[IDEA] drip coolant for a lathe

[oldgoaly]

Well since cleaning up the 12" Atlas I thought now is time to make one of those drip coolant set up that a old Navy Machinist had on his lathe. Mr. Earl Beebe was his name RIP my friend. He had called me to fix his A/c unit, it had locked up a condensor fan motor and the compressor burned up. So he says while your here I think that A-coil is clogged up it leaks in the basement. well his A-coil pan was rusted out. He warned me he had a lot of "junk" down there. Well that ain't junk! that's good old American made tools! Well I had to tell him hold off on the tool talk till I get this A/C going and we can test the A/C out and play with the tools then one of those long days but it went by fast! So it has been a good 15 years since I've seen it, tin cans, copper tubing and 1/4" valves, one was for coolant and the other was cutting oil for threading.
Anyone have a set up like that???? Can you post pics??? I'm thinking plastic and flex-loc-line, tin cans have a latex lining nowadays. But you know copper and tin worked for Earl 50+ years!

[PixMan]

Most times when using "drip coolant" on an old benchtop lathe it's just done via a brush and a can of oil. It gets very messy under the bedways unless you've made a pan to catch the swarf and coolant, oil or other cutting fluid.

My lathe is bigger (16x40) and it came with an integral chip pan and flood coolant system. The chip pan is easily accessed from the back of the machine, too bad the back of the machine is too close to the wall for me to get to it. ;) The coolant system in enclosed in the tailstock end of the machine, the casting that supports the open end of the bedways. What a pain in the butt that thing is to get to for servicing the pump or even to check the coolant level.

Rust never sleeps! I have had to clean out the deep and hard-to-reach cavity in the machine, and it's so dark and damp in there that the coolant which sat in the machine for untold number of years had rusted every surface. All better now, and the full synthetic coolant I've put in there (and use once or twice a year) has been in there since 2005 with no problems.

Do you want a simple drip or a full out flood coolant system? Are you willing and able to fabricate a pan for your machine out of copper or something similar? I use a flexible metal "hose" to deliver the coolant to the cutting zone, though I'll probably switch over to Loc-Line products soon.

[oldgoaly]

Funny you should mention the pan... well I made one a week after I had bought it in 1994, just a few days ago took the lathe loose from the wooden bench and put the pan under it, put the ends on last night. Then just a few minutes ago finished wiring it back up along with a light right above it.
   

Been searching for ideas on storing face plates and chucks, tailstock centers and drill chucks I have a small holder made.
   

This is going to ruin my standing in the procrastinator's club well if I ever join that is....

[Micktoon]

I think I am thinking of the right type of set up here ? A fella I know has a really simple set up , he has a plastic water tank mounted on the wall above his lathe but to one side so its not in the way of any lathe operations. Coming out the bottom of this tank is a fitting with a tap that flows into a coolant hose with a flex - loc - line type pipe mounted to the lathe to aim the drip or trickle of coolant.
This coolant then runs into the lathe drip tray and in turn into a bucket under the lathe , once the bucket is full he just pours the bucket back into the tank on the wall, and the cycle starts again, , The tank holds probably about two buckets worth of collant. I think he just uses cutting oil in his system.
You cant get much simpler and it works , plus costs next to nowt to set up

Cheers Mick

[oldgoaly]

These were odd shaped cans, copper lines, small brass valves, and the followed the carriage to allow a drop of oil or coolant on the cutting tool as it cut, he had shutoff valves to stop the flow. He had a smallish lathe 8 by 24 Logan I believe?
With the pan a flood could be done, but the drip was kinda neat, I remember the thumbscrews for the adjustments to align things cause they were really old Mickey Mouse eared style. Wish I had a picture of it!