vegetable-base lubricant
January 1st 2004

Replacing conventional coolants with non-toxic Microlube from Advanced Carbide Tooling has improved conditions and increased tool life at Dales Engineering Services in Peterhead. Concern about fumes from mineral-based lubricants used for drilling and tapping applications prompted the company to investigate vegetable-based Microlube. After trying both aerosol and trigger-bottle forms, Dales decided the latter was more cost effective and now uses Microlube XP for all drilling and tapping tasks on manual lathes and horizontal boring machines. Dales Engineering also uses the product with an automatic application system on a Sterling reciprocating band-saw. The system automatically applies measured droplets of lubricant to the cutting area at pre-set intervals. Lubricant is consumed by the cutting process, with no excess to collect.

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