Drip Pans

[bob1371]

Just spent the Thanksgiving weekend (fri, sat, sun) moving a few machines out and installing 2 new Makino a61's. All is done and they were actually machining sample parts (oil pans) this morning before I left. I find out today that our plant manager wants to have drip pans made to set these machines into even though the Makino saleman and service rep say its a bad idea. Besides the trouble of unhooking the machines and calling the rigging company back I have real concerns about the machines walking around in these drip pans. They have a 50,000MM rapid traverse with a 1G accelleration rate.

We have 60+ cnc machines and none are sitting in a pan. Although we have our share of leaks most are attributted to chips clogging machines and allowing coolant to back up.

Just wondering if its common practice to have machines setting in drip pans or is this just something the boss dreamed up one day while doing nothing?

Thanks,
Bob

[ctate2000]

My plant loves drippans also. We however do not set the machine in the pan. We build the pans to fit under and around the areas where drips occur. When possible we set them up to drain back into machine.

[NC Cams]

With the environementals getting as they are, the residual contamination that seeps into the floor can get real expensive to clean up/out. Drip pans are a way to avoid an environmental nightmare later at the expense of some inconvenience now. Besides, you may not have been given a choice - the days of "screw it, we'll clean it up later" (by which later never comes) are essentially gone.

The machine manufacturer should have prescribed ways to mount your machine - especially if it has the ability to walk itself across the floor under violent accelerations. This would/should include floor thickness, retention and the required HVAC needed for it to function as designed.

Pretty much all my machines have provisions for fastening them to the floor mechanically - once you bolt them down, it essentially doesn't matter if there's a drip pan under them or not.

In light of preventing the machine from dripping in the first place (root cause of the discussion), a drip pan will effectively contain the breadth and depth of any contamination that drips may cause.

BTW: I don't have a drip pan under my cam grinder (no $ at the time we spotted it). Now wish I t had a drip pan. At this time, it is physically impossible to lift the machine (at least not without moving all the other stuff out of the shop to get at it as the grinder is in the back rear corner).

[BeeleJuice]

i will add by 2 cent not readin previous posts. you make a BIG drip pan with sheet metal. punch the holes in the pan where the machine bolts to the ground. then around them holes, use flexable sealent so when the machine rattles it wont break.

do i do this? no.


what i do is fix the leak. im not MR, know it all how to fix a leak.

but what i do is come in on a saterday or what ever and find the fitting that is causing it and tighen it. if your leaking hydrolic fluid on the ground then it needs to be fixed not an oil pan. i know it sometimes the quick soluition. but like said earlier, (yeah we will through a pan under there and fix it when we have time and time never comes. just fix it on your own time. your boss will pay you. guy dont come to your shop for free. and some have nothing better to do but charge your boss 80-120 and hour, oh and did i mention +++++PLUS PARTS!. hehe.


but seriously i do have pans under some machines, awaiting attention. THEY NEED TO BE FIXED.

[NC Cams]

Let's look at post #4 a bit more closely.

a. First you have a drip.

b. you let it go and the puddle now gets big

c. So now you add a pan to contain.

d. Then you have to empty the pan but where do you dump the waste oil (now a biohazard) and expensive to get rid of LEGALLY.

e. Or, you toss kitty liter in it to absorb/contain the leak so you don't have liquid to deal with.

f. Now, biohazard powder but at least you can dump it in the waste in a more clandestive/less obvious yet still polluting and perhaps illegal fashion.

g. replenish the reservoir that the fluid dripped from as you need to keep the machine running.

h. Don't forget that in some cases, if oil gets into sealed concrete, the environmental study the goes with ANY building sale anymore will probably detect it. You'll pay BIGTIME to clean up when/if that happens and God forbid if the leak should hit bare earth - you'll dig until they tell you to stop in order to clean up that mess.

Go thru ALL the above, compute the TOTAL cost potential of NOT fixing the "no time to fix" leak and advise please.

or

1. Machine starts leaking

2. Fix leak.

Notice how all the B/S cost adders inbetween are avoided by simply fixing leaks ASAP, even if you have to make time.

[NC Cams]

Oops, forgot this:

A clean, ungrungy place is simply nicer to work in/near/around and this has to be worth SOMTHING.