Miller Electric Reduces Oil Costs While Improving Part Quality

Jun 19, 2017

Challenge:  Remove fine chips from oil that were marking parts.

Doug Weisshahn, Project Technician and NC Programmer at Miller Electric had a problem with fine chips in cutting oil.  There were so many fine chips in one particular machine, they would leave marks (indentations) on the parts from the automatic chucking process.  Doug  had two 25 micron filter bag housings running sump side, but still did a full machine clean out and oil change every six weeks.  And it was not an easy machine to clean. They had to disconnect pumps and remove a conveyor, stretching the process into an eight-hour ordeal.

Solution: SE30-140PT Sump Shark, DF4 Discharge Filter

SE30-140PT filters cutting oil

SE30-140PT

Doug began working with Paul Elmer, CECOR’s application manager.  Paul suggested using a three-phase electric Sump Shark (model SE30-140PT) to clean the sump.  As the Sump Shark empties the sump, contents are filtered as they pass through the 2.3 cu.ft. onboard filter.

The DF4 discharge filter is used for a second stage of filtration. The DF4 filter couples to the discharge port and filters down to 10 microns as fluid is pumped out of the sump cleaner tank.

 

The SE30 Sump Shark cut cleaning time from 8 hours to less than two hours.  Doug says they now change the oil annually instead of every six to eight weeks.   “We also use it on another 12 machines using cutting oil as routine maintenance.” Says Doug. “These machines were being cleaned out and oil was replaced every 6 months or less. This used to take 4 – 6 hours each, but now takes 1 – 2 hours each. We also pump the filtered oil back in at the first cleanout and now replace the oil annually.”

discharge filter for cutting oil

 

The DF4 discharge filter offers second stage filtration.

Because they can use the oil longer, they no longer have to buy as much. When asked about savings, Doug commented that on the very first machine “It would be a little over $4,000.00 for that machine alone.” And by reusing the filtered oil on the first clean out of the 12 other machines they save another $6,000-$8,000 in oil purchases. And the time savings amounted to well over a 100 hundred hours per year.

What else does Doug like about the Sump Shark? “The ability to vacuum the chips up with the cutting oil saves a lot of time, along with the fact that you can easily reverse this to pump oil back into the machine to get the chips loose that are stuck in hard to reach places.” No more removing pumps and conveyors. “These tanks are roughly 50 gallons each and the Sump Shark will fill them with filtered oil in just a couple of minutes.” adds Doug.

About Miller Electric:

Miller Electric is the world’s largest manufacturer of arc welding products and is headquartered in Appleton, WI

Want to hear more from us?

Please fill out the form on the right so we can help you. If you would rather call us, you can reach us at 800-356-9042 x210.

CECOR Team