Though it might seem a bit daunting when you first decide to change from flood coolant to misting, there’s really not a great deal involved in fitting the equipment to your machinery. Even better, there’s also very little to be aware of when it comes to getting the best out of your investment, as our handy little guide explains below...
The machines themselves, available in 1.5 or 4 litre capacity, are uncomplicated little units that consist of a reservoir for the fluid and a system for regulating the flow of air and oil.In fact, they're almost too simple and it could be easy not to give them the consideration they deserve - when choosing a spot for your machine's misting unit, think about how you're going to use it and what this is likely to need. Essentially, this breaks down to three fundamentals:
ACCESSIBILITY:
You’re going to need to re-fill the tank and adjust the pressure and flow, so you need to be able to get at the unit easily. Also, make sure visibility is good, with good light so that you can see to fill up the fluid and to make fine adjustments to the dials. Misting oils are used neat, so you should also ensure that they are placed where the inevitable refilling spills won’t cause any damage, e.g. directly above sensitive electronics, etc.
SUPPLY:
You’ll need to connect the unit to power and air supply, so it needs to be in a position where these are easily provided and again, accessible for checking & maintaining from time to time.
PROTECTION:
Yes, the unit needs to be easily accessible, but it also needs to be in a location that is unobtrusive, somewhere that isn’t likely to be knocked by passing forklifts or workpieces in transit. For example, a wall behind the machine could be a good place.
Select the nozzles to suit your machine when you purchase the system, they are available in specific versions for 27mm, 34mm & 41mm bandsaw blades and for circular saws, plus a general purpose ‘spiral bead’ type for use with other applications. Position them as close as you can to the cutting zone - so when used for bandsawing, always move them as close as you can to the actual cut rather than just spraying onto the blade as it comes round past the guides. In fact, it’s a real benefit to blade life to always move the guides as close as you can to the sides of your cut anyway, so you should generally have to position the nozzles close to the guides.
Once the unit is set up you can adjust the frequency of lubrication spray using the lubrication pulse interval dial (higher values give longer delays between sprays) and the length of the spray using the lubrication pulse duration dial. Adjust the coolant delivery so that it JUST ABOUT drips off the blade, any less provides less cooling & lubrication, any more is just wasting your oil and making a mess on your floor.
