With virtually all machine shops scrutinising costs in the present economic climate, it has never been more important to focus on productivity, cost efficiency and the environment.

The very nature of cutting metal on machine tools leads to the ingress of contaminants into the cutting fluid. Metal fines, tramp oil, grease and dirt all contribute towards the growth of unwanted micro organisms such as bacteria, moulds and yeasts and this turn contributes to poor coolant life, workpiece corrosion and potential effects on operator health.

Coolant maintenance has to be carried out on a weekly basis and in large companies with third party maintenance this can be a costly exercise with perhaps three contractors on site on a full time basis.

According to Helensburgh, Scotland-based MacInnes Tooling, Accustrip coolant filtration systems can eliminate these problems and reduce operating costs to a minimum.

MacInnes cites a typical example: a machine shop with 25 machine tools will encompass individual checks on each machine including sump maintenance, refractometer checks, bacteria checks and tramp oil removal. It also means that all 25 machines will require topping up at regular intervals.

Compared to an Accustrip centralised system: a single, central sump is all that is required and therefore only a single refractometer check. 99% of tramp oil and metal fines down to 35µm are automatically removed. The system does not require replaceable cartridges or operator intervention and the topping up process is automatic. Finer degrees of filtration are also available.

MacInnes claims that coolant consumption can be reduced by up to 30% and as coolant in an Accustrip system never stands still, this makes it very difficult for unwanted micro organisms to survive. In turn, this means that lab tests do not need to be carried out as frequently – perhaps once a month or longer and coolant life is significantly extended with some customers reporting up to five years before changing is necessary.

Even during a shutdown period the system never stops – it is simply put into a ‘monitoring’ mode where the system works at a reduced rate on a closed loop system to preserve the coolant and avoid stagnation.

An additional significant benefit of a centralised system is that coolant maintenance is virtually eliminated. The Accustrip system is constructed almost entirely of stainless steel and in operation occupies a small footprint.

As well as centralised systems, Accustrip also manufactures smaller Automatic Filtration Units (AFUs) for one or more machining centres, paper band filters, high pressure pump units and tramp oil separation systems.

MacInnes Tooling
www.macinnes.co.uk