Tag: coolant life

A Referral for the Chip Trapper: Made by EXAIR, and Used by EXAIR.

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

Being that EXAIR is a manufacturing plant, we also have CNC equipment that utilizes coolant to reduce tool wear.  The downtime for cleaning and replacing the coolant was too long.  To speed things up, as time is money, EXAIR created a system to clean the coolant and replace it back into the sump.  I want to share the features and benefits that we see in using our EXAIR Chip Trapper. 

One of the biggest issues with coolants is the breakdown of the fluid.  This can be caused by bacterial growth, tramp oils, and a lack of filtration.  Since we began using our Chip Trapper System in our machining area, we’ve seen some great improvements.  I spoke with our lead machinist, and he gave me the following points: 

  • The complete coolant change-out went from every 4 months to once a year. 
  • Reduced the number of barrels of coolant concentrate from 10 barrels to 4 barrels per year.  Roughly $5,000 in annual savings
  • Bacterial growth is dramatically reduced as the Chip Trapper aerates the coolant.
  • Filter bags will remove the chip fines and tramp oils, keeping the coolant fresh. 
  • The time to get the CNC machines back to operational status and making parts went from 2 hours to ½ hour.

CNC machines now come with spindle coolant features.  This new technology helps with the need to increase speeds and feed rates.  The coolant is pumped to the top of the machine and fed directly through the spindle.  This type of spindle uses a rotary union, which keeps the coolant in the spindle while spinning at a high rate of speed.  The rotary union is very expensive and costly to replace.  They are very susceptible to dirty coolant.  If a seal within the rotary union begins to leak inside the machine, you will not be able to diagnose the problem until the machine fails.  The Chip Trapper will help reduce this chance and keep your machine from incurring extreme expenses.

Chip Trapper Cut Away

The unique feature of the Chip Trapper is the vacuum pump.  The vacuum units do not have any moving parts, so they are maintenance-free, quiet, and long-lasting.  Without electric motors, the operator will be safe from electrical shock.  They only require compressed air to operate.  We offer two types: the Chip Trapper System and the High Lift Chip Trapper System.  The Chip Trapper System is a great tool for coolant sumps on the floor level.  The High Lift Chip Trapper System has a bit more power to draw in liquid from sumps below floor level and for fluids with higher viscosity.

EXAIR has three different volumes to select.  We have 30 gallon (113 L), 55 gallon (208 L), and 110 gallon (416 L) drums.  The system comes complete with a drum dolly, a 20 foot compressed air line, a shut-off valve, a chip wand, two 5 micron washable filter bags, and a vacuum hose.  The filter bags can be replaced with ones of a different micron to increase efficiency or filter life.  We have 1-micron, 25-micron, 100-micron, and 200-micron filter bags.  If you are not sure which would work best for your coolant, EXAIR does offer a sample pack that will include one of each micron rating, model 901060-SP.  And if it gets really messy in the machine shop, you can add a Spill Recovery Kit to clean up the liquid off the floor.

If you would like to know more about the EXAIR Chip Trapper System, an Application Engineer will be happy to help you.  You can take advantage of the features and benefits that the Chip Trapper provides: ease of use, extended coolant life, no electric motors to fail, and quick change-over.

John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb

Being a Manufacturer Who Improves Manufacturing Has Benefits – For You

Published on by Dave WoernerLeave a comment

On many of occasions EXAIR has benefitted from our own products. One of the fertile areas for testing, product development, and customer feedback are our own manufacturing and assembly processes. Yes, EXAIR is a real factory in Ohio with employees, machinery, and equipment that uses our products everyday. Being a production facility leaves us best suited to understand the abilities, challenges, and opportunities of our customers. Today, I want to point out how two of our products have helped us to make Intelligent Compressed Air products that exceed your expectations. The Ultrasonic Leak Detector and Chip Trapper have both been studied at our facility to measure and understand the real benefits and capabilities of our products for our customers. Below is their story.

Leak Detector
Ultrasonic Leak Detector, Model 9061

 

Famously, one of the original case studies for our Ultrasonic Leak Detector took place at 11510 Goldcoast Dr Cincinnati, OH. (That’s EXAIR Corporation’s address). As the biggest rival against wasted compressed air, having it at EXAIR would be inconsistent with our own philosophy – we just can’t have it. Our President, Bryan Peters wrote about the benefits of the Ultrasonic Leak Detector in a blog “Free Money!…”. In the blog, he details the mystery of the compressed air costs during times when our plant was not running. Compressed air was so expensive that was costing us money while we were closed. Using the ultrasonic leak detector, EXAIR was able to find our leaks and fix them. The leaks in our system were miniscule compared to some old and very large compressed air systems. But even with our relatively small leaks we were able to save ONE MILLION CF per year of compressed air. This lost compressed air results in significant energy consumption as your compressors try to keep up with the demand caused by the leaky air lines. Please stop wasting money and energy on compressed air leaks. Find them today with EXAIR Ultrasonic Leak Detector.

EXAIR's new Chip Trapper
EXAIR’s Chip Trapper

At EXAIR, we also deal with a  variety of metalworking coolants as we manufacture aluminum, brass, and stainless steel parts. Before we started using our Chip Trapper, our water based coolant would last around 2 months. After those six weeks, we would vacuum out the coolant. After the coolant is pumped out, we would then shovel out the chips that had settled in the bottom of the sump. This task is time consuming, and the smell is awful from the rancid coolant. We found that by using a Chip Trapper weekly. We could extend our coolant life to six months. Some may say that cleaning the coolant sumps weekly is adding work. That is an old mentality though because by removing chips from the coolant weekly we save hours of labor we used to consume every two months and clean up our coolant in minutes not hours.  Here is a video to learn more. Our machinists loved our final prototype so much they kept it. You know how machinists are. Don’t mess with their tools.

Dave Woerner
Application Engineer
@EXAIR_DW
DaveWoerner@EXAIR.com