Coolant Mist system

[E.Marquez]

Anyone built one for use on a lathe and or mil?

The concept and basic design seems simple enough. For a siphon system.
Reservoir of coolant, siphon hose, metering/mixing block where high pressure air is moved past a coolant supply, line out, with a nozzle at the end to atomize the coolant and direct it on to the cutting tool/ part.

But what i want is a pressure mist system,,
Not sure Im missing something or just not worth the cost/time to build vs buy.. But I have not found anyone that has built a pressure Mist coolant system for machine tool use.

Erik

 

[Regnar]

You need to look up Fogbuster and Zero Fog Mister. Fogbuster sells a complete system that I thing is a little over priced. They also proudly display their Patent # on their website. It has been awhile but I remember from the description in the patent that .35 nozzle, 6 inch tube and <20Psi was key to their system.

Zero Fog Diy is here http://www.machinistblog.com/zero-fog-mister/

When we built ours at work we used a mig tip for the nozzle. It does work but if you crank up the PSI your going to have mist.

 

[jrlp]

There's lots of ways to do it. I've made a few setups for myself as well as others (outfitting a friend's metal working shop).

There's either mist or flood types. I use mist for the stuff I do. I have a few setups, but they're all pretty much the same. It uses high pressure air and coolant using the venturi effect to atomize it. Kool-mist is what I designed my system like.

http://www.micro-machine-shop.com/coolant_mist_system.htm has a good guide for the kool mist system.

Loc-Line is the name of the adjustable ball-hose. It has millions of uses and I can't sing enough praise about it

I have a portable setup, one on the bandsaw, and a semi-portable for when I use the magdrill (which gets used as a drill press more than a magdrill) or any cutting/drilling pretty much. The super portable setup was scrapped for an oil-squirter can with tap magic.

 

[E.Marquez]

Thanks all.

Im currently using a pressured tank filled with Rapid tap, needle valve to control flow, and dribbling fluid on the part/cutting tool.
Its not bad for a hands free method of what is little more then manually using a squirt can.

I want flood cooling, for both chip control and cooling.. but I don't want to have/ use/ build the containment screens required to contain the splashing coolant.

I was thinking Mist,, but many post across the net speak of a issue with the oil mist taking over a small shop room,, of the airborne hazard for inhalation of those oils..

So Im considering now, using the auto dribbler (lol) as a constant, then the Mist system for just short blast to cool / move chips away.. but not run it full time.
The Kool Mist is about what Im looking for I think, with some MOD's to make it user friendly on my machines.. Thanks for the link above.

 

[dirtydogintex]

...
I was thinking Mist,, but many post across the net speak of a issue with the oil mist taking over a small shop room,, of the airborne hazard for inhalation of those oils..
...

Strange how folk usually overlook/ignore this small detail....

 

[Regnar]

Fogbusters claim to fame is that it doesnt produce the Fog/Mist in the air. You could always build yourself a Vortex Tube just cost a little more to run because of the amount of air it consumes.

 

[Seb650R]

I was thinking Mist,, but many post across the net speak of a issue with the oil mist taking over a small shop room,, of the airborne hazard for inhalation of those oils..

When I eventually get a setup it will be flood for the aforementioned reason. Flood systems start at around $100 or so (for real simple low end stuff). It cools better and you don't have to worry about lethal mist.

 

[E.Marquez]

When I eventually get a setup it will be flood for the aforementioned reason. Flood systems start at around $100 or so (for real simple low end stuff). It cools better and you don't have to worry about lethal mist.

What do you plan on doing for containment? Thats the real killer for flood cooling. Not a huge deal on the lathe, but the mil slings that stuff for about 30 feet ( my farthest wall )

 

[bullnerd]

Regnar nailed it,thats the one you want to copy.

I have a link somewhere to the one I started building.It uses a plastic whole house filter housing for the pressure chamber.

I'll see if I can find it,its very simple and basically the same as the fogbuster.

I ran a prototrak cnc for many years with just a fog system,they are very capable once you learn the tricks.

Here it is,

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/gener..._built_fog-less_coolant.html?highlight=mister

 

[Seb650R]

What do you plan on doing for containment? Thats the real killer for flood cooling. Not a huge deal on the lathe, but the mil slings that stuff for about 30 feet ( my farthest wall )

Right now, I don't have full sized machines. Once I expand my shop and get bigger machines I will set up tub like enclosures. The HAAS CNC machines they have at my school use large tub like enclosures and I haven't seen coolant all over. If its still slinging coolant, I would set up some plexiglass windows that extend further up to block as much as possible. That being said, perhaps your setup is also pushing too much coolant too quickly? An adjustable flow rate would be preferable. That way I can find the setting that doesn't sling as much.

 

[E.Marquez]

You need to look up Fogbuster and Zero Fog Mister. Fogbuster sells a complete system that I thing is a little over priced. They also proudly display their Patent # on their website. It has been awhile but I remember from the description in the patent that .35 nozzle, 6 inch tube and <20Psi was key to their system.

Zero Fog Diy is here http://www.machinistblog.com/zero-fog-mister/

When we built ours at work we used a mig tip for the nozzle. It does work but if you crank up the PSI your going to have mist.

Very nice,, I knew someone had to have built this....

Let the parts collecting begin..

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

Have you thought about using a cold air coolant system? They don't use liquid coolant but can produce an air stream that will remove chips and cool your work when dry machining. You would be surprised at how well they work. They have a large range in price but for a good USA made one, try taking a look at one similar to this:

Exair spot cooler