Clogging coolant grate fix?

[604Pook]

I am currently trying to improve on things that I have just dealt with for years...why not make life a bit easier.

I don't have a chip conveyor or auger on my fadal4020, so coolant drains through these little grates, and back to the tank. I am in a constant battle of having to either shop vac out the chips or shoveling them off to the side and out of the way.

I added the 5 gallon paint strainers, which I got the idea from this site to the coolant discharge chutes and that has been amazing for keeping the coolant tank clean of fine chips ( I machine a lot of brass and aluminum with 1/32 endmills) so before I reinvent the wheel I was wondering if anyone here had any experience with making a modified grate system that helped keep things clear so the coolant keeps draining? I was thinking maybe something with ribs so the small chips settle before they get there, or maybe a taller, wider and longer walled grate with holes in it so it at least took longer to clog up.

 

[memphisjed]

That green fake grass mat? Like gold prospectors use.

 

[EmGo]

I was thinking maybe something with ribs so the small chips settle before they get there, or maybe a taller, wider and longer walled grate with holes in it so it at least took longer to clog up.

Your photo is less than lovely for telling the whole story about how much space you have, but it's real common on grinder coolant tanks to have a long thin box with ribs that go all the all to the bottom but end a little under the surface of the coolant ... say, three or four steps. So the coolant goes in one end at the top, a bunch of chips fall to the bottom and don't make it over the fish ladder to the next section. Repeat, repeat. This gets most of the fines out of grinder coolant so should work for milling chips even better.



However, you do have to clean it ..... maybe could build little trays that fit each section, then just pull them up once in a while to snag the chips out ?

 

[BajaFire]

Those little shower-stall drains that Fadal put in the bottom of the enclosure are kind of a PITA. I have a 2216, and it's annoying to come back after lunch to find it clogged up, overflowed, and peed all over the floor

Maybe you could make some expanded mesh "tents" about 2" tall that could let the chips pile around the drain but still let coolant through overtop?

 

[EmGo]

Brilliant idea #2 .... is the shower drain in a corner ? pook, c'mon, help us ... anyway, can modify this one to suit. Take a piece of sheet, as high as the coolant/chip pan. Drill a grid of 1/8" holes on maybe 3/8" centers over the whole piece. Weld in a semi-circle around the shower drain. This way the entire chip pan is going to have to fill up before it clogs off the flow to the coolant pump or overflows onto the floor.

 

[eKretz]

That last is basically the same method that the Deckels use, except that they have an angled straight piece of the fine grate material across the entire back wall of the chip pan.

 

[BajaFire]

@EmGo

Here is what the drain looks like inside the Fadal enclosure (photo is taken from the back-left corner of the machine - the exposed screw in the photo is the X-axis; Z-column is to the left):


Edit: this is what I assume Pook is talking about. Once the coolant drains through the enclosure, it goes down a 50-cent waterslide onto a similar grid pattern (but like 12" x 16" instead of 4" x 6") on top of the coolant tank - which is usually where guys put cheesecloth or what-have-you to catch the fines (like on a Haas)

 

[Stirling]

remove the tray and make one that’s a sunken box,
Right now you only have surface area L x W. then it’s clogged.
L x W x D is doing to add a massive amount of accumulation potential before the vertical holes are plugged up.

 

[Cole2534]

4" c-channel, ~18" long covering the grate. Keeps the chips from contacting the grate and the coolant flows around/under the channel.

I have some really nice SS Johnson screen I always thought would work a treat to make an expanded box, like posted above.

 

[EmGo]

That last is basically the same method that the Deckels use,

Dang germans, stole my idea before I even had it

Here is what the drain looks like inside the Fadal enclosure

Jeeze pook, you've got all the room in the world, can do whatever you want ! How about one of these ?



The girl is extra ...

 

[604Pook]

Thanks @BajaFire That's exactly what I am dealing with. Was trying to get a quick picture while the machine was finishing up a part last night before I headed off to bed.

You guys have pretty much brought up all the different methods I had thought of.

@EmGo That paper filter system is way fancier then the Fadal deserves.

Main thoughts I have, is it needs to be easy enough to remove or to clean around. When the table is all the way back in Y, the discharge chutes at the back of the table dump coolant and chips almost right on top of the current grates, so a wall with a roof/deflector may be needed.

I have to head to Vancouver to program, setup and get a job running on my family's wood router tomorrow, so I am going to try and pick up some perforated material from the metal supplier down there and get going on this when I get back.

 

[Speedie]

@EmGo

Here is what the drain looks like inside the Fadal enclosure (photo is taken from the back-left corner of the machine - the exposed screw in the photo is the X-axis; Z-column is to the left):
View attachment 440560

Edit: this is what I assume Pook is talking about. Once the coolant drains through the enclosure, it goes down a 50-cent waterslide onto a similar grid pattern (but like 12" x 16" instead of 4" x 6") on top of the coolant tank - which is usually where guys put cheesecloth or what-have-you to catch the fines (like on a Haas)

You are headed down scrap lane with an oil line that looks like that. Better get it replaced before all turcite breaks loose.

 

[BajaFire]

You are headed down scrap lane with an oil line that looks like that. Better get it replaced before all turcite breaks loose.

thanks for the heads-up, Speedie. Not my machine, though - just a pic I found on Google