Oil mist collectors play an important role in a busy machine shop, and China Precision Parts is no different. That’s why we have actually invested in two different oil mist collection systems to compare them and see which one works better for us.
The Mist-Fit 550 is a traditional-style filtering system that we have had to make some custom improvements to make it more cost-effective for us as it was flying through disposable filters! Learn more about our superior mist control system: the Mist Buster! https://youtu.be/BgfCWa4AArc
Video Transcript:
“You ever drive into work on a foggy morning? Well, if you’re not careful about the air quality controlling your shop, it’ll look like that pretty quick in here as well.
I’m Brad Thompson. This is China Precision Parts Inc, and this is our “way too early review” of the Mist-Fit 550.
If you’ve been to our page before you might have caught my review on the Mist Buster unit. It’s similar to this, but they work in two different ways. The Mist-Fit 550 is a traditional style filtering system. It’s got four stages, two you can see right here. A third one, and a fourth one hidden inside. You’ll also notice this gray collar down here at the bottom. We’ll talk about that a little bit later.
The first stage is just essentially a baffle system. You’ve got large grates, and these grates are really just meant to capture and stop large splashes of oil and fluid from getting up into the finer mesh filters up top. This essentially preserves their life/makes them last longer. You’ve got a second stage which again is a baffling type system, but meant to catch slightly smaller particulate. We’ve gotten past large splashes at this point, and now we’re getting the larger air droplets that still might get suspended in air that are going to ultimately decrease the lifespan of our filter system inside.
This is the third stage of the filtration system. This has a MERV rating of 15, and is supposed to last 1-3 years. This one is really the heart and soul of the system. I called this a four stage system to start off with. The fourth stage is a HEPA filter. Depending on the application, you may or may not need that because of how good [the third] section is.
Let’s talk pros and cons. Pros with a system like this: it’s just traditional filtration system. You don’t have to do a whole lot of work involved, other than taking the filters out and replacing them. But they do cost money. Remember the goal here is to make this middle section last about a year if not three years.
Now if you can see this gray collar down here at the bottom. This is not part of the original unit. This is essentially a repeat of what I showed you at the beginning, and this was a custom add-on in an attempt to try and increase the lifespan of this middle filter. The whole reason that this is down here is when we first installed this unit, we couldn’t make it 3-4 months without having to replace [the middle] filter. Like I said, they’re expensive. This was one of the first attempts we made to try and increase the life of this filter.
One additional thing that we’ve done to increase its life is–and it’s still not making it that one year mark–these are designed to allow oil to drip back down in the machine. You’re always trying to save as much as you can, and all oil that you throw away is money lost. The fan that draws oil through this entire unit, if it never kicks off, there’s oil that never gets a chance to drip back down, and you end up soaking your filter well before it needs to be. We’ve reprogrammed [the fans] so that anytime the coolant inside the machine shuts off, even if the machine is still running, this fan shuts off in an attempt to allow more oil to flow back down into this unit.
All right, let’s talk bananas and give this thing a rating. At this point we’ve reviewed two types of air quality control for your shop: traditional units such as the Mist-Fit 550, or the electrostatic Mist Buster units. Pros of Mist-Fit: easy to manage, you just replace filters. However, custom baffles, custom programming, I’m gonna have to knock this thing down a couple of bananas. This is our “way too early review.” We haven’t quite finished up reviewing whether or not the custom program is going to help yet. Because of that [issue] with the baffles, we’re going to give this one a 3/5bananas.
If you remember, our Mist Buster got a 3.5/5. I’m going to bump that up to a 4/5 at this point, and you can check that out. We’ll see you next time.”