My old shop foreman swore by flood coolant for everything, I finally ditched it after a job in Austin

I worked at a shop near Austin where the foreman insisted on flood coolant for every aluminum job. Three months ago I was milling 6061 and the coolant kept washing my chips away wrong, causing a finish issue. I tried turning it off and just using a mist system instead, face mill finish came out way better with less cleanup. Has anyone else had better luck dry cutting certain materials?

3 comments

3 Comments

henderson.oscar2mo ago

Flood coolant and aluminum, a match made in hell (for surface finish).

daniel4742mo ago

That "match made in hell" line is PERFECT honestly, it's like how people overcomplicate everything these days.

lopez.jana2mo ago

Yeah @daniel474 hit it right on the head with that "match made in hell" thing. Actually, I had a buddy who worked at a shop down in San Antonio, and he had the exact same problem with flood coolant and aluminum. He was running a 3/8 end mill in 6061 one time, and the coolant just kept pushing the chips back into the cut, causing this nasty built-up edge. He finally just turned the flood off and let it run dry with an air blast, and the finish came out way better than anything he'd ever gotten with the flood. I mean, not saying dry is always the answer, but for aluminum finishing passes it really seemed to work for him. He swore the faster chip evacuation made all the difference.