The Many Benefits of Machine Tool Coolant Filtration

There are many benefits of filtering machine tool coolant filtration. Filtering machine coolant can extend the life of your machine coolant, reduce the growth of bacteria, and prevent damage to tools by filtering out particles in the coolant.  There are several benefits of machine coolant.  For more information on the risks of unfiltered machine coolant, and ways to test your machine coolant visit our Machine Coolant Filtration Index, or visit our Machine Coolant Filter Units Section for more articles on The benefits of Filtering Coolant.

Longer Machine Life

A machine that can go ten years without a problem in a clean shop, may need a major rebuild in as few as five years in a dirty shop. Precision machines are priced from a few thousand dollars to many millions.  The life of the machine as well as the life between rebuilds, is an important economic consideration.

An inescapable fact is that all machines are sensitive to wear.  All the materials in any machine are susceptible to wear from diamond, and carbide dust as well as other particles.  No machine can entirely eliminate exposure to particles if the particles are small enough.  Machining and grinding produce a large number of very small particles.  Chips and dust from carbide, ceramics, or cobalt/chrome alloys is different, but equally bad.  Tests show that most of these particles are under ten microns in size.  Ten-micron particles easily get under seals and work their way into bearings, slides, ball screws, bushings, ways, and hydraulic cylinders.

Dirty machine tool coolant filtration loses its lubricity, which means it allows more heat to be generated.  In addition, dirty machine coolant also loses its ability to carry heat away from the work area.  Increased friction, increased heat, and impact with particles in dirty machine coolant all contribute to greatly increased tool wear.  The microscopic grit produced during machining is like fine sand.  You can run faster at cooler temperatures if you are using machine coolant that does not have sand in it.  Your tools will last longer if they are just cutting metal without having to work with sand, and grit in the way.

Measured As The Smoothness Of The Worked Surface

Parts machined with clean machine coolant typically have better surfaces than parts where the tool was scratching the surface with the grit in the machine coolant.  It also eliminates the instances where the occasional very large particle puts a big scratch on the surface.  Clean machine coolants mean the tools stay more nearly the same size for a longer period of time.

In an operation where a drill makes fifty holes once an hour, the first hole will be a certain size.  As the drill heats up the tendency will be for the following holes to get slightly larger.  As the material heats with the drilling and then cools after the drilling, it will tend to grow during drilling, making the holes bigger and then shrink after drilling, which will shrink the holes.  At the same time wear tends to make the drill smaller. Clean machine tool coolant filtration means less staining, less rust and less flash rust.  There are also instance where operators will rush work, reduce machine coolant use or eliminate machine coolant entirely, because the machine coolant stinks so badly or the coolant bothers their skin.