Sour Smelly Coolant Problem

[widgitmaster]

Last month I installed a coolant flood system and splash guards on my new lathe, now my garage shop stinks of sour coolant!
Because I live in Florida where the humidity is 90% all year long, I have a pressurized spray bottle (McMaster Carr M# 7054T12 ) filled with way-lube to keep my new lathe from rusting!
I spray the machinery down every evening, and there is NO rust to be found! However, the massive amounts of oil end up down in the coolant tank, and that has become a new problem!

So I decided to spend even more money on an oil separator to clean the coolant tank, total of $280.00!

The oil extractor is from McMaster Carr M# 2165T13 , it has an 18" long arm with a 1" wide belt that loops down into the bucket of coolant!

I have to say, the darn thing worked!
It took a little tweaking to get the wipers to work right, but with the help of my little belt sander, I was able to sharpen them at just right angle for 100% scraping!

I left the oil skimmer running all night long, and I has removed over 1-cup of way lube, cutting oil & slime from the coolant!
It no longer stinks, and now I'm going to set it up permanently under my lathe to keep the coolant tank clean!

I guess the coolant needs oxygen to keep it fresh, and the oil slick was choking it to death!

Eric

[Jarwalcot]

Eric,

If you have any fish tank Aerators around, try adding one to your system you have there... Its great way to seperate the tramp oils so they can be captured.

[tobyaxis]

An other great post from the Widgitmaster. Some places actually use a small cup of bleach in the coolant tank. I won't because bleach has a nasty affect on bear metal, RUST!! I like your solution Eric. Good Thread 5 Stars

[Jarwalcot]

I walked in a shop one day to find an operator pouring fabric softener in his coolant... He said it was one of the best "poor mans" anti-foaming agent's out there...

[widgitmaster]

Originally Posted by Jarwalcot Eric, If you have any fish tank Aerators around, try adding one to your system you have there... Its great way to seperate the tramp oils so they can be captured.

Actually Jarwalcot, the recirculating coolant trickling back into the bucket is enought to keep it stirred up! Especially if I open the valve all the way!

[Jarwalcot]

AAAH!... Nice setup & Great Post!

[dertsap]

might be best to go with synthetic or semi synthetic , they woun t get bacteria growth
synthetic lasts much longer ,so its easy to justify the extra expense

[widgitmaster]

Originally Posted by dertsap might be best to go with synthetic or semi synthetic , they woun t get bacteria growth synthetic lasts much longer ,so its easy to justify the extra expense

Actually, I should have stated that I was using Synthetic Coolant from:
Enco #325-6565

Concentrated Synthetic Mist Coolant
Type: Concentrated Synthetic Mist Coolant
Container Size: 1 Gal
Price: $36.16 ea

Wow, My little shop sure is expensive!


Eric

[dertsap]

i'm surprised to hear that , we used cintech's synthetic and it was great stuff , when we changed it which was once a year , one of the guys saved it for his own machine , the stuff was in great shape , the only reason we changed it was to get the casting dust out of the tanks

[widgitmaster]

Originally Posted by dertsap i'm surprised to hear that , we used cintech's synthetic and it was great stuff , when we changed it which was once a year , one of the guys saved it for his own machine , the stuff was in great shape , the only reason we changed it was to get the casting dust out of the tanks

Part of the problem was my not reading the instructions, which states 4oz per gallon of tap water. I probably used 10x that much as it looked so thin and I was afraid my new lathe would get all rusted! I figured that was the dosage for spray misting, not flooding! So I played it safe!
Eric

[dertsap]

better to be safe than sorry , even in over doing it i am surprised , im just curious what factor that stuff being biodegradable is playing , i would suggest trying some cimtech , they make good coolant , dont know if its biodegradable , but i do know it never broke down on us , in the summer heat we needed to top it up with water to keep the concentrate correct ,never any problems

[warpedmephisto]

Recently I upgraded the coolant system on my mill for pretty cheap. I was using a 2 gallon open top dish pan for the coolant with just a piece of screen over the drain for a filter. I was finding lots of chips in the bottom of my coolant pan and a lot of evaporation going on which turned the coolant to a viscous slime.

So I went out and bought a 10 gallon close-top container, added a finer screen filter for the large chips, and am now using a felt particulate filter to catch all of the small stuff. So far it has worked great and kept the coolant very clean. I also added 2 fish tank aerators to keep it stirred up everyday. I still have to make my new way covers for the mill so the coolant doesn't wash so much way oil away (which ends up in the coolant tank) but that will come soon enough.

More information and pics on my coolant system can be found at: http://www.warpedairsmithing.com/shopprojects.asp