Flood Cooling?

J

joshua43214

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My new mill is built to use flood coolant. The table and stand are both constructed to allow return of coolant to a reservoir, and the stand itself has a chamber to house the pump and sump.

It occurred to me today that my band saw has a flood coolant system that I never have and never will use. The rare time I will cut something that needs coolant, I will just do it manually. It is just not worth the trouble or cost to maintain it for rare use.

I was thinking I could rob the system from the band saw and install it on the mill.

Any opinions about using flood coolant in a basement shop (the furnace and laundry are in the same basement)? Types of coolant? I use almost exclusively HSS tooling, I mill aluminum and steel. I would like to take advantage of my bigger mill and get some shell or large face mills as well.
My metal shop compressor is just a tiny little thing, I use it just to blow chips out of holes, it would not begin to keep up with a cool-mist system.
 
I used flood coolant in my basement shop on a CNC square column benchtop mill for a few years. My gas fired hot water furnace and my laundry was also in the basement, no issues I'm not sure what you are concerned with there. My basement was 24x24 feet, laundry in one corner, furnace in the opposite corner, mill in the middle of the room.

Here's a brain dump of pro's and con's based on my experience. First lets define 'flood' you are not going to have industrial CNC type 250 psi flood coolant that's strong enough to blast chips, its going to be more of a stream like your kitchen faucet at 50%. It will keep the cutting tool and part cool, manage heat, and lubricate but that's about it. Chips will pile up in pockets and holes. My mill was enclosed on the bottom and all four sides, open on the top. I had to mop up a 5 foot perimeter around the mill each week due to coolant drops flinging up out the top. It wasn't a big deal but the floor would get sticky. You won't get things hot enough to turn the coolant to steam and I never had any moisture or mist problems from mine.

I used Tri-cool full synthetic lubri-coolant. Its water based. Never had any rust issues except under the vice which is typical of a lot of coolants. Even the Tri-Cool would go rank over time with some nasty looking bacterial colonies growing in your coolant tank, its like pieces of half rotted lettuce floating around and clogging up the tank and pump. About once year I had to drain the tank (5 gallon) and clean out all that nasty stuff. Keeping the oil skimmed off the top of the tank helps as does frequent use and an air pump, I seem to recall I used a fish tank air pump on mine. This helps but eventually the stuff will go rank anyway. The Tri-cool was nice that it didn't smell really. It also didn't bother my skin, some people can be really allergic to coolants.

I recently purchased an Accu-Lube minimum quantity lubricant system, its spritzes micro-droplets so it doesn't mist up the shop, but as you pointed out it requires quite a bit of air. I had not calculated that honestly and I'm dealing with the issue of air compressor noise and duty cycle. A flood coolant pump is WAY quieter than any compressor. I also tested the lubricant and it poofs into smoke just like cutting oil does, you won't have any problems with fumes with flood coolant unless you have an industrial CNC machine that can take heavy cuts and make steam.
 
I have a basement shop and use flood coolant on the Tormach. It can get fairly messy if not contained, especially with higher rpm or larger cutters. I made a curtain out of 6 mil vinyl that I suspend around the head with magnets. It does a very good job of containing splatter. The coolant that I use is a Premier synthetic coolant that Tormach sells. I am currently running an 18:1 dilution on it and do not have a problem with rusting. I monitor the concentration with a Brix refractometer and adjust the concentration to compensate for water evaporation. If I am going to leave the mill for a few days, I wash the mill down with coolant and use compressed air to blow off the excess coolant on any of the bare surfaces. I have a length of 3/8" vinyl hose that I slip over the end of my coolant nozzle for wash down. It is also recommended that the bottom of a milling vise or anything else left on the table be oiled before fastening it down to prevent any corrosion.

Bob
 
I use Rustlick 5050 and mix it at 20:1 and I haven't had any problems with rust. My mill has a full enclosure that keeps the coolant and chips contained. Without an enclosure I wouldn't recommend flood coolant. You will spend more time cleaning rather than machining. As RJ Sakowski said put a little oil between your table and whatever you are clamping to it to keep staining to a minimum. As a side note I've noticed an increase in cutter life using flood coolant.

Tom S
 
Can coolant be dumped down the storm sewers or must it go through a treatment plant? I can't remember what we did, I think we stored it so it could be treated. I think ours was soluble oil mixed with water. I remember some of the tanks would start to smell before changing out.
 
I've got a pump on my horizontal bandsaw. I've picked up a flood coolant system for my Van Norman 22LU.
I was planning on Rustlick. I used a waterbased coolant via a hand held spray bottle several years ago. I made the mistake of not pulling the vice on my mill for a month. What a rusty mess. Supposedly Rustlick doesn't have this problem.

I don't mean to steal your thread, but I believe it is in the same theme. I'll delete if not. Is pump design specific to water vs oil based coolants? Is there a difference in seals and etc? I've got a pump/motor assembly which was used to pump fuel oil out of fuel oil tanks prior to salvage and removal. I thought that someday I'd integrate it into my Gisholt Turret Lathe as a flood system.

Are pumps able to pump either indiscriminately?

Daryl
MN
 
Unless you have the mill table and spindle enclosed. like on a cnc it will throw coolant everywhere. For manual milling a brush or squirt bottle work qoit well.
 
Daryl, the requirements for a coolant pump are pretty liberal. I've used pumps ranging from a garden pool pump to a sump pump from a basement to submersible well pump. Most common, even on pumps furnished by machine tool manufacturers is a plain old vane pump. Around here, most common for an add-on or replacement pump is a Little Giant made by Franklin Electric. They are available in several sizes, are economical and seem to tolerate any coolant or oil. I've run them in honing machine sumps, and they do fine, even with the grit from the stones and metal particulate matter running through them.

So to condense, same pump on straight oil, water soluble coolant, synthetic.....no matter unless you have an extreme situation where you need a lot of pressure or a lot of lift. Then you may need to look into another type pump.
 
Tony,
That's a huge help.
I don't know what kind of pump the fuel oil pump is, and Ill likely want to figure out some sort of filter or screening.

Daryl
MN
 
I'd think either a vane pump or more likely a gear pump. Should be great for your purpose. Good idea on the filter/strainer. It's not that coolant (or cutting oil) has to be super clean, but you don't want too many chips in the pump if it turns out to be a gear pump. Screen will suffice as a strainer. A real filter, such as one with a paper element will clog too easily. Is this pump submersible or does it have a hose connection for suction?
 
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