Cutting oil alternatives?

Guys,
I'm about to have the need for some cutting oil for drilling large holes in sheet metal........a lot of holes.
What's a good alternative to cutting oil?

i use solable (spelling) oil and water mix, crisco grease (cooking) and wd40 and have been known to drill dry, mostly small stuff.

I rarely use oil anymore. I use an empty Spray Nine bottle, add a shot of liquid dish soap and fill with water."Hire" Jr to be the trigger man and go to town.

Dr Crankenstein said:

I rarely use oil anymore. I use an empty Spray Nine bottle, add a shot of liquid dish soap and fill with water."Hire" Jr to be the trigger man and go to town.

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I AM jr., so this might get entertaining

Thanks for the input guys! Ill give them a try.

If you are using a hole saw someone recommended using air to cool and blow the chips out. The reasoning was that oil doesn't get the hot chips out of the groove.

I rarely use cutting oil at all because of the sticky mess it makes over the work and the drillpress. Just a personal thing but I do it dry. I might chew up bits and holesaws quicker but I prefer that to the cleanup.

Don

Old motor oil is cheap or free. If I have a big hole or a thick piece, that's what I use. Just messy to clean up.

I use Jancy Slugger Cutting Paste. It is made for annular cutters but it works great for drill bits too. It is a gel consistency and it hugs the bit instead of flying everywhere else like oil. Runs around $15 a tube but they are a good size and last a long time. I discovered it when I started working on big trucks and using a mag drill for frame drilling. I won't use anything else now...

My late father used brake cleaner or carb cleaner to cool bits.Seemed to work fine.It cooled and had pressure to clean out hole and dried fast.Of course if you are drilling a lot of holes it could get expensive buying that stuff.

We use go kart racing oil. It is 100% synthetic and it cuts better than any cutting oil we tried. It is about $10.00 a quart but the tooling lasts so much longer. Taps and drill bits at $50-$75 each get to expensive to not take care of them.

rex1927 said:

My late father used brake cleaner or carb cleaner to cool bits.Seemed to work fine.It cooled and had pressure to clean out hole and dried fast.

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Do NOT USE BRAKE CLEANER AROUND HEAT!!! The fumes are extremely toxic and nothing to mess around with. Plenty of other alternatives...

sounds like you got lots of info. i'm lucky that i have a machine to turn to, that is why i use solable oil/water mix, if mixed right does not leave a sticky mess, as it is mostly water with enough oil to keep it from rusting. something i have seen and used on our mag drills is tap majic, but never use brake cleaner, that is bad stuff.

sorry didn't see BED's post and i'm with him on this.

The plumbing dept. of your favorite home or hardware store will have actual thread cutting oil for threading pipe. It comes in pint or quart bottles and isn't expensive. A little messy but works great.

Blue

When I'm doing a lot of holes, I soak a paper towel or a rag in oil and stuff it in the hole saw. It acts as a self oiler.

Good to hear that I am not the only one to use motor oil.

I've had to drill countless speed holes in mild steel, aluminum and stainless...

always found that this stuff works great:

Lassco W171-2 Drill Ease - Wax Based Drill Bit Lubricant

Scratch Building a Coupe

I used cooking LARD. I read an article once on using it for some metals when machining metal. I was stuck with the can of lard and began using it for all mchining and drilling. Works well I dont know if its correct but then again it works. Some times it can smell a little when hot. Now I buy a little plastic can of Lard Crisco in the super market and use it all the time for all.

I usually only use oil when drilling large holes or using a hole saw. I just use whatever old oil I have around - right now I'm using up some leftover type F tranny fluid.

Probably my favorite cutting lubricant for drilling and such (not threads, although I've never tried it on threads), is Sea Foam Deep Creep. It's a cleaner, a penetrating lubricant, it foams up and clings to what you spray it on at least somewhat, it's designed to be used with heat. It attracts to hot areas. It's not that much of a mess like WD-40 or the like.
Also a plus, the can sprays in all positions.
It's not as affordable as most of the other suggestions here, but it works well, and is cheaper than the other cutting oils I've used.

http://www.seafoamsales.com/deep-creep.html

Edit: It also comes out cold and is water soluble.

Listen.....anyone who can build a RR from scratch..

rsfyj said:

I used cooking LARD. I read an article once on using it for some metals when machining metal. I was stuck with the can of lard and began using it for all mchining and drilling. Works well I dont know if its correct but then again it works. Some times it can smell a little when hot. Now I buy a little plastic can of Lard Crisco in the super market and use it all the time for all.

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can use whatever they want for drilling holes.... although I do have a question....does it smell like your frying chicken when it heats up??? Sorry..