A big question many large steel merchants and fabricators are asking – what is the ideal coolant system for my bandsaw? Well, with coolant/lubrication systems on bandsaw machines there is no one size fits all. It depends on what material you cut and what profile of the material.
Taking a step back we have provided some pros and cons for your own evaluation.
Spray Mist:
👍Pros:
- 100% Neat oil - Greater lubrication - Increases blade and tool life.
- Reduces your environmental impact by reducing fluid usage and removing the need for flood coolant disposal or treatment.
- Clean – no more slip hazards from excess coolant spilling down machines and spreading into walkways
- Less chance of rust occurring on materials due to neat oil.
- Chips or swarf are cleaner and easier to recycle.
- Easy to refill and uses only millilitres rather than litres
👎Cons:
- Neat oil has little cooling properties so not ideal for cutting solids
- For chip removal sometimes extra air blast is required
- Poor on stainless and Titanium
- Dangers of over misting which is waste-full and can fill the shop with fog
- Do not normally come standard with most Bandsaws so need to buy misting unit
Flood Coolant:
👍Pros:
- Good Chip/Swarf removal
- Cooling: water conducts heat 25 times better than air.
- Has good Lubrication with soluble oil.
- Wide range to suit most applications
👎Cons:
- Incorrect mixing of soluble oils can cause rust or bacteria to be formed
- Tramp oils such as slideway or hydraulic oil can sometimes get into tank and cause bacteria
- Maintenance of the coolant and system
- Greater need of housekeeping: cleaning machines and floors
From this you can see both systems have great benefits for different situations. What we would recommend as a rule of thumb is that for structural steel such as packs of RHS use spray mist, and for cutting solid bars use flood as you need the cooling properties. So, for the greater amount of material to be cut the more friction that is created and the greater need for cooling. For thinner materials and materials like Aluminum less heat is created so spray mist would be better as there is greater lubricity and also cleaner operation.
To learn more contact us.
