Bought a $200 coolant refractometer after a bad run of parts

We kept getting a weird finish on some aluminum parts last month, and the boss thought it was the tooling. I figured I'd try checking the coolant mix myself. The refractometer showed our mix was way too weak, like 3% instead of the 8% we run. Topped it off and the finish cleared right up. Anyone else have a simple tool that saved a big headache?

3 comments

3 Comments

loganbaker19d ago

Our old torque wrench was off by like 15 foot-pounds.

victor_carr2519d ago

Wow, that's wild, mine's usually only off by a couple.

noah_webb7d ago

Nah, that's actually not that bad for an old tool. 15 pounds on a high torque job like lug nuts or a crank bolt is basically nothing. Most stuff has a safety factor built in anyway. If you're just working on your own car and not a race engine, close enough is good enough. People get way too hung up on perfect numbers.