What kind of oil for drilling metal

Synthetic cutting oil is cheap. Mix is with water. I am down to the last litre. Not a big expense, when you compare with the cost of cutting tools. This sounds like this topic has grown out of proportion. Really, it is not a problem to use anything. Old Machinist Handbooks recommended Water with a bit of sulfer? I quite often don't bother with any coolant, just adjust your drill speed accordingly. It is easier to clean up a water base coolant. Cutting fluid for Aluminum is Kerosene, most penetrating oils are Kerosene base.

Cutting a thread in aluminum makes a cleaner job when using a penetrating fluid. Oh my Marc, you sound like a salesman! If we were talking about a production shop then we'd be on the same page, especially CNC operations. It's still much less a lubricant than coolant and in a high production situation and depending on what's being drilled a heavy fluid is used to clear cuttings and is even less a lubricant.

No: what, when and how to use cutting fluid is simple. The secret is to keep the bit in good condition and use it properly. I frankly never use anything when drilling unless it's a special material or situation, I drill salvaged leaf spring as found dry and those bits have stayed sharp for years between sharpening. Even dust contains enough grit to take the edge off tooling, just surface rust is like a sponge and holds lots of dirt.

Wire brush thoroughly where you're going to drill, saw, etc. Seriously I use a cup brush in my peanut grinder. Just buy a sharpening machine, it's hard to hand sharpen drill bits to a better edge.

I can't see well enough to put a proper edge on drill bits anymore, I can get them to drill but they're not "Right. Here's one for you Marc. You have to drill holes in a piece of hardened steel but can't anneal it without ruining the piece. My grandfather taught me to use a dull drill or piece of round rod a little larger than the hole to be drilled. Interesting question Frosty. The reply from IFC seems duable, anneal with friction heat rather than annealing the whole blade.

You can also heat the tongue with an oxy and keep the blade cool with a heat sink or keeping it in water or being just careful. It's called conversation. If I go over a topic more than once is because it interest me, and those that answer make sense Frosty, why do you think cutting oil is not a lubricant? I quoted one of the suppliers I buy from, and there are a few more that supply industry, from automatic robots to old fascion fitters and turners workshops.

They all list the requirements for a cutting lubricant according to what they are used for. If cutting oil for industry is a lubricant among other things, it is a lubricant for my home pedestal drill any day every day.

To say cutting oil is only a coolant is denying the obvious. We could go into how lubricants work and why, but I think it would go beyond the scope. The fact that you can get away with home made cutting compound, or that you can get away with not using anything is irrelevant. You can run an engine without oil in the sump if you first apply a solid lubricant like Molybdenum bisulphate or graphite and the engine is worn enough, and you don't push it past just above idle.

That does not mean the sump oil is not a lubricant. Sure sharpness is very important. A Drill Doctor a good investment. Water is better than nothing By the by I have yet to meet an oil that is not a lubricant. I run em dry Hole gets drilled out ok. The truth is people usually run them way to fast Drilling substantial holes in steel require quite slow speeds and high pressures to be efficient!

Friction heating with round rod is very localized, any torch flame will spread and heat a larger area than may be wanted. Marc: This method doesn't reach critical temp nor have a long enough cooling time to qualify as annealing. I was taught to stop and let it cool when the temper ran to blue or a little bit past. I think it falls short of "normalizing" but close enough to do the trick. In the day we called it, "running the temper out," or, "running the colors.

I never said oil, cutting or otherwise isn't a lubricant. That would've been a foolish statement and unless I'm making a joke I try not to be foolish. Perhaps deliberately misunderstanding clear statements for your purposes of "discussion" is what some folk find tiring enough to speak out about?

What I said was, most cutters need a coolant and or the cuttings flushed from the cut far more than a lubricant. How much of a lubricant is water soluble oil? According to the literature when I was in high school the oil is there and formulated as a rust preventative in the coolant.

I'll admit that is from memory nearly 50 years old but Mr. Harding our "occupational heavy metal shop" instructor was very specific about the subject. The occupational classes were to prepare students for careers and were heavily vetted by industries that hired kids straight out of high school. We not only learned how to do various processes on industrial machinery we spent almost equal time in the books learning why things were done the way we were being taught.

The only machines that had pumps were the mills and both were labeled coolant pumps, on the machines and in the manuals. Thee was the cut off band saw and it was drained and the pump disabled it ran a low feed rate and variable TPI blade so it didn't need a liquid bath to flush cuttings. We had to study the manuals and pass a test before operating any machine in the class. We had weekly safety quizzes and spot tests on the floor.

Sharpened correctly, proper speed and feed rate are the most important factors for any cutting tool, any media. Get any one of the three wrong and a good lubricant will keep the cutter going a little longer.

Here's another pop quiz question for you. What is the correct drill bit increment when drilling over sized holes in annealed steel?

As in pilot, to 1" hole. That would be with a home shop drill press, say 1 hp. You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. Paste as plain text instead. Only 75 emoji are allowed. Display as a link instead. Clear editor. Upload or insert images from URL. Share More sharing options Followers 2. Reply to this topic Start new topic. Prev 1 2 Next Page 1 of 2. Recommended Posts. Posted December 27, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options Kozzy Posted December 27, Merry Christmas, "Oil" is a lubricant, it resists the ability to 'Cut'.

Anachronist58 Posted December 27, Glenn Posted December 27, ThomasPowers Posted December 27, Posted December 28, Marc1 Posted December 28, Interesting set of replies. However they seem to show some misconceptions. Anachronist58 Posted December 28, Water and baking soda will work and doesn't rust things up. I loved using the 1,1,1, Trichlor I had access to, but my supply is gone now.

I have used some chlorinated carb cleaners to great effect for drilling and tapping. Posted December 29, Frosty Posted December 29, Frosty The Lucky. Posted December 30, Marc1 Posted December 30, Happy almost, This sounds like this topic has grown out of proportion. Papy asked a question, I believe his question has been answered. Posted December 31, Frosty Posted December 31, You blade guys may know, if not you should.

Posted January 1, Bonus knowledge! Marc1 Posted January 1, Not my thing. I need to get another can of tap magic but holesawed these with battery drill and water. JPG I've tried about 4 or 5 and have settled on CRC Truetap. It's got a little stickiness to it that works great. I dunno about the box stores, but I get it on Amazon, and the bottle lasts several years.

Well-known member. I've been using heavy gear oil because I have half a bottle of it that I wouldn't use for anything else. I like it because it's thick and stays where you put it, and to me I feel like my old oil squirter looses its prime less with the thicker oil. Joined Mar 24, Messages 6, Location Pittsburgh. I'm all about tap-magic. I used to be a "anything is better than nothing" guy, but the correct cutting oil makes a huge difference.

Any oil will work most of the time but for really tough jobs i reach for sulfer oil. I don't use it for everything because I haven't seen it for sale in years.

Joined Sep 15, Messages 1, For drilling I use the Oatey pipe thread cutting oil from Home Depot. It's cheap, works well, and pipe cutting oils have a distinctive smell For tapping, Tap Magic. Super Mech Well-known member. Pipe thread cutting oil for cutting or drilling. For tapping I love Tap Magic.

PoorOwner Well-known member. Oatey thread cutting oil, but I think they are cheating us with that one, because it smells just like 75W90 gear oil.. Ign Well-known member. Baby oil. I use whatever is handy. I generally use inexpensive cutting oil, but really anything will work decently.

I've even heard of folks using lard. Last edited: Feb 14, Very good stuff. MushCreek Well-known member. I machine metal for a living, and we usually are cutting tools steels tough! Dark cutting oil works well.

WD for aluminum. There are various tapping fluids for tapping. We have some extra-thick stuff for tapping; about the consistency of honey. Messy, but works well for the very toughest tapping jobs. As said, anything is better than nothing. Warning- vegetable oil will leave you craving french fries. If you have metal cutting bits, you should have some cutting oil in the shop. Rj Active member. Sarcasm, maybe. In the oil can now I have Rotella 30 weight oil, because it was close, open, and handy.

Wyoming09 Well-known member. I like the Union Butterfield stuff. It's thick and stays in place especially when doing vertical work. Joined Jan 1, Messages 5, Location Indianapolis. With the stipulation of "available in big box home stores" the pipe thread cutting oil is about it. Anything is better than nothing, true.

But specialty fluids do seem to work a bit better. I have a bottle of Tap Magic, and it definitely works better than motor oil or WD They make several fluids for different metals and situations, but the one I have is the "universal" stuff for any metal.

I found it locally at a race shop, but most people will need to order from the Brazilian River or similar. Lard oil is one of the oldest and best cutting oils, but is another one of those that can no longer be found.

Wyoming09 said:. CarBikeGuy70 Well-known member. Cutting oil found in the plumbing dept. Good tooling, feed rate, pressure and correct fluid will make drilling and tapping easy. My father was in the screw machine industry - they bought all their oils in 55 gal. I can guarantee his shop produced several million machined parts from various metals over the years.