In article ,
"Mike Henry" wrote:

"Joseph Gwinn" wrote in message
...
snip

My coolant pumps have the standard hemisphere screens, so they don't
catch the fines, which will most likely accumulate as sludge at the
bottom of the tank. I have used cheese cloth to catch fines, but I
don't know if it's worth the trouble. I suppose that one mucks the
coolant tank out once a year to remove the sludge.

Looks like you've thought it all out so replacing it once a year seems to be
a good choice.

Given my low volume use, all things point towards periodic cleanout and
coolant replacement.


The biggest problem I have with old coolant is way oil floating on the
surface in the tank and getting dispersed into the pumped coolant. That was
the reason for my last coolant changeout. I've since installed a belt
skimmer but am not sure it is doing as good a job as hoped for.

When I finish setting the lathe up for flood cooling, we'll see how much
trouble I have with way oil. Given that the coolant tank is 3 gallons
and the pump intake is about 8" below the surface, I bet the oil will
accumulate on the surface, and will not circulate, so it may be easy to
manually skim with a swatch of polyester fabric (to which oil sticks far
tighter than does water). What may work is a wad of the spun polyester
filler used in many pillows, available in sewing and fabric supply
stores. Or by disassembly of ratty old pillows.

Polyester. There was an old trick to get water out of gasoline, to
filter it through a bit of polyester fabric. I think nylon also worked.
Anyway, water would not wet the gasoline soaked fabric, so only the gas
could get through the fabric.

What I don't know is how well this would work with soluble oil.

Joe Gwinn