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Suggestion for Coolant Skimmer?

munruh

Hot Rolled
Joined
Jan 3, 2011
Location
Kansas
We bought our first Hyundai lathe. It didn't come with a coolant skimmer! Anybody have a good suggestion on a brand or type. Our other machines all came with them on already.
 
I have heard really good things about the NexJen units. I'm about to buy a pair for my shop since I'm sick of skimming by hand and watching coolant get nasty.
 
We use the Abanaki units which are very similar to the Nexjen. I run them when the machines aren't running and they work great.
 
I recently got a zebra sidewinder 17", and the diverter thing. Seems to work pretty good. Doesn't take too big an opening to get it into and I just made a little wooden box to bolt it to next to the tank.
Travers has them on sale sometimes, or maybe some other online dealers in the US I guess. It was a fair bit less $ than the abanaki.
That said, if you have the room for it, the disk style are pretty solid.
I don't know how long these little tubes last, I went with it cause its the only thing I could get into it easily.
 
Today I've just fitted my third Filtermist FT300, which is a simple band skimmer, to my CNC lathe. I have the identical one on my CNC mill and it's worked very well for the last five years.

I fitted one to my previous Traub CNC lathe but let it go with the machine when sold. Again it worked very well.


Skimmer-In-Place.jpg
 
Just got a new Mill Last week, based on reviews and videos of the Nexjen/Albanki type units and how they work I went with the Albanki. My tank is a big U, so going to put the intake on one side and the output on the other, so it creates a constant flow in the tank when the machine is off.

Nextjen and Albanki appear to be the same thing to me, but Albanki is significantly cheaper. I just ordered mine today, $300 after a 15% coupon from Zoro Tools.
 
Personnaly I’d avoid the Filtermist. Admitted, it’s cheap, but also junk. I spent several hours re-engineering it and even so, it sucks. Not good at removing oil but will pull more than enough coolant out of the tank. Should have got one of those pricey vortex units..
 
A couple minutes every morning with a Shop Vac held slightly above the surface will remove most lube oil with ease. I have one behind every machine now...

ToolCat
 
Personnaly I’d avoid the Filtermist. Admitted, it’s cheap, but also junk. I spent several hours re-engineering it and even so, it sucks. Not good at removing oil but will pull more than enough coolant out of the tank. Should have got one of those pricey vortex units..

Harri,

Your experience is quite contrary to mine.
This morning I've just filled my coolant tank for the first time in 5 months, as I've re-built this lathe. The tank was grit blasted and painted, and is largely sealed due to it's shape - sliding in where a swarf conveyor could go. While I've been working on the machine, the auto lubrication system has been working every few minutes putting way lube into the tank without coolant to float on.

Having set the Filtermist tramp oil remover going it has transferred an inch depth into a 1 gallon drum in the last hour or so, and the small visible coolant surface is now looking completely clear. It also brought out several dead flies, spiders and a moth.

It works absolutely fine for me as have the other two I've had !
 

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Nexjen type for me, but I made my own for $70 including the air bubbler. The Nexjen tank is 50% of my total coolant capacity so just way too big for my needs. The longer the coolant resides in the separator the better, the large pump may not be a good option.
 
Maybe my Filtermist was an unlucky one... the belt was not flat and the counterweight was unable to keep it against the bent metal bit that should collect oil. The collector was also so badly made that I had to file it.

Even with these modifications I had to install the unit at a slight angle to get the belt to rub against the collector. Maybe the belt is just bad, who knows... Also kind of suspicious about the way the belt is mounted, seems the inside picks up oil better than the outside. And it is mounted as specified in the manual.
 
When I first fitted this one (without coolant in the system) the belt skidded. I took it off and soaked it in warm water for a few minutes and put it back - no more skidding.

Then I read the instructions (OK I never do !!!!) and it said to fit the belt 'green side in towards the surface of the rollers) so I reversed it to keep the instructions happy (!)

The one on my CNC mill has run absolutely fine for the last five years with the belt inside out. Fortunately no one told it that it was wrong :)
 
Suggestion? Shop Vac. (See below.)

For anyone liking the Nexjen units, I've got a small mountain in Kansas I'd like to sell you. Or better yet, I've got a near new Nexjen unit I'd like to sell you.

My local tool guy said this thing was going to work great as an affordable skimmer compared with the many MUCH MORE expensive types. Ever price out a centrifuge unit? Expensive isn't the half of it. My experience has been that the Nexjen doesn't work... at all. I'm running Qualchem Extreme 251C and trying to filter out Shell Tonna 68 in a Mori SV-50 that has wrap around tanks with limited access and many partitions.

I've run the thing plenty. Never has it reached a place where oil collects on the surface in any kind of quantity that you can actually drain off. The level of the coolant compared to the drain ports is a tad too high, and from what I can see not adjustable. When you open the drains most of what you're draining out is coolant. I've played some games with it by opening the bottom drains to lower the level slightly while draining from above, but mostly ended up making a mess. I just went over to my Nexjen that has sat undisturbed for at least a month or more, and found maybe a scant 1/8' layer of oil sitting on top of the coolant left in it. That's ten times better then what I ever saw when actually using it.

You need great access, and the ability to move it around from tank to tank because it won't draw things from clear across the pond that well. Especially partitioned ones. I've seen instruction videos where you need to get the intake set to the right level so you're getting the right stream and mostly skimming oil off the top and little else. With my unit, even at full down adjustment of the float balls, meaning maximum intake height in the tank, I still felt it was sitting too low to do it's job properly.

I've gone back to my my tried and true that I've used for years. A shop vac. The trick to those is to take the auto or round nozzle you may have and cut some small notches in the end of it. (Imagine the top of the castle piece in a chess set.) Helps create a flow that draws from all around.

I'd like to know if others have completely different results and can suggest things I may be doing wrong, but from what I know you're just supposed to run the thing and drain as needed.

If you live near Saint Paul MN and want to haul this thing out of here for $225.00 come get it. Not willing to bother with packing and shipping it just yet. I'll rinse it out for you and it will be like new.

Dave
 
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Suggestion? Shop Vac. (See below.)

For anyone liking the Nexjen units, I've got a small mountain in Kansas I'd like to sell you. Or better yet, I've got a near new Nexjen unit I'd like to sell you.

My local tool guy said this thing was going to work great as an affordable skimmer compared with the many MUCH MORE expensive types. Ever price out a centrifuge unit? Expensive isn't the half of it. My experience has been that the Nexjen doesn't work... at all. I'm running Qualchem Extreme 251C and trying to filter out Shell Tonna 68 in a Mori SV-50 that has wrap around tanks with limited access and many partitions.

I've run the thing plenty. Never has it reached a place where oil collects on the surface in any kind of quantity that you can actually drain off. The level of the coolant compared to the drain ports is a tad too high, and from I can see not adjustable. When you open the drains most of what you're draining out is coolant. I've played some games with it by opening the bottom drains to lower the level slightly while draining from above, but mostly ended up making a mess. I just went over to my Nexjen that has sat undisturbed for at least a month or more, and found maybe a scant 1/8' layer of oil sitting on top of the coolant left in it. That's ten times better then what I ever saw when actually using it.

You need great access, and the ability to move it around from tank to tank because it won't draw things from clear across the pond that well. Especially partitioned ones. I've seen instruction videos where you need to get the intake set to the right level so you're getting the right stream and mostly skimming oil off the top and little else. With my unit, even at full down adjustment of the float balls, meaning maximum intake height in the tank, I still felt it was sitting too low to do it's job properly.

I've gone back to my my tried and true that I've used for years. A shop vac. The trick to those is to take the auto or round nozzle you may have and cut some small notches in the end of it. (Imagine the top of the castle piece in a chess set.) Helps create a flow that draws from all around.

I'd like to know if others have completely different results and can suggest things I may be doing wrong, but from what I know you're just supposed to run the thing and drain as needed.

If you live near Saint Paul MN and want to haul this thing out of here for $225.00 come get it. Not willing to bother with packing and shipping it just yet. I'll rinse it out for you and it will be like new.

Dave

If you are interested I could put you in contact with the owner of Nexjen. PM me and I'll get you guys together, hopefully he can provide some insight or maybe improve his design if it really doesn't work well with your machine.
 
I have been running a Skimpy belt type skimmer for many years. Works ok not fast but it does remove oil, not really fast enough for my machine but I havent bothered to worry about it much. I am trying to think about how long I have had it, must be 6years or more. Maybe I need a new belt? If you get a belt type make sure to get some kind of secondary separator, they do bring up coolant with the oil.

Charles
 
Suggestion? Shop Vac. (See below.)

For anyone liking the Nexjen units, I've got a small mountain in Kansas I'd like to sell you. Or better yet, I've got a near new Nexjen unit I'd like to sell you.

My local tool guy said this thing was going to work great as an affordable skimmer compared with the many MUCH MORE expensive types. Ever price out a centrifuge unit? Expensive isn't the half of it. My experience has been that the Nexjen doesn't work... at all. I'm running Qualchem Extreme 251C and trying to filter out Shell Tonna 68 in a Mori SV-50 that has wrap around tanks with limited access and many partitions.

I've run the thing plenty. Never has it reached a place where oil collects on the surface in any kind of quantity that you can actually drain off. The level of the coolant compared to the drain ports is a tad too high, and from what I can see not adjustable. When you open the drains most of what you're draining out is coolant. I've played some games with it by opening the bottom drains to lower the level slightly while draining from above, but mostly ended up making a mess. I just went over to my Nexjen that has sat undisturbed for at least a month or more, and found maybe a scant 1/8' layer of oil sitting on top of the coolant left in it. That's ten times better then what I ever saw when actually using it.

You need great access, and the ability to move it around from tank to tank because it won't draw things from clear across the pond that well. Especially partitioned ones. I've seen instruction videos where you need to get the intake set to the right level so you're getting the right stream and mostly skimming oil off the top and little else. With my unit, even at full down adjustment of the float balls, meaning maximum intake height in the tank, I still felt it was sitting too low to do it's job properly.

I've gone back to my my tried and true that I've used for years. A shop vac. The trick to those is to take the auto or round nozzle you may have and cut some small notches in the end of it. (Imagine the top of the castle piece in a chess set.) Helps create a flow that draws from all around.

I'd like to know if others have completely different results and can suggest things I may be doing wrong, but from what I know you're just supposed to run the thing and drain as needed.

If you live near Saint Paul MN and want to haul this thing out of here for $225.00 come get it. Not willing to bother with packing and shipping it just yet. I'll rinse it out for you and it will be like new.

Dave

We have around 30 NexJen units here and plan to grab more. The drain, as you mentioned, does suck though. The unit does pull the oil out very well. What we've ended up doing is a combination of the coalescer and a shop vac. Periodically removing the lid on the NexJen tank and sucking out the top layer. Its actually faster than draining thru the drains anyways. We have a full time coolant guy that handles top offs and cleaning so his system has gotten pretty smooth.

Only other complaints are the hose clamps it comes with aren't the best. Have had one pop off and pump all the coolant out of the machine, and have had a few pumps burn up. They're cheap replacements though.

I have a disc skimmer on my mill at home but plan to grab a NexJen unit for it at some point. While they have issues, they're my favorite skimming/cleaning system for coolant. I like not needing a tray or bucket on the floor like you do with traditional skimmers.
 
I got a couple nexjen's and I like that there is no overflow of oil and coolant if you forget to turn it off.

Had a couple of those "haas" skimmers (zebra, right?) which work okay... but you can't leave it on all the time. The little cup eventually fills up with coolant and makes a nice mess. Same with the belt skimmer on my Doosan.

The nexjens I have I just leave on 24/7. There's no "overflow" and even if the tank was completely full of tramp/way oil, it would just recycle back to the sump. Not like it would ever get that full though.


Shop vac works too, but how much is your time worth?
 








 
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