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Ensuring that your flood coolant
ratio is adequate is an important part of maintaining blade and blade guide
life. Not only does flood coolant perform the obvious, it also acts as
a lubricant for the blade as it passes through the blade guides as well as
lubricating and cooling the blades teeth as they plane off the material
being cut. If your coolant ratio is too weak, blade life will be
reduced leading to additional replacement costs.
Most shops do not have a refractometer as a normal tool in their shop in
order to accurately gauge coolant ratio of 5 to1. An easy way to
effectively judge the ratio of your coolant is to let a couple of drops
flowing out of the nozzle hitting the saw blade drop between your thumb and
forefinger. If when rubbing these drops between your thumb and
forefinger feels like hand lotion that does not go away, your ratio is close
to 5 to 1. If you feel friction your coolant is too weak. Do not
use the coolant in the reservoir as it may have separated and would give a
false reading.
Remember that saws act like a wood plane and remove a greater amount of
stock with one tooth than a lathe or mill. This requires a richer
mixture to prevent chip welding and premature dulling.
For your personal safety, always perform the above procedure with the
blade motor off and the coolant pump on. |
