Before revealing how much the TBD5 costs, we’d like you to hear how many people have contributed to its development over the years.
The idea began many years ago, right after we introduced the Sidewinder Tube Skimmer. Our customers included Mazak and Lockheed. They told us stories about machine operators turning on a hose to refill their sumps, and then walking away. Management would discover a floor covered with coolant.
Some operators decided they knew the best proportion of concentrate to water, better than the metalworking fluid vendor. One type of operator would run the coolant lean, with too much water. There was one instance when a brand new million dollar CNC started rusting because of that. Then there were operators who liked running rich, using way too much concentrate. Some people would start breaking out into a rash, possibly from the elevated levels of biocides.
For one customer, production had water lines installed with globe valves, like at home. Sumps kept overflowing. So maintenance installed gas-station dispensing handles. The operators took shop rags and used them to hold the handles open. More overflows.
So we built tough equipment that could handle any condition, and would record a whole lot of data. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t cheap. But we solved the problem. But for large companies, price wasn’t critical. These sensors cost thousands of dollars, and took us years to perfect. It also took years to get patents.
Today we are focused on the individual sump, and we threw the old ideas out the window. We thought about how we could use our inventions from a totally different perspective… gardening. We recreated our sensors for the individual sump. And we did it in a way that would bring the price down below $1,000.
But we weren’t finished. Once we reached that point, we thought about how we could start combining components, and even using some of the sophisticated computer technology that has emerged in only the last few years. Technology like 3D printing and raspberry pi. So now we can now bring these units to market for $499. You can automate all the tedious metalworking maintenance work on each CNC sump. Our experience shows that TBD5 will pay for itself under 6 months.
If you’d like to know more, or start automating your shop today, give us a call at 440-391-0141. Or fill out this form and our team will be in contact with you soon. We look forward to hearing from you today.
Zebra Skimmers Corp.