Am I the only one who saw their surface finish go from rough to mirror smooth just by switching to a different coolant filter?

We swapped from a standard 25-micron filter to a 5-micron unit last week, and the difference on our aluminum parts is night and day. Anyone else get results this drastic from just a filter change?

4 comments

4 Comments

jamie8042mo ago

So what's the actual particle size in your old coolant that was causing the rough finish? It seems like you had a ton of stuff between 5 and 25 microns.

the_hayden9d ago

Right, because who needs that pesky middle ground between "rough as a badger" and "mirror smooth"... just skip right past it and hope your new filter doesn't die in a week. We did the same thing on some stainless parts and the 5 micron was clogged before lunch on Monday. Felt like I was watching money get thrown straight into the dumpster. But hey, that mirror finish sure was pretty while it lasted!

susan_adams2mo ago

Wait, you were running a 25-micron filter before? That's huge for finishing work. No wonder you saw such a big jump going down to 5. Makes total sense now.

west.casey2mo ago

Yeah the jump from 25 to 5 is huge, @susan_adams. But here's a thing people miss. That big gap between 25 and 5 microns means you're catching a LOT of middle sized stuff all at once. It can actually clog your 5 micron filter way faster than if you stepped down more slowly. You might want to add a 10 micron filter in between for a week just to protect that nice new 5 micron one. It makes the whole system last longer.