Misting Problem, HELP!

[mountie1808]

Hi all,

I'm having trouble getting my mister to pull a vacuum and pump the lubricant onto the aluminum. the contraption is actually pushing air back into the bottle of fluid rather than shooting the liquid from the misting tip. I've played with the adjustments from one extreme to the other on both knobs (one controlling the air, the other the liquid) to no avail. The only position that even slightly moves the air bubbles in the right direction is with the air pressure nearly closed. I've even sucked the liquid through manually (yes, it tastes bad, and yes, I hope it's not toxic) but still was pushed back when I turned the air back on.

I have a 5' x 10' sheet of 1/4" aluminum on the table ready to be cut and am at the mercy of the mister. I've been having troubles with it but have only recently been cutting .080, signfoam, and wood with it. Now is crunch time and I have to get it working.

Any and all suggestions, tips, tricks, and workarounds (shy of standing there with a spray bottle full of liquid and spraying manually) will be most appreciated.

Mike

[Brady Watson]

Yes...pull off all lines and back-flush with compressed air. Sounds like you have a clogged line.

-B

[mountie1808]

Fixed.

It turns out that people who ran the router before were none too careful about preventing the tip of the mister from making contact with a spinning bit.

It seems what I thought was a carbeurator of sorts to mix the fluid together is in fact just a regulator for both the liquid and the air--the two never actually mix together. There are two holes in the tip--one coming straight out, the air, and one coming down, the liquid. The liquid hole was mostly closed off. I took a small file and opened the top hole and everything works fine now.

Thanks for your help.

Mike

[Brady Watson]

Glad you got it worked out. The tip actually is like a carburetor of sorts, since it pulls the liquid into the airstream by venturi action. Mixing doesn't occur until they both leave the tip.

-B