To avoid the use of cutting fluids in machining operations is one goal that has been searched for by many people in industrial companies, due to ecological and human health problems caused by the cutting fluid. However, cutting fluids still provide a longer tool life for many machining operations. This is the case of the turning operation of steel using coated carbide inserts. Therefore, the objective of this work is to find cutting conditions more Suitable for dry cutting, i.e.. conditions which make tool life in dry Cutting, closer to that obtained with cutting with fluid, without damaging the workpiece surface roughness and without increasing cutting power consumed by the process. To reach these goals several finish turning experiments were carried out, varying cutting speed, feed and tool nose radius, with and without the use of cutting fluid. The main conclusion of this work was that to remove the fluid from a finish turning process, without harming tool life and cutting time and improving surface roughness and power consumed. it is necessary to increase feed and tool nose radius and decrease cutting speed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.428899904