Eclipse Magnetics (www.eclipsemagnetics.com) has provided its hacksaw-blade-manufacturing facility in China with a magnetic filter as the first line of defence against the unwanted effects of metal swarf.

A creep-feed grinder is used to manufacture the hand-hacksaw blades from M2 steel, and Eclipse Magnetics installed an AM6 AutoMag Skid on the grinding machine as the first stage of the filtration process, keeping the coolant cleaner and reducing the risk of wear, damage and failure in critical components.

In addition, the AutoMag Skid removes most of the contamination before it reaches the paper filter, preventing the latter from clogging up and needing to be replaced frequently.

Moreover, because a significant amount of ferrous contamination is now being removed, it can be recycled due to its high steel content.

David Liang, general manager at Eclipse’s tool-manufacturing plant in Jiangman (South China), which manufactures the company’s ‘Predator’ range of hand-hacksaw blades, said: “Our operators are very happy with the installation of the Automag Skid.

Cleaning out the coolant tank is a hard and time-consuming job, and the AM6 greatly reduces the frequency of cleaning required.

It has definitely enabled our operators to improve efficiency; and compared with paper filtration methods, the AM6 improves efficiency and saves money — plus it is maintenance-free.”

The AM 6 AutoMag Skid filter unit has six magnetic cores, a maximum flow rate of 450 litres per min, a maximum operating pressure of 10 bar and a maximum contaminants capacity of 7kg.

Most of the ferrous contamination generated by the grinding process comprises the steel swarf created during the manufacture of the hacksaw blades.

The contamination generated by the natural wear and tear of the aluminium oxide grinding wheel is not magnetic and is removed from the coolant by the paper filter.