if you've got a lot of them to do, get a water-soluable type; then you won't have to worry about disposal. MSC handles different brands http://www1.mscdirect.com/cgi/nnsrhm if only a few holes now and then, TapMatic's "GOLD" works great, however, it's bit more $$ than the water soluable.,,,IIRC, MSC has that too. As tempting as it is, don't use lube oil for cutting.
Keep in mind water soluable oils will mix with blood if you have a cut. Not saying they don't work, because they do. Just be carefull.
This too, the Tri-Cut is NOT for aluminum, but the company LPS has Tapmatic Cutting oils for that as well- top of the line, TR
We use a paste called BoeLube at work when fabricating aircraft parts, mostly sheetmetal. It seems to work well...
I've even had good luck using motor oil. Just grab a quart of 10W30 and go to town. There are always a few jugs in the shop anyways.
That's what I use... put it in a squirt oiler, keep the cutting drill lubed. You could even recycle your old oil for that....
I dont think most understand that it is called cutting oil for a reason. If you use regular oil it will only spin ,slip, and smoke,not a good solution to proper drilling or tapping. I would say that alot of the problems with broken taps is a combination of not drilling a straight hole and running taps in without cutting oil . Tap Matic is what I use and havnt broke a tap for a while . Also pressure is something alot of people dont seem to give enough attention to . A drill bit has to have pressure so as to not slip and overheat the bit .
We saw lot of 2 in. up to 3.5 in. holes in 1/4 in. 6061 aluminum, have found a heavy mixture of dish liquid and water works well. Have used this on thin wall steel tubing with good results. We use a spray bottle and mist the mixture on the contact point of the saw. We run most saws at a speed of 350 to 400 rpm. Speedy
Someone making such a rude comment about the use of motor oil got me wondering why someone would say something like that. Wikipedia indicates motor oil is fine as a cutting oil. The detergents in some oils may not be desirable for some parts of some machine tools it would come in contact with during use. But on a drill press it would be fine and better than nothing. With a choice I would get some cutting oil. I dont think it is criminal if you do use some motor oil if it is available. See below on motor oil as a cutting oil From Wikipedia: Kerosene and rubbing alcohol often give good results when working on aluminium. WD-40 and 3-In-One Oil work well on various metals. The latter has a citronella odor; if the odor offends, mineral oil and general-purpose lubricating oils work about the same. Way oil (the oil made for machine tool ways) works as a cutting oil. In fact, some screw machines are designed to use one oil as both the way oil and cutting oil. (Most machine tools treat way lube and coolant as separate things that inevitably mix during use, which leads to tramp oil skimmers being used to separate them back out.) Motor oils have a slightly complicated relationship to machine tools. Straight-weight non-detergent motor oils are usable, and in fact SAE 10 and 20 oils used to be the recommended spindle and way oils (respectively) on manual machine tools decades ago, although nowadays dedicated way oil formulas prevail in commercial machining. While nearly all motor oils can act as adequate cutting fluids in terms of their cutting performance alone, modern multi-weight motor oils with detergents and other additives are best avoided. These additives can present a copper-corrosion concern to brass and bronze, which machine tools often have in their bearings and leadscrew nuts (especially older or manual machine tools).
I have been in the plumbing business for over 40 years. Also a lot of fire sprinkler work. For my thread cutting machines (1/2 " to 2" and 2 1/2 to 4") I either use Collins dark or Ridgid dark. Ued to get the Collins in a 55 gallon drum but now the Ridgid in 1 gallon jugs. Not a busy as we used to be. The dark is high sulpher. Dies last much longer and real good threads. Plus it smels better. Works great with hole saws and drill bits. Tim
I use Mystic metal mover, its in a yellow can blue letters. Works great, and doesn't seem to smoke much.
The sulphur in oil when heated forms a chemical {sulphur dioxide, I think} that will not allow the chips to weld itself to the cutter. Another vote for no motor oil. You wouldn't put cutting oil in your engine, would you?
My wife has washed more cutting oil out of my pants than most will ever use. Trust me on th Ridgid dark for steel. I am not an expert on aluminum. For cast iron I do not use any cutting oil as there is plenty of sulphur in the cast iron. tim
Many watter soluble cutting fluids need to be changed in machines periodically due to bacteria formation. For the home shop I found the stuff will can go bad from just sitting, once it is mixed. I recommend the Rigid or similar cutting oils.
Another no on using motor oil for cutting. Nothing needed for cast iron, Kerosene or WD-40 for aluminum. Try Crisco shortening for tapping steel. Regular sulfur cutting oil worked well for years in the heavy machine shops, But the cancer risk forced changes. Ago
I never use cutting oil with hole saws, by their design they have no way to discharge the cut metal. Cutting oil just turns the chips into a stuck together mess that stays spinning around the hole saw. I use and air hose to blow the chips away, it keeps the bit cool and cuts faster, try it next time. I have used a few different oils for bits and they all work about the same for me.
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