As discussed in a previous blog, there are many coolant management best practices you can use to extend your coolant’s lifespan. Using a coolant mixer to mix your coolant accurately is one of them.
The process of mixing your coolant, also known as the process of emulsification, is an extremely important step. When your coolant is mixed properly from the start, your machine shop can benefit more from your coolant. Today, we will be taking a general look at the benefits of coolant mixing and rules of thumb to follow when mixing your coolant.
What is Coolant Mixing?
Most water-soluble coolants have a water and oil phase. Since water and oil do not mix, they separate. Emulsifiers are components in the coolant concentrate that bring the oil and water together. Emulsifiers can do this because they consist of a polar and nonpolar side.
The purpose of mixing coolants is to maintain a homogenous mixture. If the coolant is not mixed properly, the emulsion becomes unbalanced, which leads to poor coolant performance.
Many believe the cons of managing coolant far outweigh the pros of using coolant. Coolant is often referred to as a ‘necessary evil’ because it is an essential component in many machining operations. But coolant does not have to be a necessary evil in your operations. Consider this – what if you weren’t taking advantage of all the benefits your coolant offers? Changing how you mix your coolant could greatly improve your coolant’s performance.
It’s important to remember that your coolant is a living tool that must be cared for. When you take the time to mix your coolant properly, the coolant mixture will be much more effective in your operations compared to a mixture that is improperly mixed.
4 Reasons Why You Should Mix Your Coolant Properly
Mixing your coolant properly benefits your operation in many ways. Here are a few benefits your coolant can bring to the table when mixed properly.
1. Improves Your Operation’s Efficiency
Making sure you have the right coolant mixture can boost efficiency. A proper coolant mixture will always be more effective compared to one made improperly. In fact, an improper coolant mixture could have negative sideeeffects on your coolant’s performance, such as foaming or foul coolant. When you are properly mixing your coolant, this means you have a more precise concentration of emulsion.
2. Improves Surface Finish and Increases Tool Life
Your tool life and surface finish depend on how stable your coolant is. Properly mixed coolant is stable and consistent. By making sure you mix your coolant properly, you can enhance surface finishes and extend tool life. Additionally, mixing your coolant properly means you are helping your coolant do its job. Coolant reduces the temperature of workpieces and cutting tools. Extensive heat can damage your tools and lead to poor surface finish. By helping your coolant do its job, you reduce the risk of tool breakage and improve quality.
3. Reduces Cycle Time
Mixing your coolant properly can also save time and money by reducing overall cycle times. Since improperly mixed coolant can lead to issues like foam and short sump life, it can potentially increase your operations’ cycle time. Time and money are wasted troubleshooting errors during operations, cleaning the machines, and replacing the coolant. You can reduce the risk of dealing with these issues during your operation by properly managing your coolant. Mixing your coolant properly from the start helps you extend the coolant’s lifespan. This has high potential to reduce your overall cycle time.
4. Reduces Consumption When Topping Up
Top-up concentrations are always less than initial top-ups. This is because, as water evaporates from sumps, coolant concentration rises. To maintain proper sump concentration (e.g. 7-10%), top-up concentrations need to be less (e.g. 2-3%). This is much easier to achieve by way of a calibrated mixing device. A Refractometer should also always be ready at hand to measure actual sump concentration.
5 General Rules of Thumb to Follow When Mixing Your Coolant
There are several general rules of thumb to keep in mind when mixing your coolant. Considering these points can help you improve your coolant’s performance in the shop.
Use the Right Type of Water
Since every coolant is different and has varying manufacturer’s specifications, it’s important to use the right type of water. Water quality also has a significant impact on the emulsification process, and the performance of your coolant.
Factors that determine the quality of your water include water hardness and chloride concentration. Coolant that uses soft water could lead to strong foaming while coolant that uses hard water could lead to de-emulsification. A high chloride concentration could damage your machines. In some cases, DI (Deionization) Water is preferred. To fully benefit from your coolant, you need to keep an eye on these factors.
You can test your water’s hardness and chloride concentration using measuring strips. When you use the right type of water that is of high quality, your coolant could benefit from improved cooling and lubricity.
Add Your Coolant Concentrate Last
Water should not be added to the concentrated coolant. You should always add your coolant concentrate to the water instead. This is because reversed emulsion can happen when you add water to your coolant concentrate. Reverse emulsion reduces the effectiveness of your coolant’s performance by making it harder for the coolant to absorb heat. Remember the word OIL (Oil in Last) when mixing your coolant to help you avoid reverse emulsion.
Mix Your Coolant Thoroughly
To keep costs low, it is important to mix your coolant thoroughly before adding it to your machine tool. Consider the following. If your coolant is not mixed thoroughly before adding it to your machine, most, if not all, your coolant concentrate could float to the surface because of the oil in the concentrate. It then becomes tramp oil and will have to be skimmed off. This means most of your coolant concentrate could become tramp oil if you do not mix your coolant thoroughly before adding it to your machine. You will then have to spend more money on coolant concentrate. Mixing your coolant right the first time saves you both time and money.
Maintain Proper Concentration Levels
When mixing coolant, it’s important to concentrate on your concentration levels! Concentration levels vary depending on the application for lubricity purposes. This is because some specific materials or machining application(s) demand a higher concentration of coolant emulsion. In this case, you would have to mix more concentrate per litre of water. As mentioned in our previous coolant management blog, maintaining concentration levels will also improve your coolant’s performance.
Keep Emulsion Droplets Small
A factor you can measure to determine if you are mixing your coolant properly is the size of your emulsion droplets. Uniform and homogenous droplets are small. This means that obtaining the smallest possible droplet size in your coolant will provide you with a stable emulsion. Making sure you have precise concentration is one way you can ensure your emulsion droplets remain small and dispersed. This will also provide you with optimized lubrication and coolant performance.
Choosing the Proper Mixing Method
Manually mixing your coolant is an acceptable mixing method, but it may not be the best mixing method for your shop. This is because mixing your coolant by hand can waste time, money, and energy. However, mixing your coolant with a mixing device saves you time and money, and leads to a more precise and consistent coolant concentration.
For example, Blaser Jetmix is an emulsion mixing device that is ideal for drums. Features like its specially shaped nozzle help it keep emulsion drops small. This means Jetmix creates a precise and finely dispersed emulsion consistently. In fact, with Jetmix, customers can expect to use 20-30% less concentrate due to the precise control of the concentration.
The Mini-Jetmix from Blaser is another ideal emulsion mixing device that works best for pails. Both the Jetmix and Mini-Jetmix create a micro-emulsion that makes your coolant more stable and longer lasting. Notably, both mixing devices work with all water-miscible coolants, are serviceable and can be repaired. In fact, Jetmixes can last in the field for more than 25 years.
For larger installs and longer travel, a Coolant Mixing System from Dosatron is a great example of how you can save time and money with a mixing device. Automating the way you mix your coolant with a coolant mixing system saves you considerable time and money!
Automating Coolant Refills
We would be remiss if we did not include something in this blog on this latest breakthrough technology. LIQUIDTOOL is one such system that automates coolant maintenance. At a high level, the technology includes measurement of concentration, a cloud-based platform that analyzes what may be missing, and automated top-ups. Contact us for more information.
Coolant Mixing is an Essential Part of Coolant Management
Maintaining metalworking fluids in your shop can be costly. But good coolant management practices, like mixing your coolant properly, can reduce these costs and benefit your shop in many other ways. It’s important to treat your coolant like a tool and take steps to maintain it properly. That is why mixing your coolant properly is an important step of coolant management.
There are many ways you can mix your coolant, and changing the way you mix your coolant could benefit your operation. If you are unsure about where to start, our experienced Technical Sales Representatives are here to help! We are here to provide you with an unbiased recommendation based on the unique requirements of your shop and operation. If you’d like to benefit even more from your coolant, contact us today to learn more about Blaser Swisslube and how we can help improve your Metalworking Fluid management. Contact us today to learn more!
References
Blaser Jetmix
Blaser Mini-Jetmix
Dosatron Coolant Mixing System
LIQUIDTOOL