[webgeek]

While waiting for my conversion kit from CNC Fusion, I decided to create an enclosure for my mill to keep myself busy. While working on it, I realized that if I made it nice and waterproof, I'd have a good set up for using flood coolant which seems to be really helpful in general. To that end, I've come up with what I think is a pretty slick system I thought might be of interest to someone here. I started by looking at what others had done and quickly realized how similar the whole thing is to an aquarium sump system and decided to take it from there.

The first piece of the system is a bucket. This holds the coolant but to keep things self contained, it also holds the filter for the return coolant as well. By keeping it all in one container, there are less chances for leaks and it's also much more portable if needed. I hated the thought of ruining the bucket and making it less water-proof so everything needed is done through the cheap lid.

The filtering is easy because we only need mechanical filtration and what we are filtering is heavier than the coolant itself. Because of this, I used another aquarium trick. The filter "tank" is just a square plastic Planter's Peanuts container I had sitting around, anything else with a screw on lid would work. I simply used some bailing wire through some holes in the bucket and container lid to sure it all in place. This makes it easy to screw the square container onto the bucket lid to secure it.

The return fluid comes down the tube and then has to rise up past all the filter media (fiberglass from a remodel project in this case - poly-fill batting would be even better) before draining out the holes drilled in the top half of the container. Any sediment has to go vertically through the media and because the container is quite a bit larger than the down-tube, the fluid moves much more slowly coming out than going in - providing far less force to rise up. Cleaning the filter is easy; unscrew the container, pull out the batting, dump out the sludge, put in the batting, screw on the container.

Getting the coolant out of the bucket is handled via a 500 GPH pump I had from a previous project. This pump is way too strong so I created a bypass valve to bleed off pressure. The idea is that fluid goes from the pump up to the three-way connector and then has to go either back into the bucket, to the barb (more on that in a sec) or up and out to the mill. Since the path of least resistance is back to the bucket, the valve on the return line lets me control how much pressure gets to the mill without touching the pump. Generally, it's a bad idea to cause a pump to strain by restricting it's flow. This lets me regulate pressure with a minimal change in the pumps flow as I simply control how much goes straight back to the bucket. I'd have rather used a true bypass valve but I didn't see anything at Home Depot for 1/2" PVC that would do that. This trick is used by the DIY gas turbine folks for oil pressure to keep it constant when the temperature changes.

The 1/4" barb is an idea I stole from Hoss. In one of his videos he had an air blowgun hooked up to squirt coolant. This seemed like a great idea since I didn't want to bring my compressor indoors and I'd still like to be able to clean off the machine and parts at times. It seems to work great. It does bleed a little pressure off the coolant line but it seems minimal as the blowgun is only capable of a small stream.

Finally, both PVC lines leaving the bucket are attached with PVC couplings. This allows the entire bucket mechanism to be removed from the enclosure without breaking anything. I personally prefer solid, glued PVC connections over flexible tubing. I feel it's less likely to leak or become detached. It's also kink proof and I think it looks better than running tubes everywhere. In this case, I'll simply attach the PVC directly to the frame with conduit straps.

Anyways, that's about it. Nothing too terribly amazing but I thought it might help out other newbies like myself in building a self-contained flood coolant system. All told, it was between 50-60 dollars in parts (not sure the exact number, I had the pump and some of the PVC already but still cheap) and should work great. It only took about 2 hours to put together. Everything is available from Lowes or Homedepot except the poly-fill (Walmart or a craft store) and the plastic return tank (also Walmart - look at the food stuff to find something that would work ).

Have fun!

Mike

[hoss2006]

Pretty spiffy.
A good strainer in the enclosure will help a lot.
Would keep the majority of the chips out of the sump, just some fines now and again to remove.
Hoss

[ee_t]

Anyone know what type of motor is used inside the water pump?

It may be possible to adjust flow with an AC fan speed controller.

[webgeek]

It may be possible to adjust flow with an AC fan speed controller.

Yup, it's possible to do that I'm sure. A heavy duty light dimmer for instance could probably handle the load. I went the bypass route because it only cost ~3 dollars for the PVC ball valve. They system will have a second ball valve up close to the actual nozzles so I can adjust the flow there directly. The idea being I can get high pressure spray out of the squirt gun while still having restricted the nozzle flow way down and not causing too much pressure out of the pump in general without any additional electronics.

Mike

[kawazuki]

One thing to bear in mind with the small submersible aquarium type pumps is they use a permanent magnet rotor/impellor assembly running in the fluid - any steel filings will eventually gum it up. Cutting a lot of steel? - a dry, mag drive external pump would be a better bet.

[Farasien]

Another cheapie idea for controlling steel filings in the coolant is to put a small rare earth magnet or two in a ziplock bag inside the filter media somewhere. Any steel coming down from the enclosure that make it past a screen will get attached to the magnet. When doing a filter change, just open/invert the bag, put the magnet into a new one and put it back in.

...Either that, or you could put a P trap in the drain line from the enclosure with a magnet sticking to the bottom/outside of the first loop. When you do a cleanout, you just knock the junk out of the P trap and put the magnet back on it before reassembly.

Now aluminum... that's another problem...

-F

[webgeek]

Thanks for all the comments. Overall, I'm not too concerned about the pump getting damaged any time soon. I already have a vertical filter in the bucket itself to filter out the cuttings. Additionally, it's filled with floss that will catch most anything small that tries to get through. The cuttings will have to go uphill against gravity in slow moving fluid and work their way through floss to get into the coolant reservoir itself. Finally, I'll have some strainers on the drains from the enclosure to boot. Thanks!

Mike

[Crevice Reamer]

This is some ingenious work. I like the way you think. I use a similar diverter valve setup on my FC system.

CR.

[hoss2006]

Did you try that air nozzle yet with the coolant.
I tried using one on mine with a 900 GPH pump and just barlely got a stream out of it.
Too many restrictions inside so I cobbled together the nozzle you saw in the video
to get some volume out of it.
If it works let me know who makes it, I'll get one.
Thanks, Hoss

[webgeek]

This is some ingenious work. I like the way you think.

Thanks, I appreciate it!

Did you try that air nozzle yet with the coolant.

Yup (well with water, not coolant), it works pretty well. It squirts about two feet with the bypass valve off and a direct tube between the outlet and the return. I suspect when there is some restriction on the outlet due to the nozzles, I should get about three to four feet shooting out. Not tons of pressure, but plenty for what I'm planning on doing with it.

Thanks!

Mike

[mactec54]

Hi WebGeek if you want some Biodegradable cutting fluid to go with your system (Enviro-safe Machining) I can supply you with it, 100% synthetic, water based cutting fluid

[webgeek]

Is this that SynCol (?) stuff that Hoss uses? What are the details on it? Thanks!

[mactec54]

No it is nothing like that,This is a Biodegradable meaning you can put it down the drain if you wanted to or even drink it, it is Non-Toxic & Fireproof & there is nothing like it on the market, It is 100% synthetic & does not grow Bacteria like most others do

[CROSSHATCH]

Very cool stuff here. Reall dig it.

-Jason

[mactec54]

A pump that is also good for a small coolant system is Little Giant pumps they work very well

[rezcar]

Anyone know what type of motor is used inside the water pump?

It may be possible to adjust flow with an AC fan speed controller.

I use a router speed controller to control the flow of my dirty water submersible pump, both from Harbor Freight!

[rezcar]

Thanks, I appreciate it!
Yup (well with water, not coolant), it works pretty well. It squirts about two feet with the bypass valve off and a direct tube between the outlet and the return. I suspect when there is some restriction on the outlet due to the nozzles, I should get about three to four feet shooting out. Not tons of pressure, but plenty for what I'm planning on doing with it.

Thanks!

Mike

That nozzle setup is interesting, when I first got my mill, I used one of these as makeshift misting setup.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=97014
I originally used it to degrease under my car, also works great in killing those pesky moths at night. Just a cup of acetone and a lighter and...!!!

[hoss2006]

That nozzle setup is interesting, when I first got my mill, I used one of these as makeshift misting setup.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=97014
I originally used it to degrease under my car, also works great in killing those pesky moths at night. Just a cup of acetone and a lighter and...!!!

Son of a gun, I have one of those hanging in the basement, I'll have to give it a try now.
thanks, Hoss

[307startup]

Mactec, can you give me a name for this wonder product, or is it top secret? If you want, you can just shoot me a PM if you are wary of posting info in the forum.

No it is nothing like that,This is a Biodegradable meaning you can put it down the drain if you wanted to or even drink it, it is Non-Toxic & Fireproof & there is nothing like it on the market, It is 100% synthetic & does not grow Bacteria like most others do

[mactec54]

Hi 307startup yes it is a wonder product I'm just getting set up to sell it I have been using it for a some months now in CNC machines & grinding

Toyota have done a 2year study on it I have there report

I have used most cutting fluids over many years & there is nothing that could come close to this, it is very good on your cutting tools as well, Toyota has been seeing 25% longer tool life over other cutting fluids.

When I have it all set up I will do a new Thread/post here on the Zone just for this product

PM sent