Rant: A coolant line clog cost me an entire Tuesday

Spent 8 hours yesterday chasing a weird finish on some 6061 parts. Thought it was a feed issue, then a tooling problem. Turns out a tiny piece of swarf had jammed the main coolant line right at the pump head, so the tool was basically running dry. I had to pull the whole line off and blow it out with compressed air. Anyone else have a good way to catch that kind of thing before it ruins a run?

2 comments

2 Comments

lewis.diana12h ago

Feel your pain. Hate those needle in a haystack days. Maybe try a cheap inline filter before the pump next time.

ray_webb66h ago

That inline filter idea is a lifesaver! I learned the hard way after spending a whole weekend hunting for a tiny piece of gasket that got sucked in. Put one on the intake side, and it catches all that junk before it even reaches the pump. Saves so much headache.