[zephyr9900]

Ever since I discovered some tapped holes on the bottom of the head casting (apparently for a cover plate that was never implemented) I've been thinking about making a new coolant manifold. My previous one with the multitudinous threaded joints was too wonky, and rotated out of alignment all the time. For the past few months I've been using the stock Tormach single coolant line but missed the option of two coolant streams (the stock pump falls off in flow even with two 1/4" unrestricted nozzles, so more than two wouldn't really be useful). Also the plastic inline valve always tweaked the coolant nozzle position when I adjusted it.

The only new part I needed to buy was a 6" nipple to span the head. The rest of the fittings I already had from the previous iteration of the manifold. I machined a couple of brackets from scraps of brass bar, and soldered the whole thing (with the exception of the valves) together.

The holes in the head casting are M6 and 65mm center-to-center.

I like the new manifold. I originally had both valve handles pulling to the front to open, but reversed the left-hand valve because the handle interfered with the Proxxon tool when mounted.

Randy

[300sniper]

what coolant pump are you using now? i would love to have multiple coolant nozzles so the cutter doesn't hide from it when going around corners.

[zephyr9900]

I'm still using the stock coolant pump, 300sniper. What I meant was that if I have one valve fully open and then fully open the second valve, the stream from the first nozzle isn't as strong--but there is still a good stream coming from both nozzles. I rarely run with a single nozzle fully on, but appreciate having streams coming from two directions, for the same reason as you.

Randy

[300sniper]

gotcha. thanks.

[Phishaholic]

Randy

That is pretty cool!! I was looking for ways to do that without going around the front. I'm going to take your Idea and run. I'm thinking I'm going to have an elbow from the input going to a tee in the middle of the manifold then to an elbow on each side. I think this might balance out the flow to each side.

Larry O

[rwexec]

I made a manifold fit around the spindle nose and It has two 1/8 nozzels and a pond pump.
Works great!
chio

[BlueFin]

I made a manifold fit around the spindle nose and It has two 1/8 nozzels and a pond pump.
Works great!
chio

That's some serious waterline cutting your doing there.

[pete from TN]

wow guys, there are some real nice looking ideas here in this thread. I am now setup with an enclosure and flood coolant on my Lathemaster cnc mill and I am looking at how to make a nice dual tip setup for it. I was thinking about a spindle mounted setup like the second one here and I do not have any of these flex nozzles. The idea of making one with some brake line or steel tubing like that is a good idea. I am gonna have to think about a way to make that work on my machine now. I see that you just drilled thru from all corners and plugged the ends, I am thinking if you make it from delrin or aluminum and make it two pieces you can mill channels thru it and then machine a nice cap and secure it with a bunch of shcs all around then drill and tap for the fittings where you want them.... Good ideas guys...peace


Pete

[zephyr9900]

Larry, thanks. I don't think you really need to go to that trouble unless you want to (I very nearly went that way myself but wanted to minimize the connections in the line).

I did some flow measurements just now and got these results:

LH nozzle only, fully opened valve: 1/2 gallon milk jug in 39 seconds.
RH nozzle only, fully opened valve: 1/2 gallon milk jug in 39 seconds.
Both nozzles, fully opened valves: 1/2 gallon milk jug in 34 seconds.
Both nozzles, fully opened valves, dispensing into separate containers: RH 686 ml, LH 720 ml in the same time.

So the nozzles are pretty well matched to the pump output and balanced pretty well. They are 1/4" nozzles. The RH has a longer flow path in the manifold but a few less "pop beads" in the line, but I don't think it makes a lot of difference.

rwexec, that's a nice manifold but I'm brave (or foolhardy, not a big stretch for me ) enough to use coolant with the Proxxon spindle so I wanted to keep the spindle nose free.

Pete, thanks also. That's a good idea and at the low pressure involved it won't be hard to seal the cover. I'd use something like PVC rather than Delrin though--acetal is a pretty slippery material and will be harder to seal against.

Randy

[saabaero]

Here are some photos of my solution to the additional nozzle problem. I reduced the size of the nozzles to maintain pressure to all 3 nozzles.

[dkaustin]

Plenty of good ideas here.

Any strong opinions on Snap Flow vs. Loc-Line flexible hose systems?

[zephyr9900]

saabaero, that is indeed a nice manifold. I can't weld though, and I didn't want the clutter in front of my head. You'll probably remember my own previous manifold, assembled from brass plumbing fittings.

I replaced the 1/4" diameter nozzles with 1/8" and repeated my flow measurements:

LH nozzle only, fully opened valve: 1/2 gallon milk jug in 49 seconds.
RH nozzle only, fully opened valve: 1/2 gallon milk jug in 49 seconds.
Both nozzles, fully opened valves: 1/2 gallon milk jug in 40 seconds.
With a greater proportion of the flow resistance at the nozzle itself, the flow was more balanced with both lines open:
Both nozzles, fully opened valves, dispensing into separate containers: RH 705 ml, LH 722 ml in the same time.

The volume output with the 1/8" nozzles is about 15% less, but the velocity of the streams from the nozzles is significantly greater and I will stay with these nozzles for the time being, except for when I'm using the Proxxon, when I really just want to flow coolant across the surface of the workpiece.

dkaustin, the red coolant hose I am using is Snapflow purchased from Enco, which are marked "JETON", a Taiwanese brand. I will not buy them again. The "pop beads" stick badly and are hard to adjust precisely. The Loc-Line hose I'm using for the vacuum when I'm machining dry articulates smoothly.

Randy

[Don Clement]

Randy: Nice Job!

[zephyr9900]

Thank you, Don.

Randy

[keen]

Elegant design/solution Randy - Thanks.

[zephyr9900]

Thank you, keen. It was my falling-asleep brainstorming for about a week. I'm happy about how it turned out myself.

Randy

[justgary]

Randy sez:

It was my falling-asleep brainstorming for about a week.

So, it's not just me that has to think of a project to fall asleep? I have wondered about that for a long time. If I don't think about some petty little part of a design, I'll think about something important, and then I'll never go to sleep.

[Hijack] Lately, I have gotten many nights' sleep over the grapple I'm building. After drawing it up a year ago, I recently got the steel plasma cut. It has kept me very busy lately. I now have the grapple tacked together, and I am milling the holes for the pin bushings. Clamp setups dance in my head at night...[/Hijack]

Regards,

- Just Gary

[zephyr9900]

So, it's not just me that has to think of a project to fall asleep?

Just Gary, I won't even try to enumerate what goes through my mind before I fall asleep. I like to say "some people claim to have a mind like a bear trap--I have a mind like a Rube Goldberg machine" (Heath Robinson for our Transatlantic compadres...)

[Hijack] Lately, I have gotten many nights' sleep over the grapple I'm building.[/Hijack]

Dang, Just Gary, that is a cool project! Hijack to your heart's content! Our lot is 50 x 100 feet and I think my wife is secretly giggling when I tell her I'd love to get a tractor someday (I'd be more than happy with a Farmall A or a Fordson... )

Randy

[300sniper]

"some people claim to have a mind like a bear trap--I have a mind like a Rube Goldberg machine"

awesome! i can relate.

[RTP_Burnsville]

Our lot is 50 x 100 feet and I think my wife is secretly giggling when I tell her I'd love to get a tractor someday (I'd be more than happy with a Farmall A or a Fordson... )

Randy

That's funny!!! My lot is not much bigger and I have a Kubota, front end loader, and diesel none the less..... Trust me, it's way cool.....

Robert