Coolant tank cleaning

[Eritex Inc.]

Okay guys, I have been lurking here for years but finally signed up. I own a small shop and primarily do production work on my own products. I have a Mini and use SW and MCX2. I am 100% self taught but am luck enough to be a fast learner.

A snapshot of some of my products...


Anyway, my issue is coming home smelling like a toilet. I use Shell Adrana 770 at about 12%. I ran the machine from February to September on the same coolant with no issues. In September I got stupid and cut a hunk of wood in the machine as a tester (I didn't want to cock up a VERY pricey hunk of AL). 2 days after that the Haas smelled like an out house. I spent 8 hours cleaning and flushing the machine and then refilled it with the 770 at the same ratio.

Within 6 weeks the smell was back and now I have to skim the tank daily. I get this white, fatty globs out and the coolant and it has gone from a crystal blue color to a gray, milky, stinky, crap.

Any help will be greatly appreciated,

Gerame

[gsrmmeza]

When the coolant gets a little ripe where I work we add some baking soda. After a few days there is no odor and it also neutralizes the acidicness that the bacteria may have created.

[little bubba]

When coolant stinks, you need to take a step back and figure out what is going on.

When I first started in this game on my own, shared a shop with a wood working guy, had some stinky sump issues, and I attribute it to his damn sawdust. The stinky would show up a few days after he was getting his groove on in some really detailed stuff that created dust that stuck to everything as opposed to when he was actually making chips.

So what happened, you added food(wood, termites eat it). Same as if you peed in the tank or dumped a box of sweet and sour chicken in there. I've run some wood on occasion, and as I'm sure you've learned, vacuum it up.

So what did happen, bacteria, bacteria in and of themselves don't stink, its their excrement that stinks, and in a good sump, as in a fish tank, different strains of bacteria eat each others sh1t and keep a nice stink free environment. The bacteria are still there, it just doesn't stink. The extra source of food threw this balance way way off.

After reloading with fresh coolant, and you're still getting stink, you have an issue (obviously). Since you said you said you spent a lot of time cleaning and flushing, I'm guessing you used soaps/bleach etc. You may have started your fresh sump off on the wrong foot. The wrong foot being poisons, kills most bacteria, but some find them tasty, throwing your nice stink free balance off forever.

Your fatty globs could possibly be badly mixed coolant or you really have a nasty nasty issue.

My suggestion, get rid of the coolant you have, its already stunk you out twice this year. Go with a company that doesn't sell floor wax or motor oil, somebody that will have real honest to goodness technical support and will test your coolant. The quality or "premium" coolant companies will have a cleanser that you will clean your sump with, and if they even offer a product you have to pay for that will get rid of stink, its not a coolant you want. It may be more upfront cost, but in 4 years I've never had to dump a sump, so in the long run, you will save money.

[Eritex Inc.]

I talked to my HFO today. They said they sell Hangsterfer's and run it in all their machines. I am having them get a coolant/cleaner package put together for me to remedy the stink issue.


Good news - The HFO is 6 miles from my shop and have everything I need in stock.

Bad News - I am a 1 man shop. If I am busy cleaning a machine there is nothing being made.

On a different not, I used no cleaners when I cleaned the tank last time. I drained it, scooped out the chips, flushed it, and added the coolant mixture back.

[Geof]

Your 'fatty globs' could be fungus introduced from the wood.

I think it is impossible to clean all the crevices in the MiniMill base which holds the coolant and the lines leading up to the spindle so I think you are going to have to use a powerful disinfectant and fungicide. Concentrated bleach would do it but that is a bit dicey because if it gets into places where it doesn't get washed out then you have a potential corrosion problem. In a similar situation but nowhere near as bad I used an old fashioned coal tar disinfectant called Creolin that is, or was, used for washing out horse and cattle barns; stinks horribly and irritates your throat but dissipates over a few days.

[ImanCarrot]

I used household bleach on my mill sump- sorted the problem within a day and no more horrible damp stink, but as Geof says, be careful it can cause corrosion.

Incidentaly, that foam stuff you get in air filters is perfect for catching the chips before the return coolant goes back to the sump (or you could use scotchbrite pads).

That foam stuff is also handy for wicking up any tramp oil on top of the sump coolant

[Eritex Inc.]

***update***

I used the Hangsterfer's Clean All according to the instructions. I then dumped that out, re-scrubbed the machine and charged it with a week coolant mix (1%) and ran that for 3 hours. Dumped that, did a third cleaning and then re-charged with a 9% coolant mix of the Hangsterfer's S-500. I have been cutting all morning and all seems good. The finish on the parts is better and I happy with the smell, or lack there of.

Thanks for the advise, I will be paying much more attention to the coolant system.

[MikeOD]

I have had good luck with Hangsterfers products as well...I do NOT like their chlorine free mixes of the same coolants...S-500 has served me well, S-500CF has not stayed clean for me.

For what it's worth, I actually really prefer Castrol's coolants. Clearedge and Syntillo have been excellent in the past for me and haven't had any growth issues.

[KevinWilkins]

There are addatives you can by for coolant that prevent bacteria. I use a cap full in my coolant and it doeesnt go bad and stinky. Check and see if the makers of your coolant dont offer an anti-bacterial addivtive for their products.

[Dr Honda]

I too hate the smell of rancid cutting fluid. Growing up, my buddies dad had a shop (in the 80s) and it always stunk!!!

Anyway… I’ve been using OakFlow DSS800. You can get it from Enco. (about $65 for 5gal) It’s been in my VF3 for about 1.5 years without any problems. It has a soapy smell when your head is in the machine, and it adds no noticeable smell to my shop. It is a semi-synthetic fluid, and I’ve been running it at 5% to 6%. I do mostly aluminum… but I also do some SS. On either metal… I get a good finish, and great tool life. Oh… also… I’ve put over 11,000 holes on one 8mm roll tap using only this fluid. As of the beginning of the summer… it’s also in my lathe, and I won’t be changing brands anytime soon.

Nice RC stuff. What’s the little gearbox for??

[Eritex Inc.]

The small gearbox is actually a 1:10 scale transfer case for an R/C truck.

[Eritex Inc.]

Here is a picture of that gearbox installed in an R/C...



Those are a set of wheels I made also...