Multitasking is more than just combining turning and milling— it means thinking differently about the machining process

January 2012 | Vol. 64 | Issue 1

www.ctemag.com

Plus:

Recycling coolant offers a big payout

Making sawing more productive

Converting from conventional to super abrasives

50 | JANUARY 2012 | CTE

When machine shops start recycling, one material often leads to another. For example, many discover coolant recycling after they establish a chip recycling pro-gram. Once they do, shops find out that coolant recycling not only makes eco-nomic sense, but can improve part qual-ity, extend tool life and help maintain a cleaner working environment. Shops also have a choice between investing in recy-cling equipment and having a service pro-vider do the job.

PNM Co. is an example of a shop that began recycling on the chip side. About a decade ago, the Fresno, Calif., job shop began briquetting chips, targeting alu-minum ones because more than 90 per-cent of its work involves machining that material, noted Dave Counts, company president. He added that the briquetting machine eliminated several hours of labor each day from loading and transporting two to three chip bins, but the shop then needed to deal with the coolant squeezed

from the chips. “We were holding onto the coolant

and skimming some oil off of it and hav-ing a lot of it trucked away,” Counts said. “It was very time-consuming. The cost was way up there to do all that stuff.”

PNM conducted an online search to find a coolant recycling system that suited its price and performance require-ments and located the SmartSkim cen-tralized system from Universal Separators Inc. After installation, the shop saw its coolant consumption drop by a third and an even larger reduction in its cost to have used oils hauled away. That’s because, with the cool-ant and contaminants removed from the way and hy-draulic oils, the recycling company charges less per gallon to remove it. “We fill up a 55-gal. drum every 3 or 4 months. Before, we were filling four or five drums a month,” Counts said, adding that payback was less than a year.

PNM purchased the coolant recycler when it had 15 CNC machines. The 50-worker shop now has 20 CNC ma-

chines and the system still has remain-ing capacity, according to Counts. Most of those machines have oil skimmers to enhance coolant cleanliness.

Cutting CostsPNM is not alone in its motivation to

purchase coolant recy-cling equipment. Bill Gimbel, vice president of sales and an owner of Universal Separa-

tors, Verona, Wis., noted that many shops consider coolant re-

moval bills a cost of doing business and only after they obtain a device to extract coolant from chips do they realize the benefits of coolant recycling. “We get a lot of leads that way,” Gimbel said. “They might save the coolant but if they’re not reusing it, they’re paying to get rid of it.”

Learn more about coolant recyclingFor more information about coolant recycling, view a video presentation on www.ctemag.com by scanning the QR

matrix bar code on your smart phone (app available at get.neoreader.com) or entering the following URL on your Web

browser: http://cteplus.delivr.com/1c604.

Eriez

A technician cleans a machine sump with an Eriez Hydroflow sump cleaner.Recycling coolant pays

big dividends for job

shops.

By Alan Richter, Editor

ormance require-SmartSkim cen-iversal Separators the shop saw itsrop

and hy-cling company

cGoo

tors, Ver

Sanborn Technologies

The Turbo-Separator Model

T10-3-315 from Sanborn

Technologies is a centrifuge

recycling system that

removes solids and tramp

oil from coolant.

52 | JANUARY 2012 | CTE

Although coolant isn’t cheap and prices continue to rise, the larger expense is paying to have dirty coolant hauled off-site, according to Mark Kluis, general manager for Universal Sepa-rators. “Customers tell us that’s the bigger savings.”

Others, however, say recovered coolant represents the biggest savings. According to Steve Friedman, president of coolant re-

cycling system manufacturer Sanborn Technologies, Walpole, Mass., the rule-of-thumb cost analysis of a coolant recovery sys-tem includes the cost of buying new coolant at $1.00 per gal. ($20 per gal. of concentrate diluted to a 20:1 ratio) and the cost of disposing of used coolant at $0.50 per gal. Therefore, every gallon of recovered coolant saves a facility $1.50. “Over the years, many localities have found the cost of coolant disposal has remained somewhat constant as treatment technologies

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Waste Not, Spend Not (continued)

not only helps with “greening” the environment, but generates greenbacks as well. J e

latter benefi t has become more pronounced as the price of carbide

has increased, according to Irvin Kaage, president of Transor

Filter USA, Elk Grove Village, Ill. Transor sells fi ltration systems to

toolmakers and other carbide part manufacturers to remove oil-

suspended particles down to 1µm. Kaage noted that the price of

recovered carbide is near $15 a pound.

“So you can imagine one person’s dirt is another person’s gold,”

he said.

J e Transor’s fi lter element is composed of a stack of thousands

of 1½"-dia. paper discs with a center hole. J e discs are assembled

on a rigid, fl uted rod about 36" long and are compressed tightly

together. “J ey look a little bit like oversized Lifesavers,” Kaage

commented.

J e oil fl ows from the OD to the ID of the fi lter and debris

is deposited on the outer edges of the discs, he explained.

Periodically, such as after an 8-hour shift, back fl ushing takes

place to clean the fi lter by forcing compressed air through the ID

to the OD. J e debris, which consists of tungsten carbide, cobalt

and abrasive fi nes from grinding wheels, is deposited in a cloth-

lined bag. J e procedure takes about 6 minutes. J e vast majority

of the debris is carbide, Kaage noted.

He pointed out that, in addition to fi nes and chips, the bag

contains some oil that remains in the sludge, and, as the dirt and

debris settle, the oil drains from the bag and back into the system.

After collecting about 3" of debris in the bag, an end user deposits

it into a 55-gal. drum.

“If not working around the clock, we normally suggest the

customer schedule the replacement of that fi lter bag on a Monday

morning before they start work so the particulate is as dry as

possible,” Kaage said.

According to Transor, 1µm fi ltration extends grinder wheel life

by as much as 400 percent while reducing cycle time up to 25

Recovering a ‘precious’ metal

ctemag.com | 53

have improved for waste haulers and treaters, but the costs for coolant concentrate have risen dramatically as the cost of base stock has increased,” he said.

Friedman noted that many coolant recycling systems some-what extend the life of coolant but only an integrated coolant recovery system will return like-new fluid of the highest qual-ity back to the machine tools.

Recycling EquipmentThe role of coolant recycling equipment is to remove the

tramp oil, particulates and bacteria, returning the coolant to like-new condition and enabling it to have a long life. The tramp oil resides in the rag, or cream, layer at the top of the coolant.

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percent. In addition, setup time is reportedly reduced because there

is less buildup of dirty oil on the fi xtures and workpiece surface.

Transor partners with Tungco Inc., Madisonville, Ky., to recover

and recycle reclaimed carbide. Shops send it to Tungco and receive

up to $15 per pound. Kaage estimated that customers generate, on

average, about 300 lbs. of carbide monthly, with quantities varying

based on whether a company manufactures or regrinds tools and

the size and quantity of tools produced.

Although the published fi lter life is 15,000 operating hours,

many customers report signifi cantly longer life, Kaage noted. He

indicated that SGS Tool Co., Munroe Falls, Ohio, is Transor’s largest

U.S. customer, owning about 50 fi ltration systems. SGS has 2

million hours of operation on those systems combined. “When you

look at the frequency of fi lter element replacement, the operating

cost is less than 2 cents an hour,” Kaage said, noting that system

payback is typically 12 to 14 months.

—A. Richter

Universal Separators

Coolant flows from the

clean side to the dirty

side in a SmartSkim batch

recycling/filtration system

from Universal Separators.

54 | JANUARY 2012 | CTE

“The rag layer kills the useful life of the coolant, creates bacteria, causes dermati-tis and ruins tool life,” said Tim Hanna, managing director of PRAB Fluid Filtra-tion Div., Kalamazoo, Mich., a manufac-turer of fluid filtration equipment. He added that minimizing tramp oil in a ma-chine sump reportedly extends tool life by at least 15 to 20 percent. “I’ve heard of as much as doubling the life of tooling.”

In addition to a bag filter that removes suspended solids, Hanna explained that the company’s Guardian coolant recy-cling system has a barrel skimmer that sits below the coolant surface and a dou-ble-diaphragm air pump that pulls the coolant and rag layer into the tramp oil separator. In the separator’s first chamber, the layer of tramp oil rises to the top and is extracted through a weir.

The coolant then travels through a baffle into the second compartment, or media section, where coalescing oc-curs, turning small droplets of tramp oil into larger droplets. That’s achieved by flowing the coolant through plastic

Waste Not, Spend Not (continued)

Sanborn Technologies

There are four basic steps to removing separated sludge from the Sanborn T10-3-315:1. Switch off the centrifuge and remove the housing and rotor cover by disengaging the quick locks.2. Remove the filled sludge basket and clean the basket by removing the compacted sludge.3. Reinstall the cleaned sludge basket.

4. Reinstall the rotor and housing cover and switch on the centrifuge.

1. 2.

3. 4.

ctemag.com | 55

tellerettes and pall rings, which grab the small droplets and form larger ones. The droplets then rise to the top of the sur-face with the assistance of an air sparger and are extracted through a second weir. The separator keeps removing contami-nants as gravity overflows coolant from the clean side of the system to its dirty side in a continuous processing cycle be-fore the clean coolant is fed back to the machine sump.

“If you’re doing a 200-gal. sump, it’s fair to say in 3 to 4 hours you remove 98 percent of all tramp oils,” Hanna said. The company’s standard systems process up to 1,500 gal. per hour.

He noted that system options include an ozone generator to kill bacteria, a pol-ishing filter for particle filtration down to 5µm and hose reels. For example, while an installation might feature a fully auto-matic, closed-loop, central recycling sys-tem, such as one used by NASA, other customers use hose reels to top off sumps

or recharge coolant after cleaning. “The hose reels are filled with clean coolant and, as a sump is evacuated, they just pull the handle, like when filling a car’s gas tank, to fill up the coolant sump,” Hanna said.

The recycling system reduces new fluid purchase costs by 45 to 75 percent and reduces hazardous waste disposal costs by 50 to 90 percent, according to PRAB. Nonetheless, the removed tramp oil must be hauled away because various oils, such as way lubrication, hydraulic and mold release oils, are mixed together and can’t be effectively separated. However, tramp oil becomes an energy source, such as for a heater that burns used oil, and suitable for sale to oil reclaimers, according to Barry Nehls, general manager of Eriez Hydroflow, Erie, Pa., a manufacturer of fluid recycling and filtration equipment.

Coolant ConsistencyWhen using recycled coolant from a

central system involving multiple ma-chines producing the same component, Nehls emphasized that it’s critical that the

fluid delivered to each machine is at the same pressure, level of cleanliness, con-centration and temperature to achieve ap-plication consistency.

That’s the case at one manufacturer that applies water-soluble coolant to creep-feed grind Inconel parts for power transmission turbine engines, where maintaining a constant temperature is particularly critical, he noted. The cool-ant is filtered to remove particles down to 5µm, and the system includes an op-

tional coalescer to continuously remove tramp oil. “They keep the fluid in as good shape as it can be kept,” he said.

Nehls added that it’s also important to establish and adhere to a coolant recy-cling schedule, with higher-quality cool-ant lasting longer. “If you wait until you have odors, you’ve waited too long,” he said, noting shops will then start experi-encing surface finish problems and sig-nificantly shorter tool life.

Another problem with having too long

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56 | JANUARY 2012 | CTE

of a coolant recycling interval is microbio-logical infestation. That can become par-ticularly prevalent when a sump is down for an extended time, allowing tramp oil to seal the sump surface, Nehls explained.

Before adding fresh or recovered cool-ant to the mix, equipment must be thor-oughly cleaned with a bactericide to remove any biological growth, such as fungus, which can hang under a ma-chine like Spanish moss. “If you dump clean coolant back in and the microbial activity hasn’t gone away, you just gave it fresh food,” Nehls said. “You just rang the dinner bell.”

He pointed out that two types of bac-teria grow in metalcutting fluids: aerobic and anaerobic. Aerobic bacteria need ox-ygen to live and although they will de-plete a fluid of its oxygen and eventually break it down, the process isn’t as quick as the work of anaerobic bacteria. “They’re not that serious,” he said about aerobic bacteria.

Anaerobic bacteria, however, break down coolant emulsifiers, which hold the

water and oil together. The byproducts of that are two-carbon acid and usually sul-fur dioxide, known by its rotten egg odor. “Once that happens your emulsion is in

serious trouble,” Nehls said. “If the cool-ant goes into a high-speed centrifuge, it’ll usually tear the emulsion apart.”

Although the vast majority of new cool-ants are suitable for recycling in a high-speed centrifuge, which rotates at about 9,800 rpm, there are products in which the emul-sifying package is not strong enough, and some of the concentrate is stripped out during centrifugation, according to Miles Arnold, vice president for Coolant

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Waste Not, Spend Not (continued) PRAB reports that

its Guardian coolant

recycling system

reduces new fluid

purchase costs by

45 to 75 percent and

hazardous waste

disposal costs by 50

to 90 percent.

PRAB

For more information, visit “Resources, ” click on “Article Archive” and select the “Environmental Issues” category.

www.ctemag.com

ctemag.com | 57

Management Services, Los Alamitos, Calif.

Mobile RecyclingOnce they’ve decided to recycle cool-

ant, shops needs to decide between pur-chasing equipment or using a service provider. For shops using the latter op-tion, Coolant Management Services pro-vides coolant recycling services at the customer’s facility. CMS, which services Southern California, travels to the ma-chine shop, evacuates coolant from ma-chine sumps, brings it to its truck, runs it through a centrifuge to remove parti-cles to 5µm and up to 99.5 percent of the tramp oil and brings the filtered product back to the machines.

Arnold explained that the company is a full-line distributor that also sells coolant recycling equipment, but it’s frequently less expensive for shops to use a service. CMS also helps companies manage their coolant and can provide an on-site labo-

ratory for coolant testing.“Our burden rate [indirect costs asso-

ciated with employees, over and above gross compensation or payroll costs] is considerably less than the rate for most customers,” Arnold said. He noted that a shop needs to use a total of about 700 gal. of coolant in their machines to make the service feasible, and most customers have their coolant recycled every 6 to 8 weeks.

Another service CMS provides is ma-chine tool cleaning, which complements

coolant recycling, Arnold added.Many shops don’t effectively clean their

machines, according to Bill Shaver, owner of Fluid Management Inc., a coolant re-cycling and machine cleaning service with locations in Minneapolis and Green-ville, S.C. “That’s one of the reasons they use more coolant than they should,” he said. “They leave the particulate and bacteria in the machine and then the clean coolant is inoculated with bacteria and fungus right away.”

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contributorsCoolant Management Services

(800) 281-8280www.coolantmanagement.com

Eriez Hydrofl ow

(888) 300-ERIEZhydrofl ow.eriez.com

Fluid Management Inc.

(888) 227-8808www.coolantrecycle.com

Nowak Machined Products

(231) 798-8851www.nowakmp.com

PNM Co.

(800) 851-5608www.pnmcnc.com

PRAB Fluid Filtration Div.

(800) 493-3462www.prab.com

Sanborn Technologies

(800) 343-3381www.sanborntechnologies.com

Transor Filter USA

(800) 354-3040www.transorfi lter.com

Universal Separators Inc.

(800) 663-2167www.smartskim.com