Flood Coolant Pump Specs

B

benster

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I've seen a lot of people mention coolant pumps in past threads, either that came with existing systems, or that they built their own systems with. I have not been able to find a good source for required pressure or head. A lot of the pumps rated for fluid service are fractional horsepower, but many reviewers say they do not produce acceptable flow to clear chips.

I have made a fogbuster style system for my mill, but would eventually like to change to flood coolant for it and my lathe. More pressing however, is the need for a flood coolant system on my surface grinder to keep the parts cool and dust to a minimum. Am I OK going with a harbor freight fractional hp submersible pump? Should I spring for a Little Giant brand? What kind of hp rating, head rating etc. should I be looking for?

Feel free to steer me to a previous discussion, I was not able to find anything with a few searches.

-Ben
 
Do you have a through coolant spindle on the mill?
Many through coolant tools have very small fluid ports that will require a good deal of pressure to allow sufficient flow for chip evacuation, 1" and less diameter end mills and drills come to mind, some machines have well over 1000 PSI coolant pumps.

A very well done enclosure is needed unless you do not mind working in the coolant rain all day (-:
 
I have used submersible pumps and also a pump sold by Grainger with the motor above the liquid, which I no longer see in their online catalog.
 
While not responsive to your actual question, two thoughts: (1) My lathe came with a flood coolant system, which I only tried once. It makes a jolly mess, spraying coolant all over and into the chuck, the ways, myself, the cat, etc. Never again. Brush-and-cup works fine unless you are doing CNC in a closed housing. (2) I use a mist system on my surface grinder, keeps everything cool and makes grinding swarf easy to clean up, without creating the issue of how to contain and control the mess a flood system would cause. Don't want coolant in those precision bearings, or yourself, or the cat, etc. Flood cooling works great in my horizontal bandsaw, however: and, with a low flow, is easily controlled and recycled on the mill, which has drains in the table. I put strainers in-line with the returns to keep the sump somewhat clean. Random thoughts, hth.
 
My mill is set up with a Harbor Freight pump capable of 50 psi. The HF pump part number is 62508. I'm not certain that they still have this pump as I bought mine about 2 years ago. As I recall I paid about $50 for it.

It puts out more than enough volume and pressure to evacuate chips. I have a bypass line on my system with the bypass valve set at about 1/4 open.
 
I use a Little Giant brand garden waterfall pump in my home built system. Works great but I wish I would have gotten the next size bigger. I don't remember which one I got so that doesn't help you much! Anyway, Little Giant has a good reputation and many models are available from Grainiger's and other places. Most any place that has a garden department (Lowes. Home Depot, etc.) carries one brand or another.
 
Video_man said:
While not responsive to your actual question, two thoughts: (1) My lathe came with a flood coolant system, which I only tried once. It makes a jolly mess, spraying coolant all over and into the chuck, the ways, myself, the cat, etc. Never again. Brush-and-cup works fine unless you are doing CNC in a closed housing. (2) I use a mist system on my surface grinder, keeps everything cool and makes grinding swarf easy to clean up, without creating the issue of how to contain and control the mess a flood system would cause. Don't want coolant in those precision bearings, or yourself, or the cat, etc. Flood cooling works great in my horizontal bandsaw, however: and, with a low flow, is easily controlled and recycled on the mill, which has drains in the table. I put strainers in-line with the returns to keep the sump somewhat clean. Random thoughts, hth.
Click to expand...

When using a flood coolant system, if you keep the solution away from the chuck, you'll have minimal mess. You don't need to run it at full flow. That being said, you still need something to contain the solution. I made up a back splash from a 2' x 2' .070 aluminum sheet for my lathe, and it works fine for my needs, but you can go overboard and make up or buy something to completely enclose the chuck. If you use a good coolant, and mix your solution correctly, you don't need to worry about the bearings. Fortunately my lathe was set up to have the system with the drain already installed, I just added a 3 gallon 1/4 HP coolant pump. There's no comparison between the flood and brushing on coolant. Keeping the tool cool increases your finish, and cutter life, and you'll find yourself taking deeper cuts without problems. I use my system more than I thought I would, and it was well worth the minimal money invested.
 
A side thought; I a synthetic coolant and an aquarium air pump set on a timer to run 15 minutes 2 times a day to keep the coolant free of odor.
 
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