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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.
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