Spindle stall at 3am in Green Bay taught me to check the coolant mix

Running a 40 taper Haas last month and the spindle just bogged down mid cut on a 6061 part, threw an overload alarm at 3 in the morning. Turns out the coolant concentration had dropped below 4% and the chips were welding themselves to the cutter. Flushed the tank, remixed it to 7% with the refractometer, and it never stalled again. Anyone else ever lose a job over a dumb coolant ratio that you could've caught in seconds?

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1 Comment

wade_young8615d ago

7% is honestly overkill for 6061, most shops run 5 or 6 and do just fine. The real problem was probably your feed rate or a dull insert, not the coolant. I've run dry cuts on 6061 that lasted longer than what you're describing, so blaming the mix feels like a stretch.