[sabine]

Hey folks,

I think the compressor died on my MAC oil cooler. At the moment I have little time and less money. It's pretty cold out...

Has anyone run one of these without the oil cooler and if so, how long did you let it run at a time. Thanks to being a one man shop I don't run it longer than 2 hours at a time. Do I run a serious risk of damaging the spindle if I run it for that long?

[deadlykitten]

hello, the cooling system is designed to chill out the spindle especially for high rpms; maybe it also helps greasing the bearings ? newer models won't start if there isn't enough air pressure

there should be no problem if you cut at low rpms, for short times

try to use it in "low gears", pretty low, somehow just like how you would cut on a classical machine; less than 500 ... 1500 ?! consider also low doc, lower feeds, etc

I don't run it longer than 2 hours at a time

if you were going, before, on hsm for 2 hours, now is verry probable to achieve overheat without cooling, maybe after 10 minutes ?

again, use the machine in short-runs, check periodically the temperature of the broach, by putting your hand on it ( or use a termometer, etc ) ?

at least, you will deliver things, a bit slower, but in the end maybe you will have some profit to fix the compresor

patience & low cutting specs


however, can't you find a compressor somewhere arround your neighbours ? a simple one, just to keep you moving for a while ? and use it togheter with your actual dryer, considering that you have one

being a one man shop

i don't know man, i guess is hard for you, probably too many things in a short period of time ? all the best

[sabine]

Thank you much. I will definitely follow your advice.

Yes, several things happened at once - my other machine blew up a motor drive and I had to move my shop.

[deadlykitten]

pls be carefull, try to avoid leaving the machine running unattended, or at least be arround it, hear it

if somehow you leave an operation with low cutting specs ( 300rpm f0.1mm/rot doc0.15 ) for about 3 hours, and after 10 minutes an insert will break, it may break the rest of your inserts, and the damaged holder will put a lot of stress on the spindle

even if it works, stop it from time to time ( like 20 minutes, etc ) and check spindle heat; is critical, it must be done

it would be ok to have a reference value about a target heat, thus not to go over that value; i have no clue about this; i would check it by hand, and i would look also for a termometer

well, just saying, i guess you know that is not the moment for taking risks / kindly