Automatic cleaning of CNC mill ?

[Swiss]

Hi all,

cleaning all of the swarf and cutting fluid from our miling machine is a pain. There are so many nooks and crannies! Has anyone tried to automate this? I was thinking of fitting some water spray nozzles to the inside of the machine to clean it out every night. Then dry it with some warm air to prevent rust.

Does anyone think this is a good idea or a bad one?

Many thanks

Hugo

[cnczoner]

Funny, I picked up a shop vac a couple days ago and while cleaning out the mill table, I thought of the same thing -- that cleaning in the t-slots is not fun.

My thought was to get one of those mine power-balls (that the automotive world uses with an electric drill for cleaning wheels and polishing parts etc), and mounting it in the spindle and running some code to let it go clean itself. All I'd need is some way of knowing that the shaft on the power ball is weak enough so it would break easily in case of any incorrect move.

But now I"m thinking that it would be even better if I could mount the end of the vacuum nozzle near that power ball so it would not only brush away, but also suck up the stuff it cleans up.

Oooohhh ... too many ideas, too little time.

[ozzie34231]

I recently reworked my coolant system to include some valves which give me the option of getting the full flow of my pump through a 1/2" garden hose. I can now clean the machine in about 1/10th the time it took before.

Jerry

[Swiss]

I recently reworked my coolant system to include some valves which give me the option of getting the full flow of my pump through a 1/2" garden hose. I can now clean the machine in about 1/10th the time it took before.

That's a pretty good idea. I wonder though, if it's important to clean off the coolant, as well as the swarf. The instructions for the machine just say "clean throughly".

I wish they would make them easier to clean and maintain

Hugo

[InspirationTool]

There is a fan that will fit in a toolchanger.... you just load it up, spin it up and then sweep over the table to blow the chips off.

-Jeff

[Swiss]

There is a fan that will fit in a toolchanger

That's neat, but I guess it only works for dry chips?

How do people clean machines in the industry? Do they just spend half an hour carefully picking swarf out of every crevice?

Hugo

[InspirationTool]

My understanding is that it works for wet as well...

Large VMCs often have a chip auger or conveyor that pumps the chips out into a drum... But you are in the $40,000 on up range then.

Some machines have special pumps on the walls to wash the chips into the chip conveyor.

For a small mill, my preference would be to keep the chips on the dry side with a fog buster and then use a shop vac.

-Jeff

[InspirationTool]

See:

http://www.bigkaiser.com/frm.htm?lng.htm

-Jeff

[Geof]

Originally Posted by Swiss That's neat, but I guess it only works for dry chips? How do people clean machines in the industry? Do they just spend half an hour carefully picking swarf out of every crevice? Hugo

Do I qualify as 'industry', my shop has 16 machines ?

We use the wash hose connected to a high flow coolant pump to wash chips down into the chip auger on the machines with augers. On the other machines chips are washed down into the bottom of the enclosure and dragged out with a scraper.

We don't make a point of washing them down every night or anything like that, just when needed. However often in the morning when the machines are warming up the operators will auger or scrape chips out into plastic bins and then dump them into the recycling bin. Also during the day if the chip volume is enough the operator will do this while a cycle is running.

The only time we clean things meticulously is when we go from steel to aluminum because our aluminum recycler doesn't like steel chips included.

Our coolant concentration is maintained high enough that we don't need to worry about rust.

[carbidecraters]

That spindle fan idea is atrocious

[dcworld]

Back in the early 90's I had a smart supervisor that decided to powerwash the entire machine, controlls and all, waited an hour and powered up the first machine. Sonded like a shotgun going off. Then he decided to power on the next one with the same results. Thing he is now working as a lab rat somewhere.

ps. I do not suggest doing this to your machine.

[ConKbot of Doom]

Originally Posted by carbidecraters That spindle fan idea is atrocious

How so? Ive seen them used quite successfully on a few vertical mills. They clean off excess coolant in production work.
Load the fan, spin it up, move down, move across the table a few times to blow off all the coolant, up, stop, change pallets. Enclosed machines only of course.



Oh and in 'industry' for cleaning your machine, you dont The chip conveyor takes care of most the swarf, what remains in the mill remains untill you are done with that setup. Hose it down with the coolant hose, get most the chips and clean off the table for the next guy setting up. As long as you are using a coolant that leaves a film of oil when it evaporates you should be good to go.