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Keller Products, Inc.
| 1800-352-8422
(978) 264-1911
| Fax (978) 264-0221
www.KellerFilters.com
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High Precision Shop Solves the Problem of Solids Buildup in
Screw Machine Cutting Oil with Portable Pump/Filter Unit
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portable PFA-1002 Pump/Filter Unit filters solids from
the sumps of 9 screw machines at Marox Corp. |
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Supplied
with 8 foot inlet and outlet hoses and a self-priming
pump, the PFA-1002 can easily access any sump.
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PFA-1002 is an important component in the Marox Corp.
scrupulous housekeeping program. |
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Marox Corporation
(Holyoke, MA) is a contract manufacturer specializing in
high precision machining of implants, external fixations, and
surgical instruments for the medical industry, plus components with demanding
specifications for the aerospace industry. Having celebrated its 50th year in
business last year, Marox has 65 employees running two full shifts, 7 days per
week, in a modern facility built in 2000. Brian Rosenkranz, Vice President,
attributes Marox's success to their decision to stay at the cutting edge
of manufacturing technology. They utilize up-to-date concepts such as lean manufacturing
and high-tech integrated computer systems. To ensure total quality
control, Marox performs most operations in house and jobs out very little. Their
products are manufactured from stainless steel, titanium, aluminum, and other
specialty metals and polymers on modern CNC equipment, such as palletized
horizontal machining centers, five-axis vertical machining centers, and up
to twelve-axis swiss type screw machines. Because Marox's customers rely on their "Dock-to-Stock"
deliveries, down-time of machines is not an option for them. Marox
makes a point of maintaining an exceptionally clean shop to demonstrate
both to their customers and their employees that meticulous work and total attention
to cleanliness are essential elements of their products. In fact,
Brian Rosenkranz likes to say that his customers would not feel out of place coming from
an operating room into his shop.
Marox has
9 new CNC screw machines which utilize cutting oil as the working
fluid and 15 CNC millers with water-base coolant. Buildup of solids
in the cutting oil in the screw machines was causing major problems in
shop housekeeping, obviously a serious concern for Marox, as well as
generating significant costs for unproductive labor and machine downtime. As described
by Michael Consolmagno, Vice President of the Marox CNC Turning Unit, the
problems caused by buildup of solids in the sumps of the screw machines, particularly
critical with the new design machines, are:
- Chips and fines plug the coolant pump inlet screens, causing the low
flow alarm to shut down the machine.
- A high concentration of fines in the coolant loop compromises
the finish on precision parts.
- When the high pressure coolant pump is utilized, about 20%
of the time, solids rapidly plug the filters in the high pressure loop, requiring
frequent machine shutdowns to change the filter bag.
Until recently,
the only solution that Marox had to the problem of excessive
solids in the oil was to shut down the machine and manually rake
and shovel the solids from the sump. The economic costs for this non-productive
(and unpopular) function are the machine downtime and the use of skilled
labor. Even in the new screw machines, the sumps are not readily accessible for
solids raking or shoveling. Mike Consolmagno estimates three hours of
machine downtime and labor to clean one sump. In addition to the economic costs,
the manual sump cleaning and chip handling unavoidably produced oily deposits
that challenged the Marox scrupulous housekeeping program.
The problem
of solids buildup in the sumps was solved literally overnight
when the salesman from Keller Products, Inc. (Lexington, MA) introduced
to Mike Consolmagno the new portable pump/filter unit PFA-1002. The Keller
PFA-1002 can clean settled and suspended solids from a sump without the
need to drain the sump or shovel the solids. The PFA-1002 contains a high capacity
bag filter and a high flow rate air-operated pump, mounted on a compact (20”
x 30”) cart. With the inlet and outlet hoses inserted in the sump, the
mixture of solids and oil is pulled into the bag filter, which removes all solids
as fine as 5 microns, and the filtered oil is continuously returned to the
sump under pump pressure at 20 gallons per minute. The force of the pressurized
liquid discharge scours the bottom of the sump and keeps chips and sludge
suspended in the sump for pickup by the inlet hose. The PFA-1002 can clean settled
and suspended solids from a typical sump in 60 minutes or less. Requiring
only a 1/4” compressed air line for operation (no electricals), the cart mounted
pump/filter unit can be moved to another sump and set up to run in minutes.
The only maintenance required is to empty or change the filter bag when
the pumping rate slows or stops. Replacement filter bags cost $7.00 each. The self-priming
diaphragm pump has a suction lift of 15 feet and can be run dry or dead-ended
without damage.
Marox now
utilizes one PFA-1002 to service all nine CNC screw machines.
Mike Consolmagno says that treating each sump with the pump/filter
unit for about one hour each week eliminates the screen plugging and parts finish
problems associated with solids buildup in the sumps, and at the same time
completely eliminates the messy and time consuming pump-out and shoveling
operations. Now the machine tool is not taken off line for the sump cleaning.
Since Marox uses two types of cutting oil, Mike particularly likes the feature
that the self-priming pump on the PFA-1002 completely drains the bag filter
on the separator after a sump is treated so that the next sump can be treated without
mixing oils. He also points out that although on many of the machines
access to the sumps is severely limited, the 8 foot lengths of both the inlet
and outlet hoses and the fact that the pump on the PFA-1002 is self-priming permit
quickly setting up and operating the unit on even the most difficult sumps,
without significant sump modifications.
Marox also
uses the PFA-1002 to reduce the solids load on the high pressure
filter when the high pressure oil pump is operating. The PFA-1002
is set up with the inlet hose positioned in the sump remote from the high
pressure pump inlet and the outlet hose discharges filtered oil into the vicinity
of the pump inlet. With the PFA-1002 operating in conjunction with the high
pressure pump, the solids load in the high pressure pumping circuit is
greatly reduced, and the time between bag changes on the high pressure filter is significantly
increased.
To sum up
the benefits of the Keller unit, Mike Consolmagno says, “The
PFA-1002 is rugged and easy to use. It works exactly as described,
with negligible operating cost, and it has eliminated several costly problems.
No more pumping out and shoveling out sumps, no more problems of fines
affecting parts finishes, no more short runs with the high pressure coolant filter,
and with one PFA-1002 it is far easier for us to maintain our high standards
of housekeeping in the entire shop.”
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To contact our office, call 800-352-8422 (Outside U.S. 978-264-1911),
FAX 978-264-0221, or e-mail: info@kellerfilters.com
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Keller Products, Inc.
| 1800-352-8422
(978) 264-1911
| Fax (978) 264-0221
www.KellerFilters.com
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