What drilling liquid do you like best?

[no2tracks]

I've heard that there are better liquids than cutting oil. Is Tap Magic and Cool Tool really better for drilling?

 

[MXtras]

Tap Magic is a good, general purpose drilling and tapping fluid. I go through a can or two a month in my shop.

I have some other stuff I use for tapping small holes in aluminum but I can't recall what it is other than it is specific for aluminum. I don't use it much.

Scott

 

[Uncle Buck]

Some years back, Tap Magic was even better. In the early to mid 1990's they had to change their formula to meet some new EPA regulation at the time and it had a bit of a negative impact on the product, or at least the machine operators I spoke with at the time swore it to be true.

 

[Adam McLaughlin]

I have always liked rapid tap in the yellow can for steel work, aluminum gets the green can, can't recall what the name was, thinking it was A-4 or something like that.

Adam

 

[bgott]

Plain old Lard. And I worked a shop when I was a kid that had a small water line and a shut off valve ran to the drill press. The water spray worked as well as anything else that I've ever used.

 

[kf4zht]

Plain old water.

Keeps it cool, flushes chips away. Cuts pretty quickly. Easy to clean up, just make sure and have a rag to dry the bit when done.

For Al kerosene works well.

 

[goodfellow]

Plain old water.

Keeps it cool, flushes chips away. Cuts pretty quickly. Easy to clean up, just make sure and have a rag to dry the bit when done.

For Al kerosene works well.

That's exactly what I use (water for steel, slow and dry for iron, kero for Aluminum).

On the lathe, I sometimes use just a dab of bacon grease to get a smooth finish cut on iron and steel -- makes the shop smell good too

 

[Stuey]

I recently picked up some Tap Magic water-based fluid, and will report back whenever I get around to giving it a try.

 

[OldCarGuy]

Plain old water.

Keeps it cool, flushes chips away. Cuts pretty quickly. Easy to clean up, just make sure and have a rag to dry the bit when done.

For Al kerosene works well.

I second this!

 

[Nuit Damnant]

I've used PB blaster with good success. Water as well.

 

[Elroy]

You bring up a subject that was addressed previously in this thread:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14384&showall=1

Elroy posts this link purely to supply you with additional information.

Elroy also notes that this original post was made almost exactly one year ago. What a coincidence that time flys when you'ar having fun.

 

[bomber]

while there are specifioc product for drilling specific metals, I use water for drilling everything in the Entropy Lab --

threading's a different can of worms, though ;-}

 

[KraftwerkMk1Jetta]

I always just use 15w40 in an oil can.

 

[Merkava_4]

Which one comes in the lighter fluid type can? I think it may be Rapid-Tap, not sure though. Anyway, that's the one I like.

 

[gofastman]

when I was in school we used some sort of water souble oil made by Mobil, It worked well but was kinda messy and would make your welds look REALLY funny unless you cleaned it off the metal super well. A gallon af that stuff would last forever, too.

 

[no2tracks]

Thanks for all the replies.

Has anyone used Kool Tool?