All,
I've finished the coolant system upgrade testing this evening and am in the process of uploading a video to YouTube. This process has been fairly slow coming, starting with testing of the stock system, making minor improvements to it, researching what could be done to improve the system inexpensively and executing, which took me about a week of evenings.
To summarize, the stock Tormach flood coolant system flows between 33 and 50 GPH. The new system I've put in place flows 295 GPH. The cost of the full enclosure and the coolant system upgrade was about $235 (which doesn't include a handful of hose clamps and the plastic storage container I used for the reservoir). There's a simple change you can make that will increase the flow of the Tormach OEM system to about 100 GPH.
Last summer I realized you can do things that impede the flow of the Tormach OEM coolant system unintentionally and that got me thinking about ways to improve the system. I cut a part one afternoon with flood coolant and thought the system may be clogged because the flow was so poor. As it turns out, I had tightened the fitting from the coolant supply hose to the black steel pipe too tightly which resulted in the silicone O-ring extruding into the flow path of the coolant. I figured that out when I flow tested the Tormach nozzle repeatedly, removing one part of the nozzle at a time until I figured out what was happening. I attached a picture showing the O-ring extruded into the flow path compared to its free state.
An easy improvement in coolant flow is simply disconnecting the OEM coolant supply hose from the nozzle and using the flow out the end of the hose. This will increase flow from a maximum of 50 GPH to about 100 GPH. I just used zip ties to attach the hose to the nozzle so I could aim it. I've attached a picture below.
I recently had the time to build a full enclosure and a new flood coolant system with three nozzles. The enclosure is PVC pipe and shower curtains. The pump is a Superior Pump 1/4 HP 91250 and I've added three nozzles. The video of the build of the enclosure and coolant manifold is here:
Full Enclosure Build and Flood Coolant Upgrade - Tormach PCNC 1100 - YouTube
I completed the flow testing tonight and I'm fairly pleased. Here are flow test results (all values shown are averages from several samples):
OEM configuration: 32.7 GPH
OEM minus flexible nozzle, just surgical tubing: 33.0 GPH
OEM minus shut-off valve and down stream components: 34.4 GPH
OEM minus all except steel pipe: 36.6 GPH
OEM hose only: 101.0 GPH
OEM configuration minus blue silicone O-ring: 50.7 GPH
The coolant flow was obviously restricted by the O-ring. Now for the new configuration:
3 nozzles: 293.1 GPH
1 nozzle: 115.1 GPH
Here's the video about the nozzles, the pump, testing, etc.
Flood Coolant Upgrade and Flow Testing - Tormach PCNC 1100 - YouTube
There are two pictures attached showing the flow comparison as well.
Enjoy!