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Hey all,
I saw this skimmer in a photo on the Tormach Labs page today and was wondering if it's something that comes with one of the newer Tormach mills, or is it after market?
The small size and simplicity of it interests me, be nice to know if anyone has one, and how well it works.
Terry
Having been experimenting with skimmer designs on my Syl I see only one problem with the belt skimmers. It's only in one part of the tank so unless you can create some surface flow in the direction of the skimmer it's not going to be effective over a large surface area. I built a prototype of the NextGen style oil coalescer and even with pulling off the surface at one end of the tank and dropping the return coolant into the other end of the tank I still have places where the surface movement stalls in the tank. Something is better than nothing but so far I have come across a great solution.
Interesting Kenny, I wonder if a bubbling type agitator would be effective for this ?
Terry
Tormach sells the skimmer as an accessory but I think they are just re-selling the skimpy oil skimmers.
https://www.skimpyoilskimmers.com/
The ones I’ve seen using them recommended getting the oil traffic controller also to keep the oil reservoir from filling with coolant.
Yes, a bubbler is effective, at least in smaller tanks.Quote:
Originally Posted by MFchief
I built a belt skimmer for my mill - sized between a 770 and 1100 - and put an aquarium bubbler in the tank. Skimmer is at one corner, bubbler is at opposite corner. Adjusted the airflow to get a decent surface migration effect and it works like a champ. Slow, of course, but it works. I run it for about 10 minutes while I'm fiddling with job setup and keep an eye on the effluent. Once it starts looking more like coolant and less like oil/goop I turn it off.
I've found it works best to run the belt as slow as possible without the goop running back down the 'uphill' side. The slow speed gives the layer on top of the coolant more time to migrate over.
Skimmer is driven by a cheapo 24vdc gearmotor & power supply, air pump is a 120vac thing. Both plugged in to a power strip - turn on power strip and both come on.
Looks to me as if that one is factory fitted but, you can buy the same thing with a magnetic base and an adjustable bendy arm. These units are very useful for taking off the tramp oil from the top of your coolant tank and prolonging the coolant life.The only small issue with them is that they do also take a small amount of coolant when in use but really nothing to worry about. Well worth buying one in my opinion.
Regards. Steve.
Thanks for the comments guys. I think I want to try this, but the skimpy units seem kind of spendy to me. I am going to look at building my own. Using an old barbecue rotisserie motor comes to mind, but I don't know if the speed would be in the right range.
Terry
~30RPM works well for me. much faster and it picks up too much coolant. Much slower and the oil starts running off the belt on the uphill side.
Gearmotor: https://www.amazon.com/uxcell-Electr...07C7X1SZQ?th=1
Flat belt: https://www.mcmaster.com/6075K15/
Make two flanged pullies.
One gets bearings (idler)
One gets set screw or glue for motor shaft (drive)
Make frame with "L" bracket to bolt to top of tank.
Frame should be long enough to extend down in to tank half-way, and the idler shaft (bolt) be adjustable for belt length.
Belt scraper can be anything - angle iron, a cup, whatever.
Belt is made by slicing the ends at an angle and melting them together with an old soldering iron. Use a razor to clean up the joint.
Power supply of your choice. It's helpful to have some voltage adjustment to fiddle the speed.
Mine is a hack job, but it works and was cheap.
https://www.cnczone.com/forums/attac...d=446174&stc=1
Thanks a lot for the pictures of your setup and the links, a great starting point for me.
Terry