Small Cheap flood Coolant system

[dneisler]

I am wanting to try out a flood coolant system on my sherline mill. And later move it to a X3 when i get it ready. Anyone know of a good cheap system to get started with? 1-5 gall I would think.

I saw one on MSC by little giant for about $100, is that worth starting with?

Also, what coolant to get, I will be indoors where the odor could be a issue if to bad.

[Ron111]

Harbor freight has what appears to be about a 2 to 3 gallon for $39 or so.

Ron

[digits]

I think your main cost is going to be your enclosure - you have to catch all the coolant and return it to the sump somehow - and you would be amazed where coolant can end up!

[dneisler]

Yeah, I got just about finished my enclosure, not the best, but it is made of 2x4's and plexi glass. I will have to check out HF.

[kalbin]

Ron,
I just searched Harbor Freight and couldn't find any coolant systems. Any idea what the number was, or anything else to help find it?

I'm starting to prepare for my IH mill to get here in a few weeks.

thanks - Ken

[keebler303]

I'm using a 5 gallon bucket and a little giant submersible pump on my bridgeport. about $50 for the pump, had the bucket. I put a cheap screen inside the bucket to catch any chips that made it through the drain pipe which goes from the table back to the bucket.

Matt

[GammaWill]

I just added flood coolant to my Taig for under $100. Here's my setup:

• $10 : Loc-Line sample nozzle & connector pack from Modular.
• $15 : 335GPH fountain pump from eBay
• $25 : 1 Gallon Kool-Mist 77 concentrate from Enco (<-- I bought way too much!)
• $20 : Maccourt ST3608 36" x 24" x 8" Heavy Duty Utility Tub from Amazon
• $6 : Steel kitchen-sink drain w/strainer and steel drain tube from Home Depot
• $10 : Reinforced nylon hose from plumbing section of Home Depot
• FREE : Empty 5 Gallon bucket

Cheap, and easy. Drill a hole in the tub at one end. Screw in the strainer/drain, center the pipe over the bucket, add the Loc-line to one end of the hose, and the pump to the other, fill the bucket with water/coolant mixture, submerge the pump, cable-tie the nozzle to the mill, point the mozzle at your cutter, and you're good to go!

I run the whole shebang from a solid-state relay via Mach3

---Will Chapman : BrickArms.com

[Ron111]

I was just at Harbor Freight today and wished I had saw this post prior to going. I have a little giant that only has a one gallon capacity, which is way too small, so I place the unit in a larger square (or rectangular shaped) storage container, and drilled a couple of good size holes in the one gallon little giant so that I could increase the coolant capacity to about 4 gallons.

Next time I'm at harbor freight, I will find the $40 coolant system and write down the part number.

Ron

[BrendaEM]

Kitty litter often comes in nice square buckets with lids that close, but not so firmly that you would spill the contents when you open them.

The one I am looking at is polypropylene, which is pretty resistant to chemicals. It's hard glue anything to it without special adhesives.

Using care, you can scrape off the purple label with a utility knife blade...so I've heard : )

I've been thinking that a ground fault interrupter would be a nice addition to a AC pump system.

[BrendaEM]

I've been looking at KoolMist because I want something thats cheap, eco-friendly, and easy to dispose of.

Is there a magic ratio of KoolMist and water that would totally prevent the cast iron from rusting?

[RICHARD ZASTROW]

BrendaEM, If you have the air supply, why not have one of the micro-drop peddlers bring you a demonstration unit to try? They use the bio-degradeable vegetable oil in almost dry machining. Works great from personal experience. There are quite a few brands out there now. You still need to control wayward chips etc. even though there is practically no residual coolant.