HAAS Mini Mill 2nd Sump Keeps Clogging

Hey all, just wondering if this is normal: during machining, chips clog up the slits from the secondary sump under the table in a relatively short amount of time. What I mean by secondary sump is the area where the optional chip augur would be installed. The secondary sump is essentially a pan with really narrow drain slits (which clog) and bigger over flow slits higher in the upwardly sloped part of the pan. The problem is the coolant can escape out the chip clean out port once the drain slits and over flow slits get mucked up.

Maybe I am missing a chip screen that installs around the slits? I can't see how this is normal as it takes a lot user intervention to keep the main sump at an acceptable level and the coolant pump primed. Not to mention the slits are not easy to access.

Is this bad operation on my part or bad design?

I find it depends to some extent on the size of chip you are creating; sometimes mine clogs badly and other times it goes for weeks.

Currently I have a fine metal screen over these slots to see if that makes a difference.

To clean the slots I have a long blow gun that I put in from the main sump side to blow the chips out; it works quite well.

I was having the same problem on my Haas Super Mini Mill. I removed the panel that has the slits in it and found that there were a ton of chips under that panel and it was preventing the coolant from getting back to the tank. So I got it all cleaned up ( took about 2 hours and was really messy job ) and after that it worked like a champ for about a week... and then I started having problems again. So I did the same thing and found a bunch of chips again in that area under the panel.

So did some more looking and I think I found the problem. That removable panel has some cutout notches in it ( see my photos ) and that is where the chips were finding their way down.
So I added some foam weather stripping on the bottom side of that panel to cover up those openings.

I also added some aluminum window screen on the bottom side of the panel to keep the chips from getting through those thin slits.

So far it seems to have fixed my issue. The coolant drains perfectly now.

Hope this helps...

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