I opened up the sump of the cold saw today and was quite amazed by the accumulation of sediment comprised of old coalesced water soluble oil, with metal chips.
Drained everything and spooned the goop out as well, and made a new mix with new oil, but I am concerned about this crap in the sump.
Specifically, will the oil solution (which looks like fat free milk) eventually separate if the saw is not used often?
Should I replace the oil periodically? (which is dirt cheap)
Well, it's cheap if you don't have to replace it often (from consumption). Soluble oil is *at least* $20/gal, with dilution varying with brand/application.
Separation is not an issue, I don't think, cuz even if it does, it should mix right back up with the pump.
Bacteria is more of an issue. Two methods to use are added bacteriacides, or fish-tank aerators. Or put the sump on a timer for periodic circulation.
Tramp oil on top may smother bacteria as well, assuming there are no anaerobes at work.
Chances are if you can't smell it, if it dudn't taste bad , and it doesn't make you itch/break out, it's ok. When white soluble turns grey, I think it's gone bad.
The amc people know about soluble oil. Different brands are different colors -- none red, afaik. :) Usually cream, blue, green.
snip--
One thing you might consider is buying a sump cleaner and running it for a few hours. You may be able to buy a quart, which is more than enough .It's mixed with water and circulated just like coolant. It's always a good idea to remove all traces of old coolant to avoid starting bacterial growth as quickly as you change the coolant.
Also----try to keep tramp oil out of the sump. Keep the coolant fresh by aeration or regular circulation and free of oil and you'll be way ahead of the game.
Harold
The sump on my CHNC was just plain awful with this when I first got it. A complete pressure washing cleaned it up. I installed a skimmer and a cheap aquarium pump on a timer that runs 15 minutes a day. The coolant is still nice and clean and odor free after a year now.
Karl
With 20:1 dilution, and $20 per gallon, it amounts to $0.95 per gallon of solution.
Yea... But keep in mind DT, that this is a very small sump, not easy to put anything in there. There is at most 1/2 gallon of liquid in it.
I think that I will try to play it by the ear, the saw survived at least 35 years, worked a lot, still looks and works like new, so I will just try to open the sump once in a while.
The smelly ones are mostly anaerobic. Aerobic bacteria don't smell as much. I think the bacteria that cause problems in miscable ("soluble") oil are mostly anaerobic, IIRC.
But pink. Cincinnati Milacron's stuff was pink. It looked like someone had puked into a tank of Pepto Bismol.
-- Ed Huntress
It's very similar to milk. Both are suspensions of miscable fats in water.
Although it's cheap, you can make your own (which as a fellow scrounge, may appeal to you). The recipe was in the Home Shop Machinist some time back in the early 80s. I don't have the recipe / proportions at hand, but having made a batch at the time, the secret was to make a concentrated detergent solution and then slowly add the oil to it while stirring. It didn't work if you tried to put the detergent solution into the oil.
RWL
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