Tried a new coolant mix on a 316 stainless job and the finish went weird

I was running a long batch of 316 stainless parts on our Haas VF2, maybe 200 pieces. The usual 8% synthetic mix was running low, so I topped it off with a different brand at a 10% ratio, thinking more would be better. After about 50 parts, the surface finish started looking dull and almost etched, not the bright finish we needed. I stopped everything, flushed the tank back to the old mix, and the next part came out perfect. I learned that not all coolants play nice together, and even a small change can mess with chemistry. Has anyone else had a coolant brand fight ruin a finish?

2 comments

2 Comments

joel5188d ago

Man, I used to think all coolant was basically the same!

karen_shah568d ago

Tbh I was the same way for years, just grabbed whatever coolant was on sale. Then I mixed two brands on a titanium run and got this weird, sticky residue all over everything. The whole sump turned into this smelly gel. Now I stick to one brand and never top off with something different.