Will this work ?.

[alan joyceParticipant @alanjoyce61910]

As a complete novice at machine work I have managed to fund a CL1500 which is doing a great job in making lots of swarf and various bits and pieces whilst I am getting to grips with it.

As this machine has no coolant pump I have been wondering if it is possible to connect the drip tray to a container and use a small submersible pump like the small pond pumps that are a fraction of the cost the units I have seen for sale.

The pump would not need a big lift and the pipe would be fitted with a tap of some kind.

Am I in the realms of fantasy or will it work ?.

[alan joyceParticipant @alanjoyce61910]

Cooling pump

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

I use a windscreen washer pump wwith a variable 12 v power supply to vary the flow rate. Works fine and costs next to nothing from the scrap yard. Do use some sort of filter though to stop swarf getting into the pump. Central heating oil filters are OK.

Russell.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Question is do you actually need a coolant pump? What sort of work do you envisage doing that will need flood coolant, plenty of us manage without pumps maybe just adding a bit of liquid with a brush or squirty bottle.

 

J

Edited By JasonB on 09/09/2014 08:11:51

[David JuppParticipant @davidjupp51506]

Some pond/aquarium pumps have a very low pumping head (I tried one, coolant did not reach the lathe bed). If pump has enough head (or you can position reservoir high enough) it ought to work.

[Michael Cox 1Participant @michaelcox1]

Hi Alan,

Like Russell I too have used a windscreen washer pump to circulate coolant. Details of my set up are here:

http://mikesworkshop.weebly.com/coolant-pump-system.html

Mike

[Mark WillisParticipant @markwillis73847]

Hi Alan,

I would also ask what you intend to machine, and also how often? I don't use coolant on my Lathe, but do use cutting oil applied by brush as and when required, in my view coolant is good for some environments where high speed or big cuts are made.. Ie industry, where its also used very frequently.

reason I don't is also, having bought a Bridgeport mill which was using coolant, i can see what its done, tending to wash very small particles into to every place possible !, also a deposit of red rusty materials has been compacted in to oil-ways etc.. old suds oil is not very good, and does need frequent replacement, so that is why i ask how frequent you use it typically as a hobby / enthusiast its likely to be less than 10% of that in a industrial place, using it 5 days a week 8 hrs a day, they can afford to replace it every 3 or 6 months.. and spend the time to clean out the sump..

the choice is yours, but I just stick with cutting oil, buy in bulk and its quiet cheap, the last one I had was 20 or 25 Lt for about £65 inc delivery, and will last me for 10 years or more..

Something to think about.. Regards Mark

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Alan, it is so easy to set up a gravity fed drip, this in many cases is all you will need. A container and a small tap/control and perhaps a bit of flexible tubing. There are plastic nozzles and click in tubes with taps already fitted. I have never used forced cooling cutting oil. I have only ever seen it on NC machines where you cannot see the job being done. It gets everywhere and you will get soaked. Gravity fed you will have no electrics to deal with.

Clive

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

That's a very tidy set-up Mike. Neater than mine although mine has been working OK for about ten years.

Pond pumps are usually the centrifugal type so the pressure isn't very high. Windscreen washer pumps are the geared type and have better pressure albeit at a lower volume. Mine has tuffnol type gears which are quite immune to the effects of soluble oil.

Russell.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Usually cut dry, but for parting off use soluble oil syphoned from a 1 Litre bottle on a shelf over the lathe. Flow is controlled by a home made needle valve with a 1/16" nozzle, mounted on a stem on small pot magnet.

Usually set to a steady drip. The needle valve allows fine adjustment as the level in the bottle falls

Parting off tool is zero rake, with front face ground at slight angle, (in hope of clean back face to work) mounted inverted in the back toolpost .

Crude but pretty effective.

Howard

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Get some coolant in a squirty bottle and squirt some all up the front of your shirt and cut the middle man out……….

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

I used a central heating pump which I had left over (or you can buy a cheap one from Screwfix for under 40 pounds). As you can see from typical flow characteristics, CH pumps are ideal for this application. Good static head and high flow rates, don't mind being stalled or static and can tolerate some grit and crap. I got a camping water container and dug out various plumbing fittings and was able to slap something together in a couple of hours. This was for my mill but would work fine on the lathe.

There are some pictures in my album but they were taken as I dismantled the machine for export so it's even more messy than normal, honest. You can just about make out the brown/orange pump and the blue tank. I parked a supermarket basket underneath in case any leaks developed but it isn't ready to happen yet. The return hoses are jammed fairly tight into holes in the tank near the top. I have one of those generic snap lock magnetic hose nozzle things at the workpiece.

If you are going to use the machine anywhere near its limits for any length of time with HSS tools, if you want to get a move on, coolant is going to be helpful for tool life. I mostly use carbide tools now which are used dry although I flood the indexable parting tool when parting with feed, as it's operating way below ideal cutting speeds for carbide and it seems to help the finish. Apart from that, the only time I use coolant on the lathe is for drilling large holes where a lot of heat is generated and the drills are expensive. It's got to be worth it just for that.

Murray

I've given up fighting W8, so the pics are sideways as ever.

Edited By Muzzer on 10/10/2014 06:39:57

[the artfull-codgerParticipant @theartfull-codger]

As jason says,do you need a pump?,some people spend £££s on pumps,i've used a gravity feed with a tank for over 40 yrs above the lathe [as clive says] & it does all I need,the downside to "white water" soluble oil is when it gets old it stinks!! so with gravity feed you don't need to have too much mixed & it's easily monitored.

Graham

[MadMikeParticipant @madmike]

Alan I have a coolant tank with pump which was given to me. It had never been used but the proprietary pump was frankly unreliable. I bought a small pump designed for use in a pond. Making sure it had sufficient power to lift about 2metre.

It has been in regular use for nearly 3 years and it works beautifully. Cost as I recall was about £9.50 from a compnay I found on the internet. HTH.

[Carl Wilson 4Participant @carlwilson4]

Hello Alan,

Just another thought to add to the mix. Inexpensive pump garden spray bottle from your local garden centre, as sold for spraying weeds etc. Remove spray nozzle and attach hose to your coolant nozzle/valve. Coolant of your choice in the spray bottle, few pumps on the handle to pressurise the bottle and off you go, "mandraulically".

[Clive FarrarParticipant @clivefarrar90441]

Yes it will work.

Mine does you just need one with enough head to reach the work.

I use an old 5lt model fuel bottle as the reservoir. hozelock and hose pipe provided the return from the drip tray.

The only thing i would add is fit a filter or strainer to the drip tray end. Swarf in the fluid gets very gungy and is great at tearing up the impellor. Yes i found out the hard way.

Regards Clive

[ronan walshParticipant @ronanwalsh98054]

The soluble oil used to "crack" or go off and stink the place out and i was worried about this when i decided to use the suds system in my tom senior. I went to the local engineers suppliers and asked for a small (5 litre) container of soluble oil and asked if there was a possiblility that it would go off, he assured me it wouldn't. A year later its still fine, no nasty pongs and you do get longer from cutting tools, then by using them dry.

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