litres water (preferably free from lime),
1 kg carbonate of soda.
1/2 kg borax.
1/2 kg soft soap.

This is an old recipe, giving good grinding results, but it has the great disadvantage of damaging the paint somewhat."

End of quote from manual.

It went on to recommend a couple of "better" coolants, ie., commercial coolants and the mixing ratios of them.

Good luck with your experiments.
Hope the weather up there is conducive to good banana crops, oh yeah!

Cheers.