Oil Skimmer Blog

Coolant skimmers typically don’t come attached to CNC machines when they are newly bought. This is because nobody wants to admit that the brand-new machine is eventually going to leak oil into the coolant. This looks good on paper, but there is a reason why so many coolant skimmers are bought annually. CNC machines are bound to have at least a small amount of oil leaking into the coolant at some point. The skimmer will remove this oil from the top of the coolant for disposal. Without some type of coolant skimmer, the coolant life will be dramatically decreased. These small coolant skimmers will save you money throughout the operational life of your CNC machine. 

Coolant skimmers can really help in extending the life of your costly coolant. Coolant skimmers help remove oils that leak from machines or parts to keep your coolant clean. By removing the oil with coolant skimmer, you can significantly increase the life of your coolant. 

So, is your product quality being affected by floating oil? Have you asked yourself how you remove oil from water effectively and efficiently?

Abanaki’s Oil Boss Oil Skimmer

One of the best coolant skimmers of Abanaki coolant maintenance line is Abanaki’s Oil Boss Oil Skimmer. This high-capacity unit constantly removes and discharges unwanted oil from the coolant that is compromising your product quality, reducing your coolant life, and stinking up the shop. The unit uses a specially designed “Constant Flow Facilitator” that automatically discharges the tramp oil skimmed from the coolant. The “Constant Flow Facilitator” eliminates the need to manually remove the collect oil. 

Benefits of Oil Boss Oil Skimmer

We have been providing oil skimmers for years to machine shops and manufacturers across the globe and they have proven to be both reliable and cost-effective. Abanaki's Oil Boss is an innovative tool for keeping coolant free of oil. The patent-pending design allows for easy visual inspection of your coolant’s condition; and will also help extend tool and coolant life. It will decrease loss of production and maintenance time. And it will allow for easy cleaning of various sumps or tanks around any plant or shop due to its portability and magnetic base. The Oil Boss has a small footprint that reduces the amount of clutter and equipment on the shop floor.

To learn more about oil skimmers, please contact our experts at 440-543-7400 or visit our website: www.abanaki.com

Watch this video to see how to remove a higher amount of tramp oil.

Dirty coolant often generates smoke, that all too familiar “rotten egg” smell, and bacterial issues that can become a health hazard to shop workers. Disposing of oil laden coolant is expensive and the continual maintenance needed to remove it can cut into production time. Unfortunately, conventional methods can be messy and require oil receptacles, like a small can, to sit next to the machine. Who wants to worry about tripping over an oil can in the middle of a busy day?

Abanaki's Oil Boss with “Constant Flow Facilitator”

Abanaki’s Oil Boss oil skimmer provides cost savings by removing unwanted tramp oil prolonging the life of the coolant. The patent-pending Oil Boss is designed for CNC machines offering passive tramp oil removal. This high-capacity-unit  constantly removes and discharges unwanted oil from the coolant. The unit uses a specially-designed “Constant Flow Facilitator” automatically discharging the tramp oil as it is collects on the coolant. The “Constant Flow Facilitator” eliminates the need to remove oil manually. 

Magni-Cling Technology Oil Skimmer

The revolutionary Oil Boss eliminated the mess and the clutter. The patent pending design allows the unit to cling on to the side, keeping the floor clean and clear. The Oil Boss comes equipped with Magni-Cling technology, which allows it to be hung from any metal surface in the shop. The magnetic backing allows for easy on/off portability, allowing you to clean all the sumps on site.

Oil Removing Process with Abanaki Oil Boss

Oil laden fluid is pumped up from the sump through the inlet valve of the Oil Boss. From there, the fluid passes through a media system, slowing the flow and allowing the oil to be filtered. The clean fluid passes through a second chamber and back to the sump below, leaving your tank with cleaner fluid in no time at all! The filtered oil can be easily discharged for clean and easy removal. In some instances, companies may be able to re-use the skimmed oil elsewhere or sell it for recycling, choosing to keep their part of the world cleaner. The Oil Boss is also reversible, which allows it to work within the layout of your shop without tubes and cords becoming tangled. The sleek design allows for simple, efficient, and clean oil removal.

Advantages of Abanaki Oil Boss

The Oil Boss is an innovative tool that keeps coolant free of oil and ultimately extends tool and coolant life. Additionally, it reduces expenses that would typically be used on maintenance and disposal.

• No tubes, mops, disks, or belts or wear out. 
• Magnetic base allows for installation anywhere in the shop
• Complete reversibility
• Lightweight and portable
• Oil is easily collected
• Requires no floor space
• Easy to empty and clean
• Minimal maintenance

 Get the brochure for more information on the money-saving design.

Companies look for effective ways to remove oil from water or coolant to reduce costs and the liability of proper disposal. Another reason for removing the oil is a better work environment. Letting oil remain in the coolant tank allows anaerobic bacteria to grow. Anaerobic bacteria break down the components of coolant, causing it to need changing more frequently. Oil-laden coolant with a high anaerobic bacteria content has two other drawbacks as well. The first drawback is an unpleasant odor caused by the bacteria. The second drawback the smoke generated from the oil-laden coolant coming in contact with the operating cutting tool. One of the easiest ways to remove hydrocarbons from water or coolant is by using an oil skimmer. It is a low maintenance, easy to use tool for removing oil from water or coolant.

The use of an oil skimmer holds many benefits including:

Reduction of Disposal Costs: The cost of disposing oil laden coolant is more expensive than the disposing of oil.

Recycling Opportunities: In some instances, companies may be able to re-use the skimmed oil elsewhere or sell it for recycling, choosing to keep their part of the world cleaner.

Extend Coolant Life: Having oil free coolant can also extend its usefulness and effectiveness, reducing the expense on maintenance and coolant replacement.

Esthetic Benefits: Removing the oil from a machine coolant tank will cut down on the amount of smoke generated from the cutting tool coming into contact with oil laden coolant thereby creating a visibly cleaner workplace.

Extend Tool Life: Removing floating surface oils while aerating and refreshing coolant will extend tool life as well.

Avoid EPA Violations: Many machining and metal working shops turn to aqueous parts cleaning because of limits imposed by the EPA on the discharge of emissions and wastes.

Hygienic Benefits: Keeping coolant oxygenated and oil-free reduces the “rotten egg” odor and bacterial levels are lowered resulting in a cleaner work environment.

Abanaki Corporation manufactures a wide variety of oil skimmers to meet any size application. From a small coolant tank in a CNC lathe to a scale pit in a steel mill, Abanaki Corporation can supply a skimmer to do the job. We manufacture skimmers that can remove from 1 gallon per hour to 200 gallons per hour. We offer turnkey systems with a variety of motors, heat options, stands, and oil concentrators. Our skimmers are used on parts washers, in car washes, wells, steel mills, and any other industry where hydrocarbons need to be removed.

To find out which of our skimmers would suit your application the best, please contact our experts at 440-543-7400, or click the button below to get our Oil Skimming Factbook.

It is a common question asked every day by people in all fields of industry. Machine shops, steel mills, industrial manufacturers, and many others are faced with the problem of removing oils from coolants and wastewater on an everyday basis. They are faced with high disposal and maintenance costs. Some manufacturers are charged extreme amounts to have their contaminated water treated properly by their local water treatment facility.

Companies look for effective ways to remove oil from water or coolant to reduce costs and the liability of proper disposal. Another reason for removing the oil is a better work environment. Letting oil remain in the coolant tank allows anaerobic bacteria to grow. Anaerobic bacteria break down the components of coolant, causing it to need changing more frequently. Oil-laden coolant with a high anaerobic bacteria content has two other drawbacks as well. The first drawback is an unpleasant odor caused by the bacteria. The second drawback the smoke generated from the oil-laden coolant coming in contact with the operating cutting tool. One of the easiest ways to remove hydrocarbons from water or coolant is by using a belt oil skimmer. It is a low maintenance, easy to use tool for removing oil from water or coolant.

Belt oil skimmers work because of the differences in specific gravity between oil and water. Water has a specific gravity of one. Most oils have a specific gravity of less than one. Because of these differences, oil floats to the top of the water where it can be removed. A belt oil skimmer uses oil oleophilic material, (usually made of stainless steel or plastic), in the form of a belt to break the surface tension of the water to attract
and collect the floating oil. The belt passes through a set of wiper blades via a motorized head pulley where the oil is wiped off both sides of the belt. The oil then flows through the skimmer troughs and into a proper disposal container. Because the belt materials used do not attract water, very little coolant or water is picked up.

Some of the advantages of using a belt oil skimmer over other methods to remove oil are the lower initial cost compared to coalescers and other filtration systems, low maintenance, no filters to change, and no mess involved as with absorbent booms or pads. With an oil skimmer, virtually the only required maintenance is replacing a belt and wiper blade set as needed. Next, Abanaki skimmers require very little operating space, usually with no modification to the tank. Finally, our oil skimmers have pick-up rates of up to 200 gph with minimal water or coolant content. Other forms of oil removal cannot perform as well.

There are many instances where companies have turned their disposal costs into income. By using an Abanaki oil skimmer to remove oil from the coolant, one company was able to sell its used oil to be recycled instead of being charged to have the oil-contaminated coolant disposed of. Another money saving benefit was an extended coolant life resulting in lower coolant and maintenance costs. Because of this, the Abanaki oil skimmer paid for itself in a short period of time.

Abanaki Corporation manufactures a wide variety of oil skimmers to meet any size application. From a small coolant tank in a CNC lathe to a scale pit in a steel mill, Abanaki Corporation can supply a skimmer to do the job. We manufacture skimmers that can remove from 1 gallon per hour to 200 gallons per hour. We offer turnkey systems with a variety of motors, heat options, stands, and oil concentrators. Our skimmers are used on parts washers, in car washes, wells, steel mills, and any other industry where hydrocarbons need to be removed.

To find out which of our skimmers would suit your application the best, please contact our experts at 440-543-7400, or click the button below to get our Coolant Guide Book.

The use of an oil skimmer in the machine shop setting holds many benefits. Removing the oil from a machine coolant tank will initiate some esthetic benefits such as cutting down on the amount of smoke generated from the cutting tool coming into contact with oil laden coolant.

When a machine is shut down for the weekend, oil has a chance to come to the surface of the coolant tank. Bacteria that are living in the coolant tank use up the dissolved oxygen in the coolant mix, a process that is sped up by having a layer of oil on the surface. This allows odor causing anaerobic bacteria to thrive, giving off that familiar “rotten egg” smell.

Contrary to popular belief the common types of bacteria found in metalworking fluids do not cause dermatitis. However, if the skin is broken, bacteria that normally inhabit the skin may enter and cause infection. The presence of phosphates and carbonates that increase alkalinity in the coolant, however, can cause dermatitis. These impurities are found in the water being used in the coolant mix.

Separating the oil from the coolant will also help reduce disposal costs. The cost of disposing of oil laden coolant is more expensive than disposing of oil. In fact, in some instances, companies may be able to re-use the oil elsewhere or sell it for recycling. Having oil free coolant can also extend its usefulness and effectiveness, reducing the expense on maintenance and coolant replacement. As the research on the different types of oil skimmers begins, a person will find that there are a variety of skimmers available to them. The most common types are the belt, disk, and tube skimmers. Each type of coolant skimmer has its advantages and disadvantages.

There are also many factors that need to be considered when choosing the correct type of oil skimmer to fit the appropriate application. Factors such as water level fluctuation, water temperature, pH level, the use of rust inhibitors, the amount of oil to be skimmed, quality, and cost, must all be considered when selecting an oil skimmer.

The use of rust inhibitors, high temperatures, and variable pH levels can affect the skimmers ability to pick up oil. Most skimmer manufacturers use a variety of materials for the skimming medium such as plastic, stainless steel, or poly blends to match the solution in which they will be used.

There are a multitude of oil skimmers on the market today. One of the most important things to be considered is the quality of the unit to be purchased. Points of interest should include construction materials, motor design, and the type of warranty that is offered. Is the skimmer housing made of metal or plastic? Is the motor fan-cooled? Does the motor use needle bearings or bronze bearings? How long does the warranty last and what does it cover? Most oil skimmers will perform as advertised, but remember the old adage that “you get what you pay for”.

To find out which of our skimmers would suit your application the best, please contact our experts at 440-543-7400, or click the button below to get our Coolant Guide Book.

Abanaki is proud to announce that our technology partner in the Philippines, Resource One/Fluid Solutions, exhibited at the International Metalworking Philippines (IMTP2018) Show, held in Manila in August of this year. The show, which is backed by associations based in industries such as die and mold making, aerospace, and automotive parts manufacturing, saw participation from companies located in eleven different countries. 

With the manufacturing sector seeing tremendous growth recently in the Philippines, IMTP2018 provided an excellent venue for vendors and manufacturers to establish new relationships. This was certainly the case for the representatives from Resource One/Fluid Solutions, who source the best and most appropriate lubricating technologies and coolant maintenance equipment for the most demanding applications in metalworking, as they were able to showcase some bright new stars in their product line. 

One such piece of equipment is the Abanaki Oil Boss Oil Skimmer, a new addition to the Abanaki coolant maintenance range. The Oil Boss is designed for use with machining centers, namely keeping tool coolant free of tramp oil, which is imperative for extending coolant life and reducing bacterial growth in coolant sumps. These units are small but robust, with an effective magnetic mounting system that allows the unit to be located for easy access. The magnetic mounting base also makes these units portable, so they can be moved from machine to machine as needed. This versatility makes the Oil Boss uniquely capable of conquering your shop’s coolant cleaning demands.

To learn more about the Oil Boss, please contact Abanaki Corporation at 440-543-7400 to find their solution or click the button below to get our Oil Boss Oil Skimmer brochure.

The new Abanaki Oil Boss 2.0 oil skimmer provides cost-savings by removing oil contamination, prolonging the life of the coolant. The patent-pending Oil Boss 2.0 is designed for machines requiring a higher than normal amount of tramp oil removal.  This new high-capacity unit removes and discharges the tramp oil constantly.  The Abanaki Oil Boss 2.0 operates unattended using a specially-designed discharge facilitator, automatically discharging the tramp oil as it is collected.  It eliminates the need for manual draining of the collected waste oil.

Get the datasheet for more information on the money-saving design.

Call an Abanaki sales representative today @1-800-358-7546 for more information about the Abanaki Oil Boss 2.0 Oil Skimmer.

Related Video:

Presented by the Precision Machined Products Association and co-presented by Production Machining Products Finishing and Modern Machine Shop, the Precision Machining Technology Show (PMTS) addresses product technology, process innovation and business development in the precision machined parts industry. Founded in 2001, the biennial event includes an exhibit hall, machining demonstrations, show floor knowledge centers and classroom style technical sessions.

The Oil Boss is an innovative tool that keeps coolant free of oil and ultimately extends tool and coolant life. Additionally, it reduces expenses that would typically be used on maintenance and disposal.The Oil Boss comes equipped with Magni-Cling technology, which allows it to be hung from any metal surface in the shop. The magnetic backing allows for easy on/off portability, allowing you to clean all the sumps on site. Oil laden fluid is pumped up from the sump through the inlet valve of the Oil Boss. From there, the fluid passes through a media system, slowing the flow and allowing the oil to be filtered. The clean fluid passes through a second chamber and back to the sump below, leaving your tank with cleaner fluid in no time at all! The filtered oil can be easily discharged for clean and easy removal. In some instances, companies may be able to re-use the skimmed oil elsewhere or sell it for recycling, choosing to keep their part of the world cleaner.

Our sales team had a great time meeting with many of the professionals there and raising awareness of our product. Many of the attendees were impressed by the Oil Boss Oil Skimmer efficiency and oil collection capabilities. If you could use a means of collecting oil from water or coolant in any applications, you can contact Abanaki at (440) 543-7400 or e-mail us at skimmers@abanaki.com.