Question on Draining my Coolant!

[SpeedsCustom]

Ok, so some of you may remember when I had my thread up about how to drain the coolant for my work area. Well, I have been doing some research and I find that many people don't always tilt or "drain" the coolant into the drain, but rather they have the drain located somewhere on the base, but it's a flat base.

I'm making an enclosure using the 80/20 Aluminum fixtures and my whole coolant system is a flood system. It will pump coolant onto my workpiece and fill the bottom of my pan and drain, Granted I see why tilt would be need, but at the same time if flooding everything, Most would drain and the whats left could be shuffled into the drain where all my small shaving and such be picked up anyway...

I never expected my work area too be Hassle Free and self-cleaned, I expected too go into the enclosure and vacuum the remaining shavings and clean up after I work anyway.

What do you think?

-Jason

[pzzamakr1980]

Jason, I am currently using the flat drain method, and let me say this. Piss on it. Then get the damn hose and wash it down. If I could do it again I would definitely slant the table, and then suspend the machine above the table so everything could wash down real nice and easy. The biggest problem is, because the table isnt slanted, chips dont really go that far and if the coolant hoses arent positioned just right, the chips stay in the way. When I go take some new material from all the home building sites around here Im definitely going to put a new slanted table in place of the current setup.

[SpeedsCustom]

Ok! I will leave my slanted drain and work around that! Thank you for letting me know! I do have a slanted drain "Pan" system, but at the moment it's ugly lol. I need time to work on it.

-Jason

[project5k]

I'm sure by now that you have seen the pictures of my setup, its a slanted drain system, and i absolutely love it... I'm not the cleanup after a job type, so the fact that mine takes care of itself is a real advantage... i think there is a part in the video that i posted that shows mine working, the coolant draining and that was with my pump on its max output... really, if your going to bother building a drain pay, slant the bottom, its just like buying a cheap tool vs a good one, you can save some money now, ie time building it, but your gonna pay for it again and again later.. if you go ahead and do the slant now, (more time and materials) the time savings after each job in cleanup time is well worth it...

just my input on it...

[ZipSnipe]

Hey Jason look around your area for any salvage places especially construction salvage. See if you can find a shower pan, these are fiberglass usually used in mobile homes, perfect for the DIY as all you would have to do is figure out a way to secure the machine to the pan. They already have the tilt built in. Also try A.C. sheet metal place and look at the cost of an A.C. drain pan, I don,t think they are to high priced. For a screen around the drain you could goto a thrift store and pick up a stainless steel strainer for cheap. Just a couple of ideas!!

[SpeedsCustom]

Thank You Thank You! I have ideas, my main thing though wight now is trying to finish the CNC just so I can say " Hey now I need my enclosure" lol


-Jason

[project5k]

yea, but trust me, get the drain pan done first, cause once you get that mill up and moving and running and whatnot, your not gonna wanna stop playing with it to build the drain pan...

[SpeedsCustom]

Oh do I have pics for you guys, Oh do I ever. Right now, I'm so happy with what I did. Got back at around 11:30 and from 11:30-2:00 Am, I installed my new system. I love it. Havn't tested it yet, but looks awesome, got the cauk around it and it drains towards the center. Pictures tomorrow!

-Speed