Why every shop needs a coolant skimmer - Shop Life 015
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- Опубліковано 26 сер 2024
- The coolant in our lathe was getting dirtier and dirtier, and we just couldn't let that happen. We've been looking at this coolant skimmer for a while and are so happy that we finally got it! It's just one way we're making sure that we're taking the best possible care of our machines so we can keep making "Full-Grimsmo" knives (and pens!)
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Coolant Skimmer from: www.nexjentechnologies.com
John Grimsmo Knives Instagram: johngrimsmoknives
Erik Grimsmo Instagram: erik_grimsmoknives
Erin Kelly Instagram: producingerin
Music from: www.EpidemicSound.com
I mostly do engineering work so my mill doesn't run often which is horrible for coolant. This separator has made a phenomenal difference. I just put it on a timer and run it 15 mins a day. By they way, I've never seen a floor so clean under a mill. That's impressive.
Fun Fact: Use your Torx bits to remove rounded hex bolts, you will need to tap them into the chewed up head, the 6 points of the torx star fit perfectly into the 6 corners of the hex shape. Its works every time for me. i find that TX27 works the best on M6 Hex bolts. :)
I use these on all my lathes. They work great. I let them run 24/7/365, even while running the machine.
Make sure to add a inline shutoff valve on the inlet line for the containment tank.
To drain the skimmed oil out of the top of the containment tank:
1st) Close the inline shutoff valve on the inlet line.
2nd) Turn off the skimmer pump.
3rd) Open the top drains on the containment tank to drain off the skimmed oil.
Without adding a shutoff valve to the inlet line for the containment tank, when you shut off the skimmer pump to drain the skimmed oil off, the containment tank will drain enough to cause the coolant level and skimmed oil to drop below the top drain valves on the containment tank, and not allowing the skimmed oil to drain from the tank. You cannot drain the skimmed oil out of the containment tank with the skimmer pump running at the same time.
Also, wrap the float unit with something like screening for a house window (or a little finer mesh screen, but not as fine mesh as what is on your coolant pump filter, or the oil will not get through it). This will keep most chips from getting sucked in the skimmer pump, and not cause the impeller on the skimmer pump to lock up and burn out the motor. Remember, it is a submersible pump, and needs to stay submerged to keep the pump motor cool. Saves the life of the skimmer pump, which will fail, eventually. So make sure to keep the coolant level high in your sump at all times while running the skimmer.
Also, the when cleaning the matrix (which should be done at least twice a year), do not take the layers of the matrix apart to clean them. Use a low foaming degreaser (like Simple Green, at least a 50/50 concentrate) and completely submerge and let the matrix soak (overnight seems to be long enough). Then, thoroughly rise the matrix before reinstall.
"You cannot drain the skimmed oil out of the containment tank with the skimmer pump running at the same time." What happens otherwise? I've been draining the tramp oil without turning the pump off without an issue.
@@agg42 Then you better be watching the tramp oil leave the skimmer tank. If not, with the pump running; the coolant level will keep rising as the oil exits the tank, and once the oil is gone, then you'll be pumping straight coolant out of the tank. I found that out the hard way before I added the inlet inline shutoff valve. Huge mess on the floor, and wasted coolant, which ain't free.
I listen to the podcast religiously and find myself wondering if you ever wonder why it is you are constantly in your shop working, machining, getting your hands dirty, handling parts, sopping up coolant off the floor, while Saunders is jet setting, filming tours, and seemingly doing very little work? I found the jealousy that boiled to the surface over the hollywood/show thing interesting.
I really enjoy seeing someone actually working on a daily basis instead of someone commenting on how others should work. You guys are without a doubt going somewhere. Good for you. Keep it up. Live your own life, make your own decisions. Tony Robbins is great for consideration but when it comes down to making things youve got to get in there and do it.
That’s a pretty expensive dishwasher ... 😂
It is 2020 now and I am curious if you are still using the NJT coolant coalescer and if you are......how do you like it?
A hand held impact driver will usually get those stripped allens out. Also heating with a torch and driving the next size in usually does the trick as well. I would suggest since you take mostly small fine detail cuts and your chips are small that you install some finer mesh screen in your catches to help keep so much swarf out of your sumps.
we tried the C-Thru separator for about 6 months...worked ok but plugged with solid...switched to the portable SmartSkim sump caddy and it was much better, especially with the solids...we have 1 sump caddy for 8 machines
I really need to get one of these, my lathe absolutely pisses a ton of oil in the coolant tank. This looks like a nice one!
John Huijben I built one for my Mori seiki but I really should've just bought one. I spent way too much time building it. But it does work pretty ok. Except the one time something clogged it up and a lot of the coolant ended up on the floor lol.
I know Amish and John have been happy with theirs and now that I see you guys have it and it's working well, I'm definitely ordering one! I wish there was a Canadian distributor!
Omid M. If you haven’t oredered yours yet? We are a distributor in Canada. Elso.ca ask for José😉
The bounty of jokes about it aside that three-ball floaty thing would make an interesting conversation piece on my coffee table. The whole affair seems to work pretty well too.
Nice manual Jogg the mill over the screen to flush the particulate out shop hack. :)
Do you have a QA checklist? Maybe at low production volume you don't need one, but when production increases, you might.
Looking good! Enjoying the new video format, well done Erin
Hey John - I just ordered one for my shop.. can't wait to be done dealing with tramp oil in the coolant. Thanks for the vid also.
Just a thought, There is this tar spary thats used for tyre bolts etc to prevent them from getting stuck without sacrificing the grip, that might be good for these bolts too..
Great video and product. I miss the old John Grismo tool path perfection demonstrations. Need more CAM and Chips.
Carefully hammer a torx bit into your stripped out socket head screw... Easiest way to remove a damaged screw... No milling and/or drilling needed.
we used a coolant centrifuge oil seperator at my last shop, we were very stingy about coolant and anything that machine diddnt reject went back to the machines indefinitely, if was nice though. it got all of the micro particles out of the coolant which scraped out of the spinning drum by hand as a grey sludge. kept the machines very very clean.
Are your fixtures using helicoils or inserts? You might end up chewing up the threads at some point if it's just straight tapped aluminum.
M6 for one screw, 4-40 for t'other. Oh, Canada ;)
500.00?
You could have made a oil skimmer with a 2 - 5 gallon pails, 1- 10 gallon rubbermaid container, 3 - 1 1/2" bulkhead connectors, 1 - 90 degree PVC elbow, approx 2' of 1 1/2" pipe, 1 - 9" piece of 3" PVC pipe... 4 pieces of wire.
I designed that as a liquid "Thein Baffle" dirt / oil / grease separator for my parts washer...
All the oil and dirt coming from the washer is swirled into top of the first bucket under the "water line", oil is separated by the 3" pipe sitting above the "water line" and over the 1 1/2" pipe in the center of the bucket suspended by 4 wires, so the oil and 99 percent of the suspended dirt stays in the one bucket, then goes to next bucket which gets rid of more suspended dirt if any, then the goes to the large container with the pump and heater. The cleaned cleaner gets pumped to clean parts. I have about 100.00 in it including the valves to control the parts washer... I use water based parts cleaner in an unheated garage so I added a aquarium heater set at 50 degrees to keep it unfrozen... with no insulation. All have the covers on them BTW. We had temps at -4 and it didn't freeze.
To clean it, you are only messing with a max of 5 gallons of cleaner... pump the majority of the 15 gallons into the washer. Then I use a light behind the bucket and siphon the "separated" cleaner into the next bucket from between dirt and the oil then dispose of the it. Slap it back together, add more cleaner... hardly any dirt has shown up in the second bucket and I have used it a lot...
I made my own disk skimmer from hardware parts, a laser cut stainless steel disk and a slow turning surplus motor. It cost about $120 and has the same performance a units costing around $500. Its definitely not in the same league as your skimmer but works fine for a Tormach sized machine.
Nick Martin i built one too out of an old table saw blade lol. It did get clogged up one time and made a mess in my shop floor so now I try to only run it when I'm at the machine or at least in my shop. Wish I would've bought one though haha.
Before I changed jobs, I couldn't convince the company to buy something like an NJT or do anything for coolant maintenance. Instead, I ended up making something comparable out of a 5 gallon bucket, venturi pump, and a filter bag. Plump the venturi into the machines existing airline and presto. No electric pumps, or extra work. as long as the air is on, it's running.
use Left hand drill in hand drill or in drill press to drill out your broken screws, stripped out heads you'll quickly see why
Where did you order it for 500 used? Canadian distributor wanted 1000 when I enquired.
John Just return the boxes that have not been opened to McMastster Carr, you will need to get an R.M.A. number. Jim
Do you have a problem with stripping threads given that your fixtures are all aluminum? Tim Paul mentioned on a webinar that he greeses the threads on his aluminum fixtures so they last longer.
The hex head, not the bolt thread. He replaced them with Torx.
Sometimes we do strip the threaded part in the fixture, and it totally sucks, then that hole gets upgraded with a threaded insert. But typically it's fine! In a perfect world I'd use thread inserts on every single high use thread in the aluminum fixture, and I bought enough to do that, just haven't yet.
Great video guys!
Torx all the things! My first check whenever I go to McMaster for bolts is, do they have it in a Torx. I wish it was standard and you had to go out of your way to find Allen heads. :-/
Yeah, hex heads just don't work out right, as far as i'm concerned it's a failed implement, we just happen to have it en masse because it was the standard for ages. Heck, were it not for the hassle of sliding the screw driver, a freaking (properly cut) flathead is more reliable in time.
What's so good about Torx? They fail faster that Hex bolts.
if everyone would standardize the Canadian Robertson head (square head) that'd be great.
13:16 I love Erik
I wanted to see one of those colesters working before I get one.
Why would you drill out that hex cap screw when you could easily mill a slot and pull it out with a screw driver???
I try and stay away from holding things down with screws..I started out like that but moved to soft jaws..I have the Chick system.
Hmm think I mentioned absorption grit for these kinds of things, a few videos ago lol.
@JohnGrimsmo 4:03 - Hey John, get some PigMat, the stuff is amazing!
Would you ever make a more affordable knife line?
$500 usd, which model did you buy?
How is the NJT separator doing? Any opinions after a year of use?
Your jigs are aluminum aren't they? If they are you can dissolve a steel screw out of aluminum with alum. Available at every grocery store in the spice section. AvE had a video on it. No risk of damage to the jig or threads, but obviously takes longer.
How much torque is on those fasteners do you think? since they're not corroded in, I'd think am easy out tool would work most of the time wouldn't it? something like this?a.co/2hdFoPi
uses cylindrical head screws instead of button head the tool tip is bigger
7' Don't crosscontaminate your coolants!
@JohnGrimsmo If you call mcmaster, they will take the items you dont need back for a refund most of the time, or an exchange.
Just left hand drill those bolts out, easy
Torx+ is not the solution, control your torque to improve process reliability
time for a wet use only shopvac
And now you just contaminated the mill with anything that was growing in the nak
I feel as long as you are maintaining the tank and keeping it happy with aerobic bacteria, you'll be fine. Any aerobic will eat the anaerobic for breakfast if the tank is it's proper pH and concentration levels. I mean, avoid doing it in the first place, but all things considered...
try the wera hex plus and torx plus they are the best and wont strip the screws, they have them with a retainer ball bearing also
demo: ua-cam.com/video/t82jTk3mP5E/v-deo.html
Belt skimmer pleb here...
so only 1000 dollars canadian lol
so waste of paper :D