Coolant recovered

Machining aluminium, brass or stainless steel, the lathes use a low viscosity neat oil coolant that was being dragged into the bins by the swarf. “Operators were replenishing the oil on a regular basis, which is both expensive, time consuming and has potential hazards associated with it,” explains engineering group leader, Jon Davis.

“We tested the Wogaard Coolant Saver on the neat oil and it worked extremely well, and now all the Citizen lathes have been upgraded with the units. As we have to exchange and empty the swarf bins frequently our engineering team devised a quick fit connection system so the Coolant Saver head remains fitted to the base of the bin with external stainless steel piping. The design allows it to be simply uncoupled from the Venturi unit on the machine’s coolant pump that generates the vacuum required to extract the coolant and return it to the machine tool’s sump.”

While the engineering team at Stonehouse does not have exact savings in terms of the litres of neat oil saved, the positive impact of the Wogaard system is appreciated in a number of areas. As Davis points out: “We have significantly reduced the time wasted topping up the oil in the sump of the machines, negated the risk of neat oil being spilt or leaking onto the shop floor and saved our labourers’ time vacuuming out the oil from the skips.”

Although all the lathes are supplied by Citizen, the specifications differ to suit the parts produced. This means the fitting of the Coolant Saver for each type required some engineering input. Now they have all been completed the process has been documented so the Wogaard units can be fitted to the turning cells across Renishaw’s other manufacturing facilities. 

And what of the machine tools with soluble oil, where the project started? “These machine tools are part of the plan, we have already purchased the Wogaard units we just need to go round all the machines to fit them. With around two skips per shift required for each machine we will follow a similar quick coupling design, and we already know the Coolant Saver to be a proven solution,” Davis concludes.