DAEWOO DOOSAN DMV-3016 Coolant Issue?

[Johnny SolidWorks]

I'm a mechanical engineer who designs custom automation equipment- my background is entirely machine design, and I also work on the side as a machinist (ProtoTrak Bridgeport Work, mostly.) Recently, my company asked me to help out on the procurement side of the wall because engineering is slow, but we have a ton of contract manufacturing work coming in, so they need the help. On top of engineering assistance (contract manufacturing requires more engineering than most clean slate design) I make the rounds to all of the machine shops we source parts from, get to know the shop, its capabilities and their workload (so that I know who to send work to, and know when I'm being lied to about deliveries.)

All that to say this: I was auditing a machine shop, and talking to the owner about his equipment. He mentioned to me that they were selling off all of their Daewoo milling centers and replacing them with Haas because the Daewoos were going through coolant very rapidly. He said that they couldn't even run the machines over a weekend, because the fluid would be shot after about 8 hours. Not really being a CNC guy, and not knowing Daewoos at all, I just took this at face value. But because I'm an engineer and want to know everything about everything (and constantly lurk at this site, hoping to learn more about machining/programming/etc.) I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this? I think they do a fair amount of stainless work, but then again, our shop (all Haas VF2s, cutting stainless non-stop all day) never seem to have this issue.

Is coolant brand specific? Are some CNC brands worse to operate than others like this? What is everyone's experience/recommendations about Daewoo equipment in general? This same shop has all Daewoo turning centers, which it will not be replacing, because they like those quite a bit. But wouldn't they run the same coolant?

The machine itself is a 2004 with a 24 tool changer and a 15hp, 8000 RPM spindle. 3 Axis only (4 axis sold separately) - Because I toy around more and more with the thought of buying a milling center and running it in "the garage" I was curious: He's asking for $35,000 for this machine, no tooling, no turntable, FANUC controller, through spindle coolant and 32 X 16 X 20 XYZ travels. Is this even in the ballpark of a reasonable price for something like this? (And yes, I am aware that the price of a machine is only a small part of what it takes to start/have a shop. I'm just a guy that can never have enough information about anything that interests me - often times I learn enough to just leave it alone.)

Thanks All!

 

[toolmaker96]

Most Daewoo's are Box way machines, all Haas machines are linear way. Box ways use a lot more oil which does find its way into the coolant. This does tend to cause coolant issues.

Crazy reason to change out machines though, they are going to miss those Daewoo's very quickly once they discover you cant push a linear way nearly has hard as a box way machine.

 

[yardbird]

Don't know about the older Daewoo but my Doosan has the way oil return drained into the coolant tank. Its just a clear braided hose stuck in the tank. I pulled the hose out of the tank and stuck it in a paint can, just remember to keep an eye on it so you don't have a mess. Made a big difference in coolant stankability and life.


Brent