# Flood Coolant Pump Specs



## benster (Apr 27, 2018)

I've seen a lot of people mention coolant pumps in past threads, either that came with existing systems, or that they built their own systems with. I have not been able to find a good source for required pressure or head. A lot of the pumps rated for fluid service are fractional horsepower, but many reviewers say they do not produce acceptable flow to clear chips.

I have made a fogbuster style system for my mill, but would eventually like to change to flood coolant for it and my lathe. More pressing however, is the need for a flood coolant system on my surface grinder to keep the parts cool and dust to a minimum. Am I OK going with a harbor freight fractional hp submersible pump? Should I spring for a Little Giant brand? What kind of hp rating, head rating etc. should I be looking for?

Feel free to steer me to a previous discussion, I was not able to find anything with a few searches.

-Ben


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## P. Waller (Apr 27, 2018)

Do you have a through coolant spindle on the mill?
Many through coolant tools have very small fluid ports that will require a good deal of pressure to allow sufficient flow for chip evacuation, 1" and less diameter end mills and drills come to mind, some machines have well over 1000 PSI coolant pumps.

A very well done enclosure is needed unless you do not mind working in the coolant rain all day (-:


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## benmychree (Apr 27, 2018)

I have used submersible pumps and also a pump sold by Grainger with the motor above the liquid, which I no longer see in their online catalog.


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## kd4gij (Apr 27, 2018)

benmychree said:


> I have used submersible pumps and also a pump sold by Grainger with the motor above the liquid, which I no longer see in their online catalog.


You mean like these?

https://www.grainger.com/category/m...mps/pumps/ecatalog/N-hub?searchRedirect=pumps


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## benmychree (Apr 27, 2018)

kd4gij said:


> You mean like these?
> 
> https://www.grainger.com/category/m...mps/pumps/ecatalog/N-hub?searchRedirect=pumps


Yes, the 4JPG4 pump, why I could not find it, who knows???  I dislike online catalogs for that reason, same with McMaster Carr.  That particular pump has enough volume and head pressure for flood coolant systems, I have used them on both mills and lathes.


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## Video_man (Apr 27, 2018)

While not responsive to your actual question, two thoughts:    (1) My lathe came with a flood coolant system, which I only tried once.  It makes a jolly mess, spraying coolant all over and into the chuck, the ways, myself, the cat, etc.  Never again.  Brush-and-cup works fine unless you are doing CNC in a closed housing.  (2) I use a mist system on my surface grinder, keeps everything cool and makes grinding swarf easy to clean up, without creating the issue of how to contain and control the mess a flood system would cause.  Don't want coolant in those precision bearings, or yourself, or the cat, etc.   Flood cooling works great in my horizontal bandsaw, however:  and, with a low flow, is easily controlled and recycled on the mill, which has drains in the table.  I put strainers in-line with the returns to keep the sump somewhat clean.  Random thoughts, hth.


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## TomS (Apr 28, 2018)

My mill is set up with a Harbor Freight pump capable of 50 psi.  The HF pump part number is 62508.  I'm not certain that they still have this pump as I bought mine about 2 years ago.  As I recall I paid about $50 for it.

It puts out more than enough volume and pressure to evacuate chips.  I have a bypass line on my system with the bypass valve set at about 1/4 open.


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## Groundhog (Apr 28, 2018)

I use a Little Giant brand garden waterfall pump in my home built system. Works great but I wish I would have gotten the next size bigger. I don't remember which one I got so that doesn't help you much! Anyway, Little Giant has a good reputation and many models are available from Grainiger's and other places. Most any place that has a garden department (Lowes. Home Depot, etc.) carries one brand or another.


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## 4ssss (Apr 28, 2018)

Video_man said:


> While not responsive to your actual question, two thoughts:    (1) My lathe came with a flood coolant system, which I only tried once.  It makes a jolly mess, spraying coolant all over and into the chuck, the ways, myself, the cat, etc.  Never again.  Brush-and-cup works fine unless you are doing CNC in a closed housing.  (2) I use a mist system on my surface grinder, keeps everything cool and makes grinding swarf easy to clean up, without creating the issue of how to contain and control the mess a flood system would cause.  Don't want coolant in those precision bearings, or yourself, or the cat, etc.   Flood cooling works great in my horizontal bandsaw, however:  and, with a low flow, is easily controlled and recycled on the mill, which has drains in the table.  I put strainers in-line with the returns to keep the sump somewhat clean.  Random thoughts, hth.



When using a flood coolant system, if you keep the solution away from the chuck, you'll have minimal mess. You don't need to run it at full flow. That being said, you still need something to contain the solution. I made up a back splash from a 2' x 2' .070 aluminum sheet for my lathe, and it works fine for my needs, but you can go overboard and make up or buy something to completely enclose the chuck. If you use a good coolant, and mix your solution correctly, you don't need to worry about the bearings. Fortunately my lathe was set up to have the system with the drain already installed, I just added a 3 gallon 1/4 HP coolant pump. There's no comparison between the flood and brushing on coolant. Keeping the tool cool increases your finish, and cutter life, and you'll find yourself taking deeper cuts without problems. I use my system more than I thought I would, and it was well worth the minimal money invested.


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## Groundhog (Apr 28, 2018)

A side thought; I a synthetic coolant and an aquarium air pump set on a timer to run 15 minutes 2 times a day to keep the coolant free of odor.


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## benster (Apr 28, 2018)

My lathe has a built in tray and sump, it was designed for cooling from the factory. I do need to install a back splash to prevent chips going everywhere behind it though. You are correct that there's no comparison between brushing on fluid and coolant. I machine hardened 4140 on my lathe with carbide tooling, and the cutting fluid helps with surface finish, but the work gets very hot. I machined similar steels in the shop at my own work, and just having a slight stream on the workpiece helped massively. 

I guess the only place I really need high flow would be on my converted CNC for clearing chips out of aluminum pockets. It has a semi-full enclosure where spray wouldn't be a problem. 

I'll give this guy a try on the surface grinder. If it doesn't have enough flow I can always use it on the lathe and get something different.

https://www.harborfreight.com/14-hp-submersible-sump-pump-3000-gph-63892.html


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## kd4gij (Apr 28, 2018)

A cold air gun works much better on a surface grinder. And doesn't make a mess


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## FOMOGO (Apr 28, 2018)

kd4gij said:


> A cold air gun works much better on a surface grinder. And doesn't make a mess


 Not doubting you, but wouldn't the air tend to spread the dust. I have a chilly bits cold air system on my mill, and while it helps, I'm not really all that impressed with it. Seems to work better in conjunction with some cutting oil. It does help with chip evacuation. Planing on going to a Fogbuster type setup on the mill and see if that is any better. My larger lathe is setup for flood use, and going to give it a try once it's back up an running. Like most things, trial and error eventually get you where you want to go, and educate you along the way.  Mike


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## kd4gij (Apr 29, 2018)

Well the cold air gun should be set up to blow with the rotation of the wheel and one should have a dust collector or shop vac setup at the other end. With the high rpm of the grinding wheel and the low volume of a cold air gun It really doesn't make much difference. With that said I looked up the OP's grinder and He has a wet grinder,, so coolant is his best choice.  And I agree a cold air gun isn't much use on a mill or lathe.  I turn a lot of bronze bushings for press fit so I do use my gold air gun to keep it cool. Op's grinder


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## kd4gij (Apr 29, 2018)

I have run manual lathes with coolant systems. It is a low pressure pump and I just open it up for a drip at the tool cutting point. otherwise you will get a shower while you are working.


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## Cheeseking (Apr 29, 2018)

Never understood why anyone would “mess” with flood coolant on anything other than an enclosed CNC and especially in a home shop. On manual machines I run dry most always. Sure use cutting oil for threading and sparing application of acculube for roughing and drilling Aluminum but thats about it and never have issues cutting and essentially no mess. 90% of the time use carbide tooling as the hss stuff turns blue and disintegrates and simply isn’t worth the bother. I say if the chips aren’t brown/blue coming off you’re pulling yer you know what. You can grind without coolant too just use a friable wheel, keep it dressed and go easy. Long as you don’t overheat things it works. Albeit slower. At work grinding we use a kool mist tube aimed at the interface and run air only.
I turned my guys on to it at and we much prefer it.


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## jbolt (Apr 30, 2018)

I'm running one of the HF submersible pumps on my CNC mill. I have the 1/2hp model rated at 4400 GPH. I have a bi-pass line in the system to tune the max flow. It runs about 70% open to run 4 nozzles at good pressure through a filter. I does require at least 12 gallon coolant tank to keep up.

My manual lathe came with a 1/8 hp pump. It is lower pressure but that is all it needs.


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## benster (Apr 30, 2018)

A big reason I want flood coolant on the surface grinder is to mitigate the dust. I don't have a collection system capable of capturing it all. My shop vac catches maybe 30%. My options would either be flood coolant, or buy a 2HP, 4" dust collection system and run a fogbuster in conjuction. The problem with that is price. 

If I were in a commercial shop I would definitely get the dust collection system.


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