08-09-2013, 01:24 PM
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.
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.