Thread: Washing machine pump as a coolant pump

My old Nuttall came sans coolant pump. I made something up from a washing machine style pump. I don't remember the details, but the motor and pump were separated by some height. The pump sat in the coolant like any normal coolant pump. I may have cobbled a motor to an old burnt out coolant pump I think.

Now I have a U Beaut 3 phase coolant pump in the CY and no way to give it juice. I think I will use a pond pump. I have had one in my bandsaw coolant tank for a couple of years and never had any problems with blockage. My current setup has a stormwater tank outlet filter fitting to catch swarf. I also have strategically located magnets in the tray and one in the tank.

Pond pumps are ideal for low flow situations. You just have to filter out the swarf.

Dean

Fair points as far as fixed incomes/limited budgets. Truth be known, I've been guilty of the same sins in years gone by. I guess we get used to the pressures of production and efficiency.
I've seen a few coolant setups utilising the old mechanical fuel pump off a red holden motor, driven by a cam on the feed screw of a lathe. I would imagine that swarf clogging the valves in the pump could be an issue if thought was not given to pickup positioning.

OK - after a fair bit of stuffing about trying to squeeze the washing machine pump motor into as small a container it's sort of done.

The pump pumps continuously in a loop and the chrome tap in the loop determines the proportion that is diverted off to the machine.
I have the loop back to the tank and divert off to machine about and need to swap these over.
Final flow at the machine itself is determined by a small valve located at and easily accessible to the operator at the machine.
The two stage control means anywhere from a small dribble through to a flood of coolant can be easily delivered at the machine but the pump is not cavitating continuously when a small dribble is involved. The continual aerating of the coolant is also supposed to stop some bugs growing in it.

The tank is ~300 mm long length of 150 mm storm water pipe
It holds ~5 L of working liquid and minimum of 1L is required to maintain a working head on the pump. It's very similar in size to my current coolant pump tank on my BS which has a minimum working volume of about 600ml. This seems to be more than enough coolant to cut for long periods provided some coolant does not find it's way back into the return loop. This typically happens when I cut tube and coolant dribbles out the end of the tubes onto the floor - I just have to remember to put a couple of ice-cream containers at the dribble points.

A push on cap is PVC glued underneath and a threaded coupling is pushed onto the top so that a threaded cap can be used to close the top.
(I have lots of pieces of PVC left over from installing my dust extraction system)

Below is a pic of the underneath of the pump and tank.
To give the tank a lower COG I attached a 12 mm think steel disc to the underneath via some ally clips screwed into the disc and clipping up over the edge of the push on cap.
The tanks is bolted onto a 25 x 3 mm steel strap stub welded onto the disc.
Here you can also see that I have retained the rubber inlet hose mainly because the spigot on the pump is an odd side and it means I do not have to fiddle with it on the pump.
The rubber hose is attached to the tank via Black poly BSP fittings threaded and teflon sealed into the tank wall



The motor cannot be submerged so is outside the tank inside a short length of 100 mm storm water pipe.
To reduce the minimum head needed in the tank I have the pump is laying over on its side.
Nothing on the pump is square to anything else which is a right PITA when it comes to mounting or covering it with something, this is also why I retained the rubber inlet hose
The outlet is a short length of 19 mm clear PVC clamped firm using a hose clamp.




Here is a pic showing the pump running,


only a couple of small leaks at the hose clamps which required tightening.

I'm really looking forward to getting this pump on the bandsaw as I am really sick of cleaning the metal dust off the rotor on the old pump

Hi Bob,

Damn things move fast in your shed. I'd still be thinking about it. Well done.
Have you got a filter anywhere?
I cant recall what lathe you have but 2 litres might be a little light on. Easy fixed though if so.

Stuart

Originally Posted by Stustoys

Hi Bob,
Damn things move fast in your shed. I'd still be thinking about it. Well done.

Thanks ST.
Although I am retired I have been working about 30 hours a week for the last two weeks. It's been physically demanding work for an unfit old fart like me so I haven't been able to do much after hours, but given I have had the makings for some time I rate this project as "slow to complete".

Have you got a filter anywhere?

There is a fine mesh filter on the exit to the coolant collection tray that feeds back to the coolant tank There are two REE magnets in the coolant tray before the mesh filter and one in the coolant tank itself. They all collect a fair bit of metal dust.

One place I could put a magnet new setup is inside a trap on top of the pump.

The screw top chamber on LHS of the pic is supposed to allow you to unclog the pump (i.e. remove that kids sock that get's sucked inside the pump).
OTOH it might not be necessary as a bit of metal dust going through the pump is not going to stop it working although long term I guess it will abrade pump parts.

I cant recall what lathe you have but 2 litres might be a little light on. Easy fixed though if so.

It's 5 L tank and its for my Bandsaw.
The coolant tank on my Hercus lathe which also uses a water feature pump holds about 12 L.
I've never had to clean the rotor of metal dust on that one.

My pump arrived yesterday. I have got as far as connecting it to 240V and testing it. It's sitting on my bench where it will probably stay for a month or so!

Well done on the installation!

Simon

Originally Posted by BobL

It's 5 L tank and its for my Bandsaw.

Me and my memory... where did I get 3litre tank minus 1 for the pump......and its not even late yet..

Stuart

Nice job Bob. I have a similar setup lying around somewhere that I made up many years ago as an aquarium filter. We have not kept aquariums for about 15yrs.

A pair of my Severums protecting their eggs.

09-01.jpg

This filter was designed as a high flow filter to clean particulate matter from the water when spring cleaning. It was not intended, or used for continuous use. A perforated suction tube was used to stir up the substrate and suck up the guck.

As soon as I saw the trap on the pump I thought about a magnet in there. No need to trap socks anymore.

The bandsaw seems to be a problem machine when it comes to swarf in pumps.

Dean

Originally Posted by Stustoys

Me and my memory... where did I get 3litre tank minus 1 for the pump......and its not even late yet..
Stuart

It's not even "minus"
Being external, the pump, trap and hoses add about half a litre to the overall volume of coolant

Just wanted to report that I have painted the exposed metal parts and reassembled and plugged it all in and tried it out and it works well.

The pump is supposed to be a 95W pump but it draws 0.6A! so that makes it more like 140W.
Anyway it fair pumps the juice around so I was worried about it overheating.
I ran the pump for 1/2 hour and the PVC cover felt faintly warm. I also measured the coolant temp and it rose by a whopping 2ºC so I 'm not worried

Here's how it fits under the BS. I'll push it right under the saw WIGRTI


BTW the flood was from removing the old tank. One of the hose came off and 2L of coolant dumped onto the floor!!!!

Hi Bob,
Its a little beauty. I have the same generic bandsaw albiet on a higher and longer stand. I am going out to the recycle centre tomorrow to find a suitable pump.The appliance spares mob in town want nearly $100 for the spare.

Grahame

Hi Bob,
I was wondering if it would be ok if I stole your idea.
It couldn't get much simpler or more effective, especially the tank.

Phil

I like the tank too Phil,
Up here in Mackay in FNQ it is rust city so any time I can avoid metal that will rust or corrode I tend to go that way.

Apart from that I like the simple look that requires little more than cleaning. I take it that its about 150mm storm pipe?

Grahame

Originally Posted by Grahame Collins

I like the tank too Phil,
Up here in Mackay in FNQ it is rust city so any time I can avoid metal that will rust or corrode I tend to go that way.
Apart from that I like the simple look that requires little more than cleaning. I take it that its about 150mm storm pipe?
Grahame

Correct 150 mm.
It's storm water pipe which is a bit cheaper than sewage (DWV).

Originally Posted by Steamwhisperer

Hi Bob,
I was wondering if it would be ok if I stole your idea.
It couldn't get much simpler or more effective, especially the tank.

Go for it.
If you decide to go with the end cap and the threaded union and threaded cap the price can add up if you buy these from places like Bunnings
Prices at a large plumbers supplies or retic shop will be ~ half to 1/3rd of the big green
The main reason I used the parts is I have lots of these left over from my Dust Extraction install.

I use PVC pipe for lots of things in my shed.
The LHS and Middle images are of Auxilliary oil tanks for 2 of my chainsaw mills.
The other photo shows stormwater pipe used to store my welding rods - I now have 4 of these.
The oiler idea was an original, the welding rod storage I got from this forum.