As the metalworking industry becomes more specialized, so does the equipment that cleans it. Professional equipment can assist with fluid management, protecting equipment from carbon fibre dust, and finishing operations. Employing the right metalworking vacuum can increase uptime, preserve product quality, enhance plant safety, and extend the lifespan of expensive equipment and materials.
General purpose vacuums such as the shop-type wet/dry vacuums found on the shelves at hardware stores are not uncommon in metalworking facilities. But they really are not sufficient for such applications. The inadequacy becomes clear when attempting to clean out a sump with 200 litres of oil. This job could be done in less than a minute with an industrial vacuum but will take four times as long with a shop-type vacuum and it will die in short order because it cannot withstand such tasks on a day-to-day basis.
Metalworking Liquid Recovery Vacuums
In addition to suctioning 100% liquids, our vacuums also recover liquids with solid particles such as metal chips. Our specialised range is also equipped with a lever that converts the unit from vacuum mode to pump-out mode to discharge filtered liquids at a controlled rate.
- Coolants – For vacuuming coolants and chips away from a machining centre, specialised liquid recovery vacuums, equipped with chip baskets and liners, preserve the integrity of the coolant and permit recovered fluids to be pumped back into the system. These vacuums reduce the accumulation of chips in the sump and keep workers safer by cutting down on bacterial and fungal growth.
- Sludge and Swarf – This sludge is an ideal breeding ground for harmful bacteria and fungus that endangers workers’ health, shortens the life of metalworking fluids, interferes with machine function and can eventually plug fluid lines. According to tool manufacturers, dirty machine coolant can reduce tool life by as much as 10 percent.
Some shops still clean sump pits manually. Because this is a nasty job, sometimes pits don’t get cleaned as often as they should, causing unnecessary wear on machinery and extended periods of downtime during sludge removal.
- Chips – In wet cutting, chip baskets in liquid recovery vacuums capture and separate chips from metalworking fluids. In dry cutting, dry vacuums are used to remove debris from machining centres.
- Mill Scale – Effortlessly picked up with a dry vacuum. When in piles, a high performance continuous duty vacuum is better equipped for the job.
- Grindings – Depending on the material, dry vacuums are sufficient to clean up grindings at the end of the shift. However, as materials dictate, a combustible dust vacuum may be necessary to remove grindings immediately.
- Carbon Fibre – Dust created from machining carbon fibre is fine, slippery and conductive. It can be harmful to electronics and can create slippery conditions, thus requiring frequent vacuuming. The best vacuum for cleaning carbon fibre dust would be an explosion-proof vacuum with a high efficiency, static-conductive filter.
There is no single industrial vacuum that can handle all the requirements of the metalworking industry, but appropriate vacuum cleaning solutions are available for almost every application. Consulting with an industrial vacuum specialist from Australian Industrial Vacuum will lead to ideal solutions to increase uptime, create a healthier workplace and preserve expensive equipment and materials.
Check out our Tecnoil Range for more info! – https://industrialvac.com.au/?s=tecnoil
