Thread: water cooled spindles

I am using a 2.2kw water cooled spindle in S.E.Qld ,total water capacity approx 12+ litres,added about 1.5 L of GMH coolant,mainly to control algae -that's the theory anyway.No radiator,ambient temp 30+ in summer,container from Officeworks with lid,240v pump from parts washer[fish tank pumps seem tinny to me].
Replaced Mickey Mouse water unions with 1/8" gas,[one was broken anyway,but had replaced them on my first spindle which I burned out in about 3 mins ,caused thru trying out a replacement [different make]for my Hwangy-wangy which had faulty switches and I was impatient to get things going "poof" but no genie.
I leave the machine running for up to an hour at a time the tool makes a noise,spindle very quiet,altho,the bearings are "ruugh" to spin by hand.I have had an ongoing confab with Chai over this,he was talking about recording the noise etc,I was tempted to go out and record The Northlander which only misses my house by 150 mtres,see what his prognosis was.So decided to run it till it stuffs the bearings and work from there.But it hasn't changed ,so I just keep running it.
To be fair at no time has he not replied on this matter.But did tell me few "porkies" at times,that's life! Hope this helps someone,Baz

baz
thanks, will go with as container and a couple of hole in the lid for now
again thanks for the info
guess when i do get it all running the worst i can do is burn it out
again thanks
cheers Tony

You would have to have a pump failure or hose fall off I reckon,I forgot to say mine runs 4 to 5 hours a day sometimes.Me 'ol mate darn sarf reckons the spindle should feel like a hot cup of tea at running temp ,I find that correct.
I put the holes in the top of one side as its easier to get at the pump and hoses if the lid is not attached to them,plus easier to keep dirt and bugs out.
When I sort out some design faults in the gantry [mine] I,m considering a spindle temp sensor or even water pressure sensor-like an outboard for overheat shut down or audible signal even ,as its not easy on mine to see the water flow.