Boss 8 coolant control

[sharp-shooter]

I have a R2E3 and can't figure out what controls the coolant. There are 2 recepticles, one single and one duplex, each for a 3 prong twist lock plug, that are hot all of the time. Although there is a coolant control switch on the control panel, it doesn't seem to control any of these recepticles. Are the coolant controls supposed to be manual, or are they controlled in the part program? Also, how is the mist coolant controlled other than some kind of electrical solenoid to control the air?

[machintek]

The mist and flood are controlled by the EAF board. Inside the door where the FMDC hangs on the inside, is the EAF. It has two large triacs in one corner. One controls the Flood and one controls the mist. In the past I had to replace the driver IC for these as they would half wave. The duplex recepticle is for a worklight or two. The single recepticle should be the flood. Check your wiring schematic.

George

[Newby2]

George,
Which IC is the driver? Mine is doing the same thing. Flood recepticle is hot contantly.
Thanks
Steve

[machintek]

You lucked out as I had to go by the office.
Q1 is the flood triac driven by IC1.
Q2 is the mist triac driven by IC2.
EAF schematic 1934627 about 3C on the print location in the maintenance manual.

George

[machintek]

By the way, I had MOC3041 written above this part of the schematic. A google search confirmed that this is the part number for !C1 and 2.

George

[Newby2]

Thanks George!! Very helpful!
Steve

[sharp-shooter]

Could I bypass all this high tech stuff and just wire it up through the spindle contactors so it would only be on when the spindle runs?

[Newby2]

That is possible but you would not have coolant control through your programming. M-8 turns the coolant on and M-9 should turn it off.
With your plan, the coolant would be running as long as the spindle was on but would create a mess when rapiding from one area of the table to another.
Steve

[sharp-shooter]

I'm not worried about a mess, that's what splash gaurds are for.
Another question: When the coolant is shut off for a minute or 2, the pump must lose some of it's prime because it takes 2 minutes to get back to full flow. Where can I find a check valve to put in the line?

[Newby2]

Check you local hardware store for a check valve. Install it as close to the pump outlet as possible. A spring loaded ball check would be the best choice but a swing check will work equally as well as long as you install it correctly.
Coolant pumps are inherently self draining due to their open intake design and they are mounted in the low spot of of the machine.
If you have to wait for two minutes for the coolant to get to the tool, then you may want to consider a larger pump or even a high capacity pump.

[machintek]

The stock setup did include a check valve. See the parts manual. It may need cleaning.

George