Lil’ Blue Portable Belt Oil Skimmer With 1″ Wide Belt Model

Oil Skimmer Extends Life of Parts Washer Fluid and Ends Recontamination

Like many metal working shops, Anderson Screw Products of Jamestown, New York turned to aqueous parts cleaning because of limits imposed by the EPA on the discharge of emissions and wastes.

Anderson operates a 50,000 square foot plant with 65 machines, including a dozen or so parts washers – Magnus dip tanks filled with a mixture of water and cleaning compound. The cleaning compound utilizes and oil/water separation chemistry. But after three or four weeks, there was so much oil on the surface that parts were recontaminated when removed from the parts washer.

To solve this problem, Anderson installed a Mighty Mini® belt skimmer manufactured by Abanaki Corporation, Chagrin Falls, Ohio. The skimmer’s belt is operated by a motor and pulley system, which keeps it in motion whenever the unit is activated. The design uses the difference in specific gravity and surface tension between oil and water to pick up oil, grease and other hydrocarbon liquids as the belt passes through the wash water. After the belt passes passes over the drive pulley, it travels through tandem wiper blades where the oil is removed into a discharge channel. The oil then flows into a coolant saving Abanaki Oil Concentrator® where any residual water picked up with the oil is separated and sent back to the wash tank. The water-free oil is then discharged into a waste oil container.

The trial use of the Abanaki unit proved that oil skimming could extend the life of parts washer fluid by several weeks. The average time between fluid replacements is now three to four months. With this improvement, Anderson has quickly recovered the cost of the Abanaki Mighty Mini. Additionally, since installing the Mighty Mini into a small cavity in the tank’s cover, recontamination of washed parts has ceased to be a problem.

CNC Machine Skimmer Extends Coolant Life

Clears machine shop’s smoky environment

Six months ago, Tom Zovko, owner of Cleveland, OH-based Z&Z Manufacturing, a producer of hydraulic fittings and special screw-machine products, couldn’t see across his 15,000 sq. ft. machine shop. The smoke generated by his CNC machining operations was not only polluting the environment but consuming much of his profits. That’s when Zovko contacted Abanaki Corp. for a solution.

Founded in 1980, Z&Z makes a wide variety of fittings for hydraulic pipe, hoses, and welding equipment. Products include British/metric fittings in steel, stainless steel, aluminum, brass, Monel, plastic, and various other castings.

The company’s machines use way-lube oil to prevent rust and ensure smooth operation, and a coolant for easy cutting at high speeds. Engineers had just one problem: With the oil and coolant concentrated in the same area, the end result was a smoke-filled atmosphere that was unsafe for workers and violated EPA regulations.

Beyond Coolant Changes

Zovko tried changing the coolant daily in an attempt to separate the lubricant from the coolant. This didn’t work, and it cost Z&Z thousands of dollars in CNC coolant, downtime and labor charges.

What to do? Try tested technology. successfully operating the Abanaki Mighty Mini in his machine shop, Zovko decided it was time to add another. The CNC machine skimmer’s belt is operated by a motor and pulley system that keeps it in motion whenever the unit is activated. The design uses the difference in specific gravity and surface tension between oil and water to pick up oil, grease and other hydrocarbon liquids as the belt passes through the wash water.

The 1″ belt can remove up to 1 gal of oil from the surface of the water per hour; the 2″ belt can remove up to 2 gal per hour.

The CNC machine coolant skimmer’s belt runs over a tail pulley connected to a stabilizer bar that is lowered into the wash water. After the belt passes over the drive pulley, it travels through tandem wiper blades where the oil is removed through a discharge channel.

The Trial

A test of the Abanaki unit proved that oil skimming could extend Z&Z’s CNC coolant for several weeks and could rid the shop of heavy smoke. “Abanaki brought in a demo unit, made suggestions on the most efficient way to use the product, and said if we weren’t completely satisfied we wouldn’t have to pay.” Zovko tells Metlfax. One week later I told them to send me the invoice.”

The Mighty Mini weighs only 7 lbs.,allowing it to be carried to different locations as needed. The unit, which has a footprint measuring less than 5″ X 7″, is quickly installed through a 2″ diameter bung hole in a drum using an optional bracket.

“It’s hard to say exactly how much oil the Mighty Mini is removing,” Zovko says. “If there’s a little oil in the machine, it’s going to take out a little; if there’s a lot of oil, it’s going to take out a lot. If the Mighty Mini only removes 20 gal per year, it’s paid for itself.”

Zovko adds, ” Since installing the Abanaki unit, we’ve increased the life of our coolant and the life of our tools, saved on maintenance and EPA costs, and we have been able to breath a whole lot easier.”

As its machine shop grows, Z&Z Manufacturing plans to add more Abanaki CNC machine coolant skimmers to the lineup.

Reducing Those Troublesome Coolant Costs

Hahn Manufacturing chose Abanaki’s coolant skimmer to remove tramp oils and saved money in the process

Hahn Manufacturing, a family-owned business, decided to start recycling coolant and help keep its part of the world cleaner.

Hahn Manufacturing, located in Cleveland, Ohio, supplies precision prototype and production machined parts for OEMs across the country. The coolant tanks in Hahn’s multiple machining centers were being contaminated with tramp oil. Plant manager Gary Ott was concerned with escalating disposal and replacement costs for the five machining centers. Coolant had to be replaced in the tanks every three months.

The Mighty Mini® coolant skimmer looked as if it might fit the operation because of its ease of operation and compact size.

The Abanaki Corporation coolant skimmer skims the floating tramp oil from the surface of the coolant and removes the oil at 1 gph by constantly rotating a stainless steel belt through the surface of the coolant sump, attracting tramp oils by breaking the surface tension of the coolant. The oil is then wiped off of the belt via tandem wiper blades and is discharged through a 3′ discharge hose into a disposal container.

Access to the coolant sump is gained via the opening used for filling the machine sump. The built-in 24-hour timer permits the unit to skim oil when the machining center is not in operation, allowing the tramp oils to break out to the surface and be removed.

The oil skimmers paid for themselves in a few months. Hahn Manufacturing now runs the Mighty Mini® on its Okuma, Haas and Toyoda machining centers. Coolant costs have been reduced by 75 percent. The coolant stays clean and is replaced only yearly, saving the company time, money and coolant.

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