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.