I recently had a conversation with a machine shop located in Houston, Texas. Their specialization lies in aerospace components, and they operate an impressive total of 54 CNC mills and lathes. As you can imagine, they have a significant amount of coolant stored in sumps within their facility; in fact, you don’t need to imagine it, as they provided me with the exact figure. Out of their 54 CNC machines, they had a whopping 3,150 gallons of coolant. Wowzer!
Every day, a maintenance technician was on hand to oversee the coolant systems of these machines. However, due to the continuous operation of the machines around the clock, they found it necessary to replace the coolant entirely every six weeks. This was primarily because the constant use led to a buildup of residue, which fostered organic growth and compromised the quality of the coolant.
The EXAIR Chip Trapper truly stands out in this scenario! We opted for the 110 Gallon Chip Trapper since their largest available tank was 90 gallons. Now, cleaning these tanks takes less than an hour, and even more impressively, we’ve extended the coolant replacement interval from every six weeks to every six MONTHS!
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 is 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.
Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer
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Photo: CNC Turning Center by Nathaniel Sheetz courtesy of Creative Commons
