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Coolant Pump Needs

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Here is the scoop. I have a live tooled CNC Screw machine with back working and the coolant pump is on death watch. I want to at least replace it with something with double the original capacity. The coolant manifold will accept 7 lines with approximately 3/8 thru holes. When the pump was new it could barley feed 7 lines with 1/4 holes, pumping water soluble coolant mixed 10-1. The manufacturer though rather large does not return phone messages as I wanted to ask them first what the capacity was of the original pump. Maybe I should call their sales number instead of tech support. I want to know the GPH of the pumps you guys are happy with on your similar machines. This one is 13\16 diameter capacity with 3 front drilling, 3 cross working, and 3 back working stations. I don't intend to use any coolant thru drills.
 
Does your pump motor have a nameplate? What is the power?

A GPH rating by itself doesn't mean anything, you also need to know GPH @ pressure.
 
No rpms on name plate, it appears to be 1/3 hp, judging by the amp rating.
 
The best pump we've found for machine tools, if you have a choice, is a Brinkmann. These are cast iron screw impeller pumps. Gushers were lasting maybe 8 months to a year at our facility before the impellers were shot.
Brinkmann's run for years with no deterioration in performance.

We use the TA/STA (without the flange - 1-1/4" NPT outlet). The smaller pump we use is the TA302 and the larger is the STA306. The TA302 is a 40 GPM @ 46 FT of head. It'll run 35-40 PSI @ 10 GPM in practical application.
The STA306 is 40 GPM @ 165 FT of head, It'll run 70 PSI @ about 30 GPM, in practical application.

Link:
Immersion Pumps TA/STA302...306 | Brinkmann Pumps

You would need to upgrade breaker, contactor and wiring as they are 2 hp and 3.5 hp respectively. You will not be disappointed in performance however.
 
Grundfos pumps are really nice. If your CNC screw machine is Japanese, it probably has a Fuji, also pretty good.

Be careful in upsizing the pump with a machine like that. They typically have small tanks and if you pump too much you'll cavitate the pump and shorten its life. Those small tanks on Japanese CNC screw machines are why the best high pressure systems for them have their own integral auxiliary tanks to double or even triple tank capacity.

If at all possible you should try to take this opportunity to add HP coolant. In Swiss machining it's really helpful in chip control for turning and other applications, not just drills. Chip control by virtue of insert design, depth of cut and feed rates are limited because you have to take everything in one pass. HP coolant helps quite a bit.

BTW, I have tried running water-based coolants on CNC Swiss machines before, and always end up going back to oils. The machines just aren't engineered for water. You may be fine for a while, but look forward to having corrosion in places you never thought possible. It'll get into the wiring too, and cause untold problems that can be a real bitch to diagnose. I know this from experience with trying water-based coolants on Stars, Citizens and Maier machines. I wish you better luck than what I had.
 
Thanks for the info guys. The pump is a Fuji, but I wasn't happy with it when it was new. The sump holds 20-25 gallons. I can't use oils as I became allergic to petroleum based products a half dozen years back.
 
Your allergy should not be a problem if you were to move to the better vegetable-based oils. That's what many shops are now using. Expensive, but worth it.
 
Your allergy should not be a problem if you were to move to the better vegetable-based oils. That's what many shops are now using. Expensive, but worth it.

That's an idea, but I sure like the easy clean-up using the water soluble.
 
I understand that, certainly. I would suggest that you take time soon to disassemble some of the internal guard work in the machine to check for signs of corrosion. I know one of the companies where I had installed a new Maier machine had run water-based coolant in it for about a year & a half.

In that time, the machine was almost completely ruined. The water (edit: condensation) got into and corroded the roller guideways, pitted the ball screws and started causing shorts in the wiring that resulted in intermittent alarm conditions. The construction of those Maiers is very similar to Star machines other than the Maier having a cast polymer-concrete base. They were running the machine pretty hard running S-7 tool steel on 3 shifts a day though, so that may have had something to do with the condition.

Remarkably, the Grundfos coolant pumps (they use two, on a 50 gallon tank) were in perfect condition. ;)
 








 
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