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Found out why my end mills keep squealing, it was coolant concentration all along
Been fighting this awful squeal on my Haas VF-2 for like 3 weeks now, especially on aluminum 6061 cuts deeper than 0.05. Rechecked speeds, feeds, even swapped to a fresh 3 flute carbide from Maritool, still screaming like a stuck pig. Yesterday I finally grabbed a refractometer from the tool crib, my shop has one but nobody uses it, and tested our coolant mix. Turns out we were running at like 12% concentration when the label says 7 to 9%, too much coolant actually makes the chip recut and that's where the noise comes from. Diluted it back down to 8% and ran the exact same program, dead quiet and the surface finish went from rough to almost mirror, I couldn't believe it. Our coolant guy never checks the mix, he just tops off with water, and now I'm wondering how many other setups have been off this whole time. Has anyone else had weird tool life or chatter issues traced back to coolant percentage instead of the obvious stuff?
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pat_moore29d ago
Too much coolant actually makes the chip recut" man, that line hit me like a ton of bricks. I've been running machines for years and never once thought about the top end of the mix being the problem. Always figured if it ain't smoking, it's fine. Honestly, I bet half the shops out there have the same issue, they just chase tooling or speeds when the real culprit is sitting right in the sump. It's wild that a 4% swing can go from screaming banshee to buttery smooth like that. Makes me wanna go check my own tank tomorrow, even though we just use a simple mist system.
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