Problem with imes coritec when milling PMMA dry and wet

[rosarinocba]

Good morning! To the imes users who mill PMMA dry, do you use any anti-static system to prevent all the residues from sticking inside the machine’s cavity? And when you do it wet, doesn’t it fill up with foam? I have that problem using the original imes coolant.

 

[Beldent Inc.]

Hello,
we have an other one than this, I just pass a brush to make it fall when doing dry and a vacumm to suck up the rest.

On wet milling yeahhhh my filter fills with foam and residus of the acrylic or pmma, so I need to be near and I have to remove it by hand every 5 minutes it's ****ty but I get great results!

 

[sidesh0wb0b]

we get minimal foam, there is some but it doesnt cause any issues for us. (350i here)
what brand coolant are you using?

 

[NYJHL]

I think silicone spray in the cabin might help

 

[GermanEngineer]

In a completely different manufacturing process in the chemical industry, we used DOW XIAMETER. It was very economical because we only added 0.01% and all the foam collapsed. (0.3 liters per 3,000 liters of process water)

 

[GermanEngineer]

 

[tuyere]

Foam in your coolant can be a sign that there is a leaky fitting or failing gasket in the coolant pump loop- if the pump is allowed to aspirate air along with the coolant, it will often whip the air into the coolant and foam results. Not necessarily, but... I've never seen our imescore foam at all, and we run it exclusively wet, milling CoCr.

 

[sidesh0wb0b]

Foam in your coolant can be a sign that there is a leaky fitting or failing gasket in the coolant pump loop- if the pump is allowed to aspirate air along with the coolant, it will often whip the air into the coolant and foam results. Not necessarily, but... I've never seen our imescore foam at all, and we run it exclusively wet, milling CoCr.

why cocr instead of ti? just curious

 

[rosarinocba]

we get minimal foam, there is some but it doesnt cause any issues for us. (350i here)
what brand coolant are you using?

We use the one that comes from the factory in Germany. When we mill PMMA, it generates a lot of foam—so much that we have to stop the milling process and remove the residue to prevent it from flooding the machine. When we mill Emax, this doesn't happen; no foam is formed. I don't think it's a reaction to the PMMA, but rather due to the milling tool, the RPM, and the lack of anti-foaming agent in the original oil.

 

[rosarinocba]

Foam in your coolant can be a sign that there is a leaky fitting or failing gasket in the coolant pump loop- if the pump is allowed to aspirate air along with the coolant, it will often whip the air into the coolant and foam results. Not necessarily, but... I've never seen our imescore foam at all, and we run it exclusively wet, milling CoCr.

In my opinion, it's a lack of anti-foaming agent in the factory coolant-oil. I tried Ivoclar's coolant and the foam reduced considerably, but it still appears. If it were a problem with the pump, it should do this when we mill Emax, but it doesn't happen. It's a shame because wet PMMA comes out perfect and practically polished.

 

[sidesh0wb0b]

We use the one that comes from the factory in Germany. When we mill PMMA, it generates a lot of foam—so much that we have to stop the milling process and remove the residue to prevent it from flooding the machine. When we mill Emax, this doesn't happen; no foam is formed. I don't think it's a reaction to the PMMA, but rather due to the milling tool, the RPM, and the lack of anti-foaming agent in the original oil.

we use Imagine's coolant, and while we see a very small amount of foaming it isn't anything concerning. maybe try a different coolant (approved of course) and see if that resolves the issue

https://imagineusa.com/s/product/imagine-cooling-liquid/01t3s000004cAefAAE

 

[tuyere]

why cocr instead of ti? just curious

Couldn't tell you. What I have heard from an American CAD vendor is that Canada has a strong preference for CoCr. Americans for titanium. No idea why, although I'd be interested to know.

 

[Affinity]

I love food with dow additives!

Have you tested the liquid with a refractometer? Maybe you can thin it out if youre not milling metal with it.

 

[sidesh0wb0b]

Couldn't tell you. What I have heard from an American CAD vendor is that Canada has a strong preference for CoCr. Americans for titanium. No idea why, although I'd be interested to know.

everyone still loves cocr here for partial frames though we avoid them.

 

[GermanEngineer]

As is well known, cooling lubricants have two functions: cooling and lubricating. The only problem with foam is that air cannot transport heat away from the workpiece.

Even in my normal building heating system, I degas the heating water using a vacuum so that the system is more energy efficient. A side effect is that I have almost no oxygen in the system, which promotes corrosion.

I don't mean to say that someone should degas their cooling liquid using a vacuum. Antifoam should be enough for that.

 

[iiUSA_dblair]

Hello @rosarinocba, the one+ model is not equipped with an ionizer (which would statically charge the air to make it easier to clean out the PMMA). Have you thought about an imes-icore unit that has the one or two ionizers equipped? specifically the 150i PRO or 250i PRO Plus or later models?