Need Help!- Coolant Exiting Hoses keep Getting Clogged

[JWB_Machining]

Hey,

On my Haas TM-1 I have a hose on the left and one on the right of my table, these are to carry coolant down to the sump. Coming of the table on either side are elbows that connect to a 0.5" ID hose that drains down to bottom of the mill. I've noticed that these entrances are contantly getting clogged with chips, especially when i'm heavily flooding with coolant. I was wondering if anyone has advice on how resolve this problem. I was thinking maybe a piece of foam but idk how well that'd work. Looking for any ideas people have had success with in the past.

[Shotout]

Had the same problem at the last shop I was at, same machine. I used some perfed metal strips that sat in the the slots, slightly wider and shorter, at an angle to keep chips out of the elbows. I also cut two .750 slot .125 deep into the table from the t slot (+Y side of the table) all the way back off the edge. That way when the slots where full of chips the coolant would run off the table over the machine rather than the floor, after all the tool rotation and splashing was bad enough. I located the slots so that when the table was at both extremes of the X travel they where still located over the machine and it helped a lot. I don't remember the dimensions, I basically just cut along the dotted line

Originally Posted by JWB_Machining Hey, On my Haas TM-1 I have a hose on the left and one on the right of my table, these are to carry coolant down to the sump. Coming of the table on either side are elbows that connect to a 0.5" ID hose that drains down to bottom of the mill. I've noticed that these entrances are contantly getting clogged with chips, especially when i'm heavily flooding with coolant. I was wondering if anyone has advice on how resolve this problem. I was thinking maybe a piece of foam but idk how well that'd work. Looking for any ideas people have had success with in the past.

[JWB_Machining]

Hey,

I highly doubt my Boss will let me mill slots into the table but can you elborate on what you mean wit hyour perfed metal strips?

[LeeWay]

Perhaps some scrubby pads would work. I have some that came from a commercial type floor scrubber. They come in different colors for different degrees of toughness. The tougher ones have larger holes. Not really holes, but the mesh is larger. The softest ones are just about like a green scrubby pad. The ones I have are about and inch thick though.

I stuffed the intake to my pump with one of these and it does a great job at filtering.

[ImanCarrot]

I use air-conditioning filter foam to stop the chips clogging up everything. Needs changing now and again, but has the added bonus of wicking up any tramp oil. I've heard other people using Scotchbrite for the same effect.

Also, on the hoses coming from your table to the sump- you can sometimes get an air blockage, so stick your thumb over the end of the hose for a minute or two and the air will migrate to the top of the hose. The coolant fairly rushes through the hoses on my machine after this.

I reckon if the end of the hoses that return the coolant to the sump were immersed in coolant, stopping air getting in the pipes, I wouldn't get these air blockages, but I've yet to find the time to experiment.

[Edit]Oh, I also stuck a 1.5mm diameter length of electrical cable down the middle of both hoses- that seemed to encourage the flow (the hose is about 10mm diameter).[/Edit]

[Shotout]

Originally Posted by JWB_Machining Hey, I highly doubt my Boss will let me mill slots into the table but can you elborate on what you mean wit hyour perfed metal strips?

I don't remember the length or width, but it was Stainless Steel 316 10G .125 holes thru on .750 centers. Each row is offset from the other by half the distance between centers. Perforated sheet metal. Like this:

When the strip was in the end slots of the table it sat in at about 45 degrees. The chips collected against if but few went thru so it didn't clog the fittings or hose.
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