Air source for milling operations

[cfellows]

I have long known that a steady, low pressure stream of air directed at the work being milled would keep the chips cleared away from the cutter giving me a cleaner cut and letting me see what was going on.  Up til now, I've just kept the air hose handy and periodically blasted away the chips when the buildup became intolerable. 

While not as effective as liquid coolant, air is not as messy, and quite a bit easier to set up.  I finally decided to cobble something together.

The arrangement I came up with required almost no machining and used materials I already had on hand...





The tip is a .030" mig welder tip.  It has threads on the end that easily threaded into a piece of polyurethane tubing which in turn was slipped over the end of a length of 3/16" brass tubing.



And the whole thing attaches to my mill/drill column with a magnetic DTI stand.



The magnet is quite strong and the arm allows a wide range of adjustments.  Since the assembly is attached to the mill column rather than the table, the air source stays on the tip of the milling cutter and doesn't move as the table is cranked on either axis.

Chuck

[rotorhead]

cfellows,

I've no real wish to piss on yer chips, but air and metal particles are not yours or your machines' best friend, please go with your coolant idea instead..

[sparky961]

The machining community is divided on the use of air to clear and clean swarf.  The best advice that I agree with is that you should use it with care to limit damage to yourself and your machine.  Completely forbidding the use thereof doesn't make much sense to me.  Hopefully this thread doesn't degrade into an argument of "To blow or not to blow".

Hobby machines get so little use it doesn't really matter even if you abuse the hell out of them, they'll still last as long as you need them to.

I like the setup Chuck has going here, and have often considered doing something similar in my home workshop.  Clever use of materials at hand.

[awemawson]

Apart from chips in the eye (*), the main problem using compressed air to clean a machine is blowing chips under way guards and covers, and forcing them between sliding surfaces. If you are careful where you direct your blast I don't personally see a problem if you are sensible about it.


(*) as a one eyed Cyclops I'm very conscious of this one !

[rotorhead]

Not wanting a slanging match, or a 'to blow or not to blow' bitching contest, I saw a fixed air delivery point, and saw the possible danger mainly to Chuck.

I don't recall 'forbidding' anyone anything, as we're all free to do as we see fit in our own environments, I certainly do.

I'm sorry for not acknowledging your prowess Chuck, in the use of what you have to hand, to facilitate a useful function to yourself.

Just be safe...

[Rob.Wilson]

low pressure stream of air directed at the work being milled

Chuck

My thoughts for what there worth  , as Chuck did say low pressure I really cant see any problem with that , lots of machines are fitted with an air mist coolant ,I will probably fit air or air mist to my CNC mill ,  hell when I am milling steel using a 12mm end mill  I can get chips flying 4 foot from the machine  with the coolant on ,face milling well chips end up in every corner of the shop leaving the tool VERY HOT and at a fairly high velocity, so personally I cant see the difference between chips been blown away or being ejected by the cutter .   At the end of the day we all should have or safety specs on .  Also as Chuck pointed out re cutting chips is not good for cutter life or finish .


Cheers for showing Chuck 


Rob

[NeoTech]

Well.. if anyone wanna make cooling mister.. I suggest cloning the fogbuster.



This still needs somekind collection tank *my main problem* and a pump pushing the fluid back up into the fogbuster tank.. i think a aquarium pump would suffice though. =)

[rotorhead]

Ok whatever,,, I'll keep me big gobb shut in future...

[Lykle]

Hey Chris?
Don't shut up.
It is exactly these discussions that make stuff better for me.
Now I understand the issues and the pros and cons a lot better than before you made the first comment.
So from my perspective, thank you.

Lykle

[AR1911]

A lot of shops use a Vortex cooler, which runs compressed air to the work.

[terrywerm]

I have done the same thing in the past, using a small flow of air to keep the chips pushed away from the cutting area. It doesn't require a big blast at all, and it doesn't send chip flying either. I usually use a small mister, and it uses mostly air with just a touch of coolant. Doing it this way keeps the chips clear of the cutting area and keeps the cutting tool quite cool. Flooding with coolant is not required in many cases, even when machining 316 stainless.  Proper eye protection is required and goes without saying!

Here goes....