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Thread cutting & drilling lubricant

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Jack345

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Getting ready to purchase thread cutting tap & die lubricant. Been using "Tap Magic" but noted Amazon is selling a bees wax oil paste. see link below and would like some advise to if the paste is better than cutting lubricant . Thanks



 
Jack345 said:
Getting ready to purchase thread cutting tap & die lubricant. Been using "Tap Magic" but noted Amazon is selling a bees wax oil paste. see link below and would like some advise to if the paste is better than cutting lubricant . Thanks



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Look up. Rodman tool and die, in California.
Great cutting oil
We have their bits and grinding blades. Awesome 👍. GG Wes
 
Animal fats -- lard, beef tallow, sheep tallow, and goat tallow have all been used -- work well (and mixing in graphite powder makes 'em work even better, but at the cost of severe messiness). Animal fats have been used as cutting lube for centuries, although rarely used in commercial shops today. Still fairly common amongst those who do their own machining . . . probably most commonly in the form of "bacon dripping" from breakfast.

Crisco and similar canned shortenings also work pretty well.
 
I agree, Tap Magic is great stuff; however bees wax is a tried and true tapping lubricant. For drilling, motor oil is great.
IMO the most difficult metal to machine, drill, tap is copper. Tap Magic works better on copper.
 
Much of that depends upon the material. Cast iron can machine well with lard oil, kerosene, and light synthetics. Tool steel is usually a candidate for soluble oils, synthetics, or heavy petroleum, varying by steel grade and tooling. Nickel, chrome, and molybdenum steels seem to like synthetics for standard production tooling.

If tapping by hand, you have a lot more latitude, and can feel the cut instead of waiting for a tap to break in a live spindle. For a few holes in tougher materials, Anchor Lube is hard to beat.
 
Still using Keystone 101 cutting & cooling oil. Was still being made under another name, last I looked. Don't recall who.

Can probably find an old, full Keystone can at a machine shop auction. That's where I got a couple of mine.

Mike
 
Retired from Lockheed Aircraft and worked on the SR-71 for years and we used Bees Wax for cutting, tapping, drilling, you name it for some of the hardest metals to this day.. ( Slow speed/ a lot of pressure.) Boelube come on later!
 
Jack345 said:
Getting ready to purchase thread cutting tap & die lubricant. Been using "Tap Magic" but noted Amazon is selling a bees wax oil paste. see link below and would like some advise to if the paste is better than cutting lubricant . Thanks



Click to expand...
A tool shop I worked with years ago had the local bar the served breakfasts save the bacon grease for tapping threads. I had my wife save some when she happened to fry some bacon and it always worked well. In the late 1950's we used hydraulic oil heated adding sulfur to make it. In my tool shop I ordered cutting oil from Production Tool Supply. For pre hard tool steel I bought Tap Magic. Tap and drill longevity seemed to be in the hands of the user more than the fluid itself. Seemed the years of the one on the job caused the tools to last longer. Just my take of making payroll and buying tools for 50 some years.
 
We used lard when I was in school in the 70's. It works well, but it goes rancid and you would be better off with a more modern synthetic oil. We used tap magic at work. Depending what material you're working with, I use WD40 on aluminum, ATF on steel mixed with 30 wt oil. Nothing on cast iron. The graphite in cast is lubricant enough. I have my own machine shop at home now that I'm retired. That is my two cents.
 
Lumbersawyer said:
We used lard when I was in school in the 70's. It works well, but it goes rancid and you would be better off with a more modern synthetic oil. We used tap magic at work. Depending what material you're working with, I use WD40 on aluminum, ATF on steel mixed with 30 wt oil. Nothing on cast iron. The graphite in cast is lubricant enough. I have my own machine shop at home now that I'm retired. That is my two cents.
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I don't disagree with anyone on what they use. The finished product is what counts and in most cases the time it takes. Everyone ends up with what seems the best for them personally. I understand in a production operation where piece count runs only a tight second to quality. Oil type most likely makes a big difference.
 
where Worked we used Tapfree until it as banned because of carbontetracloride in it. no good on aluminum though, good way to ruin the tap and whatever you were tapping. I got 2 5 gallon pails of it when they stopped using it..Still got plenty at home.
 
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