Unknown substance essay

[Slaughlin79]

Guys I haven’t posted in a long time here since quit messing with platinum metals and cats, risk of too many health problems and I didn’t want to chance it.

Well I have a problem and this is the only place I can possibly think of to point me in the right direction.

I bought a medium, large to me cnc machining center and 99 percent of my work is Brass casting. Well my cutting coolant went from clear to blue so I know bc of everything I learned on here that’s the coolant leaching some copper .

Now I could deal with only that but when the coolant dries up over night there will be a thick white Powdery coating on everything which is tough to clean off. I really need to know what this is. It’s either copper or zinc from the castings I think but in know way sure .

so would you guys know where I could Send some of this for testing to see what the substance?

 

[nickvc]

If anyone local has an xrf gun take a decent sample in a plastic bag and gun it that might give you an idea of what’s causing your problem , you might get some odd elements show up but the major ones should tell you what’s actually there.

 

[AMS-Pro]

You could have a whole host of different things going on here:
- Improper concentration levels, too high of a concentration.
- pH levels too low with high rates of biological growth.
- Total Hardness high ppm levels with calcium and magnesium ion buildup.
- The sump could need to be cleaned.
- If your machine is left to sit idle more frequently, then you could be dealing with tramp oil contamination
- Improper mixing, soft water foaming.
- Does it smell bad? Could be Biological/fungal growth.

So I guess, helpful questions, or answers to questions rather, would be:
- How often do you use your CNC?
- How often does it sit idle?
- Is this the original fluid in the machine, or have you changed it?
- Do you measure the concentration levels everyday with a refractometer?
- Do you test your pH levels everyday?
- Do you check every day to make sure your skimmer/coalescers/filtration system is working properly?
- Are you running a cleaner with your coolant for 1-2 days, or are you running 1-2 hours after a flush?
- Are you testing chlorides every day?

 

[Slaughlin79]

I’m sorry I haven’t gotten back, I’ve had quite the moth or so.
The machine has been used pretty daily.

I use to check my coolant every week and then 3 days and now I check it everyday bc I didn’t realize just how fast water can evaporat. More so with mini split is on dehumidify. I check it with a refractometer.

I use a 7 stage dual chloramines, dual di resin rodi filter that reads zero ppm.

The coolant I use is a full synthetic and bacteria has not been a problem at all.Coolant smells fine. Turns a pretty blue so it’s Lea hing copper but my ph is around 8 to 9.

The coolant I’m using is sterling cool 29. It’s suppose to be equivalent to synergy 729 from blaser swisslube. I’ve talked to them already and they have additional additives for cleaning to be used while cutting.

They do have a cleaner that I’ve used when I switched coolant brands and types. It’s harsh and I mixed it Rick the first time and it softened the paintin some spots but the second and third I mixed right. All 3 time the clear didn’t do anything to the residue. Didn’t even come close removing it. The only thing Ive found that will take it off is lime away but can’t use it bc my machine will rust like crazy, denatured and isopropyl alcohol and and a scotch bright pad.

It got bad all of a sudden and we clean it. Took 5 days. That’s removing all way covers cleaning the inside. One thing I thought it could be is machine having a bad ground. But haven’t gotten a definitive answer yet from a company.

Thanks for the replies

 

[4metals]

If your machine is being kept within the parameters the supplier of the coolant suggests, and the contaminant is a base metal, you can check with the manufacturer of the coolant to see if the addition of a chelating agent would help keep the problem metals in solution.