fan into clarke 100e

[Lawnmowerboy]

hi all been thinking for a while that i should put a fan on my welder i have one here from an ice hockey table thich blows more than an ipswich girl on a friday night but hellishly loud

do i want it to blow or suck air from inside the welder
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Manrose-P...ooling_Air&hash=item3a6c80721d#ht_1919wt_1139
im seriously considering buying one of these little things they are only cheap and im pretty good with wiring so shouldnt be hard for me to plunb it into the onn off switch with a couple of scotch locks or something

iv just taken out my plastic wire liner and my god my poor little feed motor!!!
new metal one ordered
im in the middle of making up a trolley to fit it

 

[shenion]

Fit a 12mm computer fan. Should be room on the back and have it blowing in toward the rectifier and transformer.

 

[roofman]

i have done this with an old arc welder few years ago...thing would weld all day. I used a 6" fan from an old industrial computer server which was 240V straight to the pins.

 

[philsmin]

as above a computer fan works well, I fitted a 120mm one to my 90EN (as it used to trip regular on hot days), never managed it after that!

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

but they blow like an ashmatic coughing through a straw
do i need it to suck or blow?

 

[Engineer1964]

but they blow like an ashmatic coughing through a straw
do i need it to suck or blow?

Will you need a fan that blows, cos you want the air to move out

I've bought some decent fans from Farnell before, proper industrial ones see here http://uk.farnell.com/axial-diagonal-fans

You can chose there what you want and then buy online

This one is a 120mm square high flow http://uk.farnell.com/bisonic/12p-230hb-t/fan-high-air-flow-120mm/dp/9715142

£14.28

Hope that helps

Gerry

 

[keith19]

You could always try one of these, bit OTT for a Clarke 100e though...
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=6809&highlight=boiler+fan

 

[Robotstar5]

All the fans on the welders at work suck air from the cabinet, fresh air is drawn in through grilles on front, a couple have filters behind the grille.

 

[shenion]

but they blow like an ashmatic coughing through a straw
do i need it to suck or blow?

Depends on what one you get. Many PC ones run real slow as they are designed to be quiet. Some are 50CFM or less.

You can get them up to 130CFM.

 

[philsmin]

£14.28

Strewth, farnell should wear a mask!

The one I had was just from an old PC and worked a treat.

Compared to the factory fan in my 150TE it was a lot better made!

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

ok
would the extractor fan work better in the link at the top

 

[keith19]

The ebay one you refer to isn't so powerful as the one Engineer1964 pointed out in his link, nor probably so robust as the industrial unit.

It would probably be reliable enough for the amount of use it will get on a mig welder, but would provide around 20 - 25% less cooling air flow than the industrial unit.

Whatever you use can only keep the transformer and rectifying diodes cool to a certain degree, depending on how hard the mig is used, and how long the fan is on. The point has been made in previous posts that if the fan can continue to run between bouts of welding it will continue to cool down the mig ready for the next bout, and it is important to wire the fan (Or switch if you want one) so this is the case.

But as there are a number of s/h or scrap fans from different sources available with similar outputs, unless you need to fit a fan right away, you are bound to come across a suitable unit cheaply or for the taking.

As to whether it should blow into the case, or suck air out of it, both ways will work if there is adequate flow of air around the transformer and diode pack. It is quite important to study the inside of the case, and where the air entrance and exit vents are.
It's no good sucking air out of the case at the back if the main vents are on the sides near the back and away from the transformer, for example, because the transformer and diode pack won't be in the middle of the airflow, and much of the cooling effect of the fan would be lost as cool air enters and exits without going through the transformer etc.

Ideally, the parts that get hottest - transformer and diode or rectifying pack - should be in the middle of the airflow, whether the air is blown in or sucked out, or even both if you have a couple of fans on it.

I have my own arc welder to do sometime, and at present have a salvaged 240v kitchen extraction fan lined up for the job. Much like the bathroom fan without the housing, and a bit more HD.