Yesterday afternoon myself, @Tres0422 & @Mrholthaus cleaned out the Haas weirs and sump. This is what we got out of the cleaning. Hard to judge but there were a lot of chips. Meaning we need to clean the weirs more frequently.
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This
Is what lead us to clean out the weirs……this is the filter going to the coolant sprayer in the HAAS……meaning those chips went through the pump. We will be working additional actions to prevent chips from getting into the sump.
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Hey, do we have a reclaim/recycle strategy for that aluminum? I have been interested in potentially mixing it into resin.
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I would say you are most welcome to however your want. It would be a great way to recycle them.
If you want some, have at it. Just be careful as they can be pretty sharp. I would find a way to wash the residual coolant out of it too.
Also be are there can be more than Alum chips: ferrous metal (steel/iron) and plastics. If brass is there it will be seen clearly.
I would suggest after cleaning use a strong magnet to get most of the iron based metal out. But would guess the great % would be aluminum.
tbh the aluminum-ness of it isn’t all that important, since it’s just for looks/weight.
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@Hanna_Kessler and @Photomancer be cognizant that the chips are NOT uniform in size or shape.
Additionally, bring your own bucket and don’t make the area messier than it is.
We are trying to work a remelting scheme to turn the chips into soft jaw blanks……it’s proving to be a lofty goal as the chips are inefficient to melt.
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Hey Thomas, talk to Art. Apparently Walter tried something similar years ago. Not sure if they had any success.
IIRC the idea was to melt down Al scrap, chips, shavings, etc and cast into blocks that could be used for training / practice on the Bridgeport. And then recycle again. Idea was dropped because of effort and inefficient.
When Walter did it he used all kinds scrap: chips, old lawn chairs, window frames. But he used cast iron cook ware used for muffins, corn meal mini-loafs, etc. They worked really good and the Alum contracted more then the cast iron so they released easily. I’d guess when I was there he did about 20 lbs and after dross maybe netted 16-17 lbs
Now that we have a dedicated smith shop with forges, if they could get some smelter/furnaces that run on NG they would be way cheaper than propane.
Interesting idea.
A bunch of years ago I made my own machining wax. After machining with coolant the wax was yellow rather than white and a bunch of metal shavings in it. I had to rinse the wax to get the coolant off it.
Cleaning the coolant off the metal chips to use with resin probably would requires some sort of soap or detergent to remove the oil residue. If you wanted the chips for looks you may want to polish them in a tumbler afterword…