Serious question, anyone else skip the coolant pump on their home machine?

I chose to run mine dry after the pump died on my Haas TM-1P six months ago. Mist collectors were always a hassle anyway. Has anyone else ditched coolant for a manual mister and regretted it down the line?

2 comments

2 Comments

ryan36913d ago

You said "mist collectors were always a hassle anyway" and that pretty much nails it. I ran my Haas VF-2 dry for almost a year after the pump seals let go, just used a basic squeeze bottle for critical cuts. That worked fine until I had to drill a 1.5" hole in stainless, then I remembered why coolant exists. The smoke and chatter were brutal. So I think the real question is what kind of work you do. If it's all aluminum and light steel, a mister is probably fine. But if you ever do heavy roughing or tough materials, you'll wish you had that flood back.

veraj5313d ago

Funny you say that because I used to be in the "misters are just as good" camp myself. I ran a little Prototrak mill for years with nothing but a spray bottle and thought I was being clever avoiding the mess. Then I had to face a 2 inch face mill in 4140 and the smoke was so bad I had to open the garage door. Flood coolant went back on the next day and I haven't looked back. So yeah, you're right about the work deciding it.