Kool Mist Fluid Delay

[Erik Brewster]

I have a Kool Mist 100NF18 that I have a problem with. It takes a long time (minutes) for the fluid to get to the nozzle when I turn it on. Being the impatient person, I unscrew the nozzle some to encourage the fluid to travel to the nozzle (this works). I then have to readjust the nozzle to dispense an appropriate mixture.

This is currently a minor irritation, but my machine is CNC and I would like to get this mister to work under computer control. It's a really big limitation to have a several minute period on coolant start up where I have an air blast and not a mist coolant.

Has anyone dealt with this problem to get their Kool Mist system to be approximately instant on?

[mechanicalmagic]

I had a couple ebay 220 volt solenoid valves. Used one for the air, one for the liquid. They actuate when the spindle is turned on, solved the dripping problem too (I have my tank up pretty high).
DJ

[gary350]

The screw tip is the vacuum adjustment turn it until it sucks the fluid up quicker.

The needle valve on the hose is used for liquid volume. If you want less liquid screw the needle valve in.

If you have a cheap unit then you may not have a needle valve.

[Black_Moons]

Add a simple ball check valve on your fluid line.

Solenoids is a good one too. Can get em as cheap as $20 for a lawn watering system solenoid.. not sure how well they will last with cooling going through em.

[Erik Brewster]

Thanks for the quick replies! I went out and tried some things to understand what works.

I turned on the air and purged the air in the coolant line. If I turned off the air for 10 seconds, it took roughly 10 seconds for the coolant to return to the tip.

As an experiment, I turned the air off, and at the same time put my thumb over the coolant inlet to eliminate flow back. I took my thumb off of the inlet when I turned the air back on.

This worked really well. 10 seconds with air off resulted in approximately no time for the mist to return.

I think a check valve will do the job (I thought the inlet filter was a check valve, but I guess not). I'll probably buy two solenoids and a check valve so I have more things to play with...

It's really surprising that Kool Mist doesn't put the check valve in as standard. It would really improve the product for a minimal cost...

[macona]

Ditch the koolmist and install a system with a pressurized tank like the Bijur, mistbuster, or Trico units. Thats what I use on my cnc mill and lathe. Also with the bijur unit one tank can run multiple nozzles so you can put one on each side to get coverage all around the cutter. They sell pretty cheap on ebay. This guy has the tank new in the box:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Bijur-UBA-spray-...item19c62eff76

This guy has the nozzles:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Two other advantages of the bijur, its a micro drop system. First, you dont get mist suspended in the air and coating everything. Second, it has a solenoid valve built in ready to work with cnc.

A check valve will probably not work on a mister since there is very little vacuum generated by the venturi at the end of the hose. You need enough differential pressure to override the spring in the valve, or push open the duck bill in that kind of check valve.

[Erik Brewster]

After going to several places looking for a check valve, I finally found one at an auto parts store. It leaked in reverse, making it useless for this application. It looks like I will have to order one from McMaster.

I guess this just cements home to me that I can't afford to buy cheap stuff. I always end up spending more time and money making cheap stuff work well than it would cost to just buy a top quality item in the first place.

[Dave S.]

Like another person sugested go to a pressureised system. I have a Fog Buster and it comes on in less than a second. No fog floating around the shop and uses so little liquid that there is no water to clear up

Dave

[Erik Brewster]

OK, I am understanding that I want to upgrade the Kool Mist, not turn it into a science project. One thing I liked about the Kool Mist was that is did a good job of clearing chips with the air blast. Do the Fog Buster, Trico, etc. also clear chips similarly?

[Dave S.]

Yes it clears chips. Runs at 10to20psi.

Dave