23 Top Reasons to Filter Coolant 

Make more money 

1.  Longer Machine Life

2.  Longer time between rebuilds

3.  Less down-time

4.  Less equipment replacement

5.  Faster operation 

6. Faster cycle times

7.  Fewer wheel replacements

Better quality 

 8. Smoother grinds

Greater Lubricity with clean coolant

9. No burning

10. Cooler grinding

Reduced consumable costs 

11. Longer coolant life

12. Longer grinding wheel life

Reduced Labor 

13. Less machine maintenance

14. Less dressing required

Cleaner workplace

15. Perhaps increased operator safety  

16. Retards bacteria growth

17. Eliminate smells

Fewer problems    

18. Less OSHA exposure

19. Less EPA exposure

20. Less waste

21. Cleaner waste

22. Lower coolant recycling costs

23. Turn an expense into income 

When and Why to Filter 

In grinding operations you want to filter out all the particles that are larger than 10% of the grit size of the wheel or 10% of the tightest dimension specified.  A way to explain this is the tire and 2x4 analogy.  An automotive tire is about twenty inches in diameter.  If you run over the two-inch dimension (10%) of a 2x4 you will feel a bump. The little divider bumps (wake-up bumps, turtles) in roads are generally much less than an inch and you sure feel those.   If particles of any size come between the tool and the work it will tend to damage both the tool and the surface of the work the same way that a rock in your shoe will try to make a hole in both your foot and the shoe.  

Machine damage is much harder to quantify.  One way of determining acceptable particle size is to ask what grit sandpaper you would allow to be used on the hydraulic cylinders of the machine.  As the coolant gets sprayed it gets on extended hydraulic cylinders and is then abraded as the cylinder moves in and out. 

Filtering in Carbide Tool Grinding Operations

If you use grit       Wheel grit size      Filter to this level

(Sieve) Size             in microns               in microns

100                               150                              15

200                                75                                7

400                                38                                4

635                                20                                2

What you need to filter out of your sump Or What's tearing up your grinder 

The dust in the air at 1,000 magnification.

 
The big chunks are broken diamond and the little bright spots are tungsten carbide.  This was collected out of the dust collection system in a carbide tool grinding operation.  Diamond is the hardest substance known and tungsten carbide is second.  They both have a lot of sharp, fracture edges which means they cut, scrape and scratch metal wonderfully well.  

Out of the sump

It is the same material but the diamond and tungsten carbide are glued into chunks with oil and grease.   Some of these clumps are as small as one micron, which is 1/25,000 of an inch.  There is no way to keep something this small out of all sensitive areas if there is any opening at all.  The grease means they stick better to anyplace there is movement such as cylinders, bearing, bushings, controls, etc.

Coolant Filtering Works 

It Saves You Money

 Filtering grinding coolant is just like filtering the oil in your car.  Dirty oil and dirty coolants wear out the equipment.

Increase Machine Life - save $2,000 to $8,000 per year  

The big advantage in clean coolant is that it protects the machine.  Dirty coolant can shorten machine life by 5% to 7% a year.   Saw and tool grinding generates a huge amount of very small, very abrasive particles.  These particles get into the coolant and then are sprayed all over.  These particles get into controls, cylinders, rods and bearings where they increase wear and reduce quality.   The CP 2002 removes particle down to one micron and removes them with incredible efficiency. 

Particles per cubic centimeter: Unused coolant       Dirty coolant      Filtered coolant   

                                                       11,885                  76,299,682     40,000 to 100,000

                                                                    96% to 99.9% particle removal

Longer Coolant Life - save $1,000 a year per machine + the saving in labor  

If you filter your coolant you will get much longer life.  In actual tests we see coolant last six months and it is still doing an excellent job.  This saves you on coolant costs and the maintenance of sump cleaning and coolant changing.  

Reduce Diamond Wheel Costs  - save $3,000 to $10,000 per year 

A good grinding operation will still dump huge amounts of oil and grease into the sump.  We ran a test on a high production machine.  In twenty-two days of double shift we pulled out about ten pounds of oil and grease.  This oil and grease clogs the wheel.  Clogged wheels mean slower grinds, worse quality and shorter wheel life.  Clean coolant increases diamond wheel life by at least 30% overall and as much as 50% depending on the wheel and the application.  This is saving of 25% to 35% in annual diamond wheel cost.  (Tests run in Feb. & March of 1998.  Six dry filters weighed 5.45#.  Six dirty filters drained of water weighed 15.21#.  The difference was 9.76 pounds.)

 Removes oils and greases 

Very Low Filter Cost

The CP 2002 comes with replaceable or cleanable filters.  This is a low cost unit that is very effective.  If you are concerned about the true cost of the unit then the CP 2002 is a better buy.  The CP2002 runs a month without filter changes because it ran over a month of double shifts in repeated tests in an actual saw shop.  We ran tests for two weeks and they worked.  Then we ran tests for a month and they worked.  Finally we wanted to run tests until the filters clogged up.  It took 22 days of double shifts before the filter clogged up.  The filters worked well all month. (We tested dozens and dozens of filters to find the right combination.  If you use the wrong filters your performance can drop from weeks to days or hours.)        

Filter Cost $24 a month and only one filter change 

Our Units Do Not Harm Coolant

Building a filter system right is very difficult.  It must take out tramp oils and greases without taking out the lubrication and anti-rust from the coolants.  In addition to particle count we also tested for turbidity, pH, viscosity and conductivity.  In all four areas the filtered coolant measured the same as brand new coolant.