Originally Posted by
HimyKabibble
Having just converted to flood myself about a month ago, I'd guess you're going to find you have a few problems:
First, the coolant will very easily splash, and throw wet chips and coolant over those walls in considerable volume. My table is enclosed to a height of 24", and still things make it over - not many chips, but the flood will hit things on the table (vertical faces on the workpiece, vise, clamps, etc.), and splash back a good distance (8 feet or more), and height.
I had to put a telescoping way cover between the back of the table and the under-side of the ram, to prevent chips from piling up on the Y ways behind the table. Some still get back there.
When you do heavy cuts with larger tools (1/2"), you'll find it takes *pressure* to clear the chips from slots and pockets. Volume alone simply won't do it. I've got a 1000GPH pump on mine, and it's just not enough to clear the chips when I'm roughing. So, I'm about to swap out my pump for a "shallow well pump", which is a small pressure pump and pressure tank, that will pump about 900GPH, and put out up to 60PSI. At that pressure, coolant will be splashing EVERYWHERE. These are about $100-150 from home centers, Harbor Freight, etc.
Just so you're not surprised, you're going to find a LOT of coolant simply disappears when you're using flood. I "lose" 3-4 gallons a day. Not through leaks, but the coolant clings to the chips, and doesn't make it back to the tank. The coolant on the chips evaporates away overnight. So, I have to add several gallons of new coolant to the tank every day. That, I did not expect! I typically add water one day (figuiring it's the water that's evaporating off, not the coolant), and coolant mix the next, estimating coolant concentration by the color of the coolant. Someone suggested getting an old washing machine, and throwing the chips in there on the Spin cycle to recover the coolant, but with the volume of chips I'm creating (at least a garbage can full per day), that's just too much trouble, given that the coolant concentrate (I'm using KoolMist 77) is pretty cheap.
Regards,
Ray L.