Air source for milling operations

[cfellows]

While doing the milling operations on my Fairbanks model engine block and flywheels, it once again occured to me that a steady, low pressure stream of air directed at the work would keep the chips cleared away from the cutter giving me a cleaner cut and letting me see what was going on. While not as effective as liquid coolant, it's not as messy, and quite a bit easier to set up.

The arrangement I came up with required almost no machining and used materials I already had on hand...

The tip is a .030" mig welder tip. It has threads on the end that easily threaded into a piece of polyurethane tubing which in turn was slipped over the end of a length of 3/16" brass tubing.

And the whole thing attaches to my mill/drill column with a magnetic DTI stand.

The magnet is quite strong and the arm allows a wide range of adjustments. Since the assembly is attached to the mill column rather than the table, the air source stays on the tip of the milling cutter and doesn't move as the table is cranked on either axis.
Chuck

 

[platypus20]

I did somewhat of a similar thing, I used a magnetic Cedarburg coolant base and the Line-Loc interlocking coolant lines, with a small regulator. I set it at just enough air flow to keep the chips moving away from the cutter. Attached is a picture of the unit, but not in use.