If you’ve ever seen a CNC machine operate, you know it’s loud, hot, and fast. Achieving accurate and high-quality results without overheating or damaging the equipment requires advanced machinery and proper cooling methods. The selection, monitoring, and maintenance of CNC machining coolant are crucial for maintaining temperature control, chip evacuation, lubrication, and extending tool life.

Read on to learn more about CNC machining coolants, their specific uses, and why they’re necessary to ensure precision in the machining process.

What is a Coolant? 

Coolant is fluid used to dissipate heat from equipment, machinery, or systems. Coolant can be utilized to protect a system from overheating or to remove undesirable heat from a system. Coolant is typically pumped through a series of tubes, plates, and fins within a heat exchanger, where it passes next to another fluid that has absorbed heat from the system that needs to be cooled. 

The Importance of CNC Machining Coolant

CNC machining coolant serves the same purpose as coolant in other applications: to remove heat from a system. When a cutting tool contacts a workpiece, it generates heat due to friction between the workpiece and tooling. Coolant is required to maintain proper operating temperatures and prevent overheating that leads to reduced performance, increased tool wear, and equipment failure.

Increased tooling temperature can result in one or more of the following:

1. Thermal expansion of the part to be machined, which makes it difficult to maintain precision and accuracy due to the changing dimensions (especially with metallic parts)
2. Accelerated tool wear, because tools wears faster at higher temperatures
3. Workpiece distortion occurs if high temperatures are sustained over time, which creates quality issues for the finished part

CNC machining coolant mitigates these risks by efficiently dissipating heat to reduce tool wear, and improve overall machining precision and accuracy.

Your Machining Partner

If you’re looking for a tool re-grinding service that can provide the support, quality and speed you need, then choosing Custom Tool is the right choice. We have some of the most skilled machinists who are well versed in tool cutting and re-grinding. Give us a call or fill out our contact form for more information!