Grizzly G0704 Cnc Conversion

I'm running flood and mist on my PM-932 conversion. I mostly use the flood. I has its drawbacks and there can be a bit of a learning curve on getting a DIY system working optimally. I have found for flood to be fully effective in clearing chips you need 3 to 4 nozzles and good pressure. I started with a 4 gallon system and a pond pump. I have evolved to a 12 gallon system with a 1/2 hp sump pump. The flow is regulated with a bi-pass line & valve. I went through three brands of coolant before settling on Koorite 2290.
 
I'm running flood and mist on my PM-932 conversion. I mostly use the flood. I has its drawbacks and there can be a bit of a learning curve on getting a DIY system working optimally. I have found for flood to be fully effective in clearing chips you need 3 to 4 nozzles and good pressure. I started with a 4 gallon system and a pond pump. I have evolved to a 12 gallon system with a 1/2 hp sump pump. The flow is regulated with a bi-pass line & valve. I went through three brands of coolant before settling on Koorite 2290.

Thanks. I'm under the impression that flood systems are hard to manage. They splash a lot, they tend to make a mess. That sort of thing.

Can you say anything about your enclosure? How big and if it's got a "ceiling"? Also is that 1/2 HP sump pump rated in gallons per hour?


Bob
 
My enclosure is 1/2 height, about 24" high. Pictures are here. Occasionally a part will have a geometry that causes some splashing over the front. At some point I will put a horizontal splash shield on the front of the head to control that. For the most part the coolant stays where it should. If the front doors were 12" taller it would not be an issue but I like to be able to reach over the top to use the air gun to blow off the part before opening the doors.

This is the pump I'm using. The 1/3 hp pump would work just as well. The 1/2 hp pump is overkill. Only about 20% of the volume goes to the coolant nozzles. The excess is recirculated back to the tank through a bi-pass line. I run the coolant through a whole house filter before the nozzles.

With high volume you need good drainage. I have one 1-1/2" outlet and that is about the minimum. Chips tend to accumulate on the right side where the drain is so I have made some diverters to trap the chips and keep them out of the drain outlet screen.

The KoolRite 2290 coolant is the best I have found so far for not causing rust or going rancid and it has almost no odor. Very user friendly. The previous coolant I was using caused the exposed metal to darken and under some circumstances rust would form under the vice or vise jaws. The KoolRite has been cleaning the metal. I change the coolant once a year to clean out the tank and get rid of the tramp oil. Oh I also have a small aquarium pump on a timer that runs for 15 minutes a day to agitate the coolant. I'm not sure it is necessary with the KoolRite but I still use it.
 
Thanks for that. I have more information on this kind of system than on a misting system like the Fog Buster. I have a 2" shower stall drain ready to install in the floor of my chip tray, and ought to do that soon. (side note: it requires a 4" hole saw; the biggest I have is 2-1/2. I went looking at hole saws at my blue Borg store and they were $40. I'll use the 2-1/2 saw and trim it bigger with my jig saw. Or coping saw by hand)

I got my oiling system running yesterday, after some problems with 12V battery I have for standby uses. Turns out my standby battery wasn't good.

Next up is to do figure out how to make one of those systems that edge-finds with an electrical contact.
 
I picked up some cabinet latching magnets from eBay - 73 cents each including shipping. Found a piece of half-inch angle aluminum I took out of something years ago and made some brackets to hold them pointing at the doors. Voila - it works, and the enclosure closes.

MagnetHolder.JPG


EnclosureDone.JPG
 
Another advantage of a flood system is you can add a wash down hose for easier cleanup. Just turn of the flow to the coolant nozzles, turn on the pump and wash the chips into the drip tray. I do this at the end of the day then vacuum up the chips the next morning.

Tom S.

Here's a picture of my enclosure before I hung the doors. The wall panels are 34" tall. I've not yet had a problem with coolant spraying over the top.
20150831_162930_resized_1.jpg
 
Another advantage of a flood system is you can add a wash down hose for easier cleanup. Just turn of the flow to the coolant nozzles, turn on the pump and wash the chips into the drip tray. I do this at the end of the day then vacuum up the chips the next morning.

Tom S.

Here's a picture of my enclosure before I hung the doors. The wall panels are 34" tall. I've not yet had a problem with coolant spraying over the top.
View attachment 229037

Nice! I assume you can take it apart to work on the machine?

I bet it's more rigid than mine. Mine is made of aluminum extrusion for the rails of the panels, and the panels are plastic. The white panels are that corrugated plastic sign makers use. Cheap, but flimsy. The clear panels are an acrylic sold as Duraplex at Lowe's, which is also pretty flexible. Supposed to be "50x stronger than glass", which is nice, but my guess is that if the machine flings a piece of metal it pushes the Duraplex out of the frame on the way to breaking whatever it breaks in the house.


Bob
 
My original enclosure walls were pvc pipe frame with shower curtain panels. Worked good but eventually the coolant made the shower curtain material brittle.
 
Nice! I assume you can take it apart to work on the machine?

I bet it's more rigid than mine. Mine is made of aluminum extrusion for the rails of the panels, and the panels are plastic. The white panels are that corrugated plastic sign makers use. Cheap, but flimsy. The clear panels are an acrylic sold as Duraplex at Lowe's, which is also pretty flexible. Supposed to be "50x stronger than glass", which is nice, but my guess is that if the machine flings a piece of metal it pushes the Duraplex out of the frame on the way to breaking whatever it breaks in the house.


Bob

Yes, I can take the panels off to get access to the mill. Unbolt the rectangular tabs at the top and bottom and the panel lifts off. The panels are built such that the sheet metal overlaps the adjacent panel so I don't need to use sealant.

Tom S.
 
Yes, still following your excellent journey. I have never used Flood coolent but I have used both the cool-mist and fog-buster brands. I prefer the fog-buster over the two. The siphone approach is a lot of work on each job to tune it in. I guess if I was running the same parts 8 hours a day it might not be an issue but I run for an hour and then do other things before coming back to the mill.

It has taken me a while to get to this point, but can you give me some details about how the fog-buster works? I mean, I went over the web site and they talk about compressed air at 10-20 PSI, but do you run a compressor or do you fill a bottle?

My only compressor is a pancake size. It will hold 150 PSI, but not much volume. It's also loud enough that I don't want to run it all the time.


Thanks,
Bob
 
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