I run pet safe RV antifreeze as a spindle coolant. It's sometimes also used to freeze proof a toilet at a vacation home. It's the pink stuff at Walmart. It's cheap, even by our standards, Gene. Don't dilute it. Run it full strength. Nothing grows in it and unlike distilled water, it won't dissolve metals to reionize itself.
Put 3-4 gallons in a five gallon bucket with a lid to keep crud from falling into the coolant and you probably won't need a chiller or radiator. By the time the coolant becomes warm, your machining is finished. Locate the coolant tank above the spindle if possible (negative head pressure) so you can run a small low power submersible pump. You don't need much flow, and a high power pump will heat the coolant more than a small spindle. The only disadvantage of elevating the tank is that a leak will probably drain the tank and make a mess. I use a strip thermometer on the side of the spindle motor. It changes colors to indicate the temperature so I can see at a glance if the spindle motor is running over 120 degrees F (that's 49 Centipedes for those who have a Royale With Cheese instead of a Big Mac because of the metric system). On 3/15/19 3:34 AM, Gene Heskett wrote: > Greetings all; > > I've had the coolant tank filled with distilled water for about a month > now, and its turning the hoses faintly reddish, like copper. I don't > want to put a deionizer on it to keep it up in perfect insulation since > a bypass cartridge is a $100+ throwaway. So what sort of anti corrosion > contaminant do you folks run in you spindle motor coolants? Something I > can get at NAPA or similar places? Or do you just change it monthly? I > though about that last night when I was at Wallies and spotted what was > said to be distilled water "but with added minerals for taste" In other > words, tap water at $1/gallon. False advertising if there ever was such > a thing. Lesson, read the labels folks. > > Cheers, Gene Heskett _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
