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Hot take: I used to run my coolant at a 5% mix for everything, but now I run it at 8% for aluminum and 3% for steel.
I had a string of bad finishes on some 6061 parts last year, and an old timer at the tooling supplier in Akron told me to bump up the concentration. The extra lube made a huge difference on the soft stuff, but it was just wasting money on harder materials. What's your go-to coolant mix for different jobs?
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torres.grant7mo ago
That pump bottle trick is smart for spot fixes. When you say "tricky aluminum cuts," what kind of operations are we talking? Like deep pockets, thin walls, or specific tools like a small ball end mill? I'm trying to picture exactly when to grab for that bottle instead of just trusting the tank mix.
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rubyshah7mo ago
That "extra lube for the soft stuff" makes total sense. I'd even go a step further and keep a separate pump bottle of straight coolant near the mill for a quick squirt on tricky aluminum cuts, way easier than changing the whole tank mix.
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