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  1. #41
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    Are they white and somewhere in the neighborhood of 1/2" thick? (just guessing)



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    Yes that is about the size. White threads about 1/16" diameter, or maybe slightly larger, wound just like a coil of string.

    An open mind is a virtue...so long as all the common sense has not leaked out.


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    luke
    make it easy on yourself
    get the part number on of your canster and look online it will tell you what filter size
    or grab a filter take it to home depot and get the coarse one


    I am betting there the same ones I used, they look the same size anyhow.



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    Quote Originally Posted by Delw View Post
    luke
    make it easy on yourself
    get the part number on of your canster and look online it will tell you what filter size
    or grab a filter take it to home depot and get the coarse one


    I am betting there the same ones I used, they look the same size anyhow.
    I dont think you get it, the recommended filter (which I purchased) is giving me trouble.



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    What concentration is your coolant at? It's a wild-ass-guess, but if you were WAY rich on the coolant, it may plug up a filter??

    I found that 25 micron is too small for me. They plug up very quickly if you're producing a lot of small chips (surfacing, engraving, etc.). I run a 100 micron filter, Mcmaster PN 45235K98 and have had no problems. I will say, however, that the 25 micron filters did not do what yours is; They worked just fine until they physically plugged up with chips.

    For what it's worth, I have 3 of these filters...one on the house, one for the shop, and one on the machine. They are all different brands, but they all take the same filter.



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    I didn't read all of the posts, so I may have missed something. Mcmaster sells filter bags, that I use on my vibratory tumbler. I built a recirculating system and have no issues with particles in the cheap pond pump I use. The bags look like a big tube sock, and can be bought in different mesh sizes down to a few microns. They are also cheap and reusable. The ones I bought fit in (i think) a 4" PVC fitting. It would be fairly easy to build a few filter canisters. Macmaster also sells housings. You also might be able to use the material to build a better pre-filter for your machine.



  7. #47
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    Quote Originally Posted by Matt@RFR View Post
    What concentration is your coolant at? It's a wild-ass-guess, but if you were WAY rich on the coolant, it may plug up a filter??


    The coolant manufacturer suggested a 6% mixture. I read a bunch of threads on the subject and found that a richer mixture of 10% was suggested for home based machines that were not being used daily to help control rust.

    I went with a 10% mixture because it will be awhile before I get up and running at that capacity. I wonder if that’s the issue, any thoughts on the mixture percentage?

    I do have a refractometer so it’s not that big of a deal to make adjustments. Plus I only mixed up about 35 gallons; I have a 55 gallon tank. I’m running Trim E206.



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    Quote Originally Posted by thedave View Post
    Mcmaster sells filter bags, that I use on my vibratory tumbler.
    Do you have any part numbers? I wouldn't mind taking a look at how you set yours up. (Meaning the parts you used)



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    Quote Originally Posted by l u k e View Post
    I wonder if that’s the issue, any thoughts on the mixture percentage?
    By "WAY rich", I meant 30-40%. 10% is fine.



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    Quote Originally Posted by Matt@RFR View Post
    By "WAY rich", I meant 30-40%. 10% is fine.
    Got it.



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    I'll snap some picts tonight. Mine is an open system, but I think you could build a better closed system.



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    The first image shows the whole setup. A small pond pumps out of the bucket into the top fitting on the tumbler, the liquid is drained through the bottom fitting into the filter bag, which drains into the bucket. The second image shows the 1 1/2" PVC stand that holds the filter bag. The third image shows how the filter bag fits into a 4" PVC fitting. Part # of the bag is Mcmaster 5726K44. The PVC fitting has a stop that the bag sits on in the last image. left side below the bag rim. I think you could build a pair of filters using some 4" PVC pipe with caps on the bottom, and clean out fittings at the top. You also may want to get a bag that doesn't filter as much. I think 100 micron would be enough to filter out all of the chips and you wouldn't need to change it as much. They make much larger bags as well.

    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Coolant System Tweaks and Tricks-filtera-jpg   Coolant System Tweaks and Tricks-filterb-jpg   Coolant System Tweaks and Tricks-filterc-jpg   Coolant System Tweaks and Tricks-filterd-jpg  



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    I like the bags. I wish they were made with the opening along the long side so a rack could be fashioned to sit under the coolant drain on a mill. Perhaps they could be purchased and re-sewn as such...



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    So I sunk a bunch of money and time into several different attempts at pre-filtering my coolant BEFORE it went to the sump. I have a few reasons for this:

    I make a few production parts in brass that consist almost entirely of 3D surfaces which makes a giant mess of the sump, plus it turns the coolant green and at some point, will probably ruin it if the small fines are not cleaned from the sump.

    I machine magnesium parts that wreak havoc on the coolant, and I'm hoping by pre filtering everything, the mag won't be in contact with the coolant long enough to destroy it. (Blaser makes a special coolant for use with mag, but it's twice the price, would need its own sump to be a quick changeover, and will probably sit for a year between uses, so this is not an attractive way to go for me at this time)

    I also machine some cast iron parts, which probably need no further explanation. I cringe every time those parts come around.

    What I ended up with is as follows: I made a 8"x18"x9" deep intermediate sump that is cut into the drain screen below the outlet from the enclosure. There is 100 micron filtering felt above the intermediate sump to catch all the big chips (which you can see I'm struggling with keeping attached...I've got more stuff coming that should solve this problem and still let me change the felt out quickly each morning) This sump houses a 40 GPM sump pump with integral float switch. I went with a 40 GPM pump because with both the standard coolant pump and the TSC pump running, I have about 32 GPM coming out of the machine. The entire system is plumbed in 1-1/2" pipe/hose. From the pump, the coolant goes through a check valve, then to the first filter which currently has a 100 micron bag filter in it. The second filter has a 10 micron bag.

    The third (blue) filter is the same one that has been discussed here several times on the outlet side of the low pressure Haas pump. I run a 100 micron filter in it, but will be switching to a 50 with the addition of the pre-filter system.

    All three filters have remote gauges that I made a panel for, which also houses my air blow regulator/gauge and manual button for the air blow as well. The two pre filter gauges (PF1 and PF2) will be changed to 0-15psi for better resolution. The air blow isn't hooked up yet. Incidentally, you can see two 110VAC outlets mounted to the electrical cabinet that I added for all the new sump pump, the Zebra coolant coalescer pump and the coalescer air pump. That 110V line continues underneath the cabinet to the other side, which is where I'll get the 110 VAC and 24VDC (via a "wall wart") for the solenoid and relays respectively, and will supply power for any future pneumatic fixturing automation I may add.

    From the second pre filter, the line goes to a ball valve to control flow and to create pressure in the system. What I found with previous attempts is that this system (the way I'm going about it, anyway) MUST be pressurized to some extent to work. I have balanced the flow with the valve to essentially barely keep up with both low pressure and TSC pumps running at the same time, and found that, without filters in the system, produces 5psi. The pressure is important to note without filters because that is the baseline for the system. You'll notice that all gauges are seeing pressures AFTER the filters, so it's easy to see by looking at the gauges that a filter is plugging up, rather than just waiting for one to stop flowing altogether. This has worked very well with the post filter that's been on the machine for a couple years now.

    You'll notice that I could have made the intermediate sump quite a bit bigger, but I wanted a fail-safe if the sump pump fails. If this happens, the coolant will simply overflow and go into the main sump like normal. At some point down the road, I'll put a liquid sensing switch in the intermediate sump, above normal fluid levels, to switch a red indicator light on the gauge panel to let me know that the intermediate sump is overflowing.

    At this point, the only thing I would like to change is the sump pump. I would like to have more pressure at the same volume simply to have better resolution on the gauges. A 25% reduction in pressure is a lot easier to see at a glance when baseline is 25psi rather than 5psi. I will likely wait for the current pump to fail (if it does) to make a move on this.

    During all these changes I also moved the wash down hose to the front corner of the machine, which I really like. I also bought Blaser's mini mixer, and it's amazing how different the coolant looks and smells versus mixing it with a paint mixer in a cordless drill. The smell is stronger (which is fine, it smells good to me!) and the coolant has much more of a clear look rather than a solid white look. All at the same concentration I was running before. Plus, believe it or not, it took roughly 1/2 gallon LESS concentrate to fill the system to the same concentration than it did before. That's quite a difference. And now, with indoor water, I don't have to fill 5 gallon buckets with water while getting rained/snowed on. I feel pretty high class now!

    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Coolant System Tweaks and Tricks-cimg3578-jpg   Coolant System Tweaks and Tricks-cimg3579-jpg   Coolant System Tweaks and Tricks-cimg3581-jpg   Coolant System Tweaks and Tricks-cimg3582-jpg  

    Coolant System Tweaks and Tricks-cimg3584-jpg   Coolant System Tweaks and Tricks-cimg3585-jpg   Coolant System Tweaks and Tricks-cimg3586-jpg  


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    I'm using a Whirlpool WHKF-DWHBB with the 30 micron filter WHKF-WHPLBB. It works fine for me with 10 to 12% mix. I did have a problem with the first one I purchased with the clear plastic bowls. I cracked the bottom of one with a small leak and returned it for a free replacement. I kept my eye on the second one and it cracked as well. I went back to Lowes and saw that the newer ones were using a opaque bowl. I purchased one of these and have not had any more problems.

    Vern



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    Update on my pre-filter setup outlined above: It's been 3 weeks since I last machined magnesium and about 4 weeks since machining any brass.

    Mag: I took no real precautions over every day coolant maintenance other than changing the filters immediately after the last mag part came out of the machine, and vacuuming out the enclosure of all mag chips (which I think is a good idea anyway). To date, the coolant has not been effected by the magnesium at all, which is 180º from the devastation it caused before I installed all this filtering nonsense.

    Brass: The coolant did turn slightly green, but not to nearly the extent as before. I'd say in the area of a 90% improvement. And after about 1 week, the coolant had returned to pure white on its own.

    In general, between the coalescer and all the filters, my coolant maintenance has gone to zero. All I do is change the filter felt above the intermediate sump, drain the tramp oil out of the coalescer and top the main sump off (which now is as simple as turning on a valve). I couldn't be happier.

    As a side benefit to how the design came together, when I forget to change the filter felt above the intermediate sump, the only chips that escape into the main sump are ones that float. The coalescer then picks those chips up, filters them out and bingo, I have the cleanest coolant sump I've ever seen...always.

    Based on my first coolant charge that got abused to no end (due to lack of knowledge/experience on my part) that lasted 3 years, I have no reason to think the coolant that is in the machine now won't last 10 years or more with only topping it up. If that is in fact the case, that is a substantial savings over time, and a very quick ROI.



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    That's a nice clean system you set up...definitely something to strive for! I'd love to hook up a similar concept since I've occasionally done large batches of brass parts and spent a lot of time cleaning up afterward...uggh



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