How much would it cost? Metal water tray for my plasma.

[AdrianH]

I want to try and fit a water tray on my home made CNC playtoy?

I was wondering how much it would cost, not even sure if mild steel sheet would be OK or if it would rust away, do I need stainless? I would have to put some form of rust inhibitor in the water I guess anyway for the grating.

My own Machine-mart bender only goes to 600mm width so it is out of my garage workshop as I need 940 x 625 x 50mm Length x Width x Height. Square sided and outside dimensions, would anyone have a clue to costs, would anyone local'ish want to make one for me.

Hope I have not broken any site rules asking, but most of the fab shops around here seem to be into much bigger things.

Adrian

 

[Tinbasherdan]

I want to try and fit a water tray on my home made CNC playtoy?

I was wondering how much it would cost, not even sure if mild steel sheet would be OK or if it would rust away, do I need stainless? I would have to put some form of rust inhibitor in the water I guess anyway for the grating.

My own Machine-mart bender only goes to 600mm width so it is out of my garage workshop as I need 940 x 625 x 50mm Length x Width x Height. Square sided and outside dimensions, would anyone have a clue to costs, would anyone local'ish want to make one for me.

Hope I have not broken any site rules asking, but most of the fab shops around here seem to be into much bigger things.

Adrian

Give me a week and I'll measure up the bender at college

 

[cocker]

Can't you weld one up using angle for the corners ?

 

[Hitch]

Not a big job at all for a fab shop. I think the one in our machine is only steel, but has a rust inhibitor added to the water- that protects the tray/slats, and parts tha get covered by the water as they are cut.
Also antifungal tablets are added.

 

[AdrianH]

Give me a week and I'll measure up the bender at college

Sure not a problem

Can't you weld one up using angle for the corners ?

That would be a lot of welding compared to one properly bent from sheet, as in 200mm welded as compared to 3,300mm, if my minds picture matches yours of course.

Not a big job at all for a fab shop. I think the one in our machine is only steel, but has a rust inhibitor added to the water- that protects the tray/slats, and parts tha get covered by the water as they are cut.
Also antifungal tablets are added.

Thanks for the information, I appreciate not a big job for a fab shop but the two I have contacted are playing catch up after Christmas and are basically saying not for them at the moment. How thick is your tray, I am guessing at 1.6mm max, probably 1.2mm thick for such a small tray, but only guesswork, the thing I most need avoided would be distortion as I could do with the base flat to stop the slats from rocking.

Adrian

 

[Normsthename]

I made a water tank for my homemade CNC Plasma using 1.5mm mild steel.
At the time I didn't have any bending capability so made it strips.
One large plate for the bottom and a strip on each side.
I TIG welded it all together.
It was not pretty but it worked a treat
I never had any problems with it rusting, never even painted it!
50mm sounds a little on the small side I think you will have problems with the water getting contaminated very quickly.
My tank was approx 125mm deep and I wish it was larger.
If I was building one from scratch again I would definitely look into having one with an air line to raise and lower the water level
You will be amazed how dirty the water gets in a short time, and it is not nice to deal with

Andy

 

[Hitch]

Not sure on thickness, 2.5/3mm perhaps... 3x1.5 tray though.

Crikey, thats half an hours work tops

 

[awemawson]

I rejected the idea of a water tank in favour of a down draught extractor system, as I have way too much condensation already in my welding shop without introducing another source of water. Thread and pictures here :

http://madmodder.net/index.php/topic,11797.0.html

 

[AdrianH]

Unfortunately I did not even consider dealing with the crud that comes off the plasma by way of fine dust that gets everywhere.
So this is a trial if you will to see what happens, I do have plans to put a hole in it to drain the water into a tub when not in use, not doing any of these air pumped things but basically just having a pipe to a tub that I can lower to empty the tray and raise to fill the tray. Think I am only talking 25 to 30 litres of water?

But it is only a baby cnc plasma cutter.

Adrian

 

[AdrianH]

I rejected the idea of a water tank in favour of a down draught extractor system, as I have way too much condensation already in my welding shop without introducing another source of water. Thread and pictures here :

http://madmodder.net/index.php/topic,11797.0.html

My unit literally sits on a small bench, it's overall size is 110mm by 720mm L x W.

I had a think about extraction but dealing with the CFM needed, fan size and piping like you have done would be a major thing in my garage.

Adrian

 

[Hood]

I got 3 trays made up for mine but it was done as a favour so afraid I can't say how much it would cost although it should only be an hour or so work for a sheet metal shop to do.
I was going to put water in but I am going to try with a fan and ducting, just waiting on the ducting arriving, the last order came and TNT had thrown everything on top of it, the 300mm dia was damaged just at the end but the 150mm was squashed for well over half of its 3m length Hopefully they will take better care of the next lot.

Anyway if the duct/fan is no use then I will have to use water but I am trying to avoid it as I reckon it will be a pain. My trays are 1.6m x 1m x 150mm each and the weight of water in that would be quite considerable, not calculated it but 1l of water is 1Kg I think.

I think if I do have to go to the water I will redo and as Normsthename has said the reservoir below with air feed to push the water up to the table is probably the way I will go.

 

[Hood]

One other thing to consider if doing Alu is the hydrogen gas build up under a sheet, likely wouldn't be too much of an issue for you but I do lots of Alu stuff and it is one of the reasons I am trying to stay away from water,, don't fancy a 2500 x 1250 sheet getting a load of hydrogen trapped under it

 

[AdrianH]

Hi I think you would be talking 240 litres of water and yes for that you need a pressurised system, believe you only need a few PSI like 5 to 7 to shift.

That,s why I am thinking that for 25 to 30 litres as a test I can just lift a drum on a stand to fill and put under the bench to empty keep it simple for me anyway.

I just do not know anyone with an Edwards folder?
is Hydrogen an issue, I would have thought the amount of air being blown into the water would mix/disperse hydrogen, is that formed by the plasma splitting the water molecules?

As it is lighter then air I would have thought it would soon escape.

Adrian

 

[henry Kadzielski]

Unfortunately I did not even consider dealing with the crud that comes off the plasma by way of fine dust that gets everywhere.
So this is a trial if you will to see what happens, I do have plans to put a hole in it to drain the water into a tub when not in use, not doing any of these air pumped things but basically just having a pipe to a tub that I can lower to empty the tray and raise to fill the tray. Think I am only talking 25 to 30 litres of water?

But it is only a baby cnc plasma cutter.

Adrian

Good morning AdrianH.
If it is only a small machine as you say, what is the problem of connecting up down draft and evacuating it outside. The ducting and fan size don't have to be that large. put some skirts around the outside of the machine, possibly cover up the open slat area that has no material on it and away you go. No water to drain, antifungal tablets to put in etc. My table is 1500mm by 1500mm at the moment and was setup for down draft only. Haven't built the skirts or connected up the ducting as have been planing to extend the machine. It was initially a proof of concept to actually see I could build one that actually works. Well and behold it actually does. Anyone that has built one will know the greef and frustration associated with doing so and thus can be very proud of what they have achieved

 

[Hood]

Hi I think you would be talking 240 litres of water and yes for that you need a pressurised system, believe you only need a few PSI like 5 to 7 to shift.

That,s why I am thinking that for 25 to 30 litres as a test I can just lift a drum on a stand to fill and put under the bench to empty keep it simple for me anyway.

I just do not know anyone with an Edwards folder?
is Hydrogen an issue, I would have thought the amount of air being blown into the water would mix/disperse hydrogen, is that formed by the plasma splitting the water molecules?

As it is lighter then air I would have thought it would soon escape.

Adrian

Yes 240L per tank, I have 3 LOL so nearly 3/4 tonne
I think the biggest issue is if your Alu sheet warps slightly, it traps the hydrogen and yes I think it is a reaction with the plasma jet with the Alu in it that reacts with the water to produce the hydrogen. Remember reading about it but can't recall the exact details.

 

[ukracer]

Hi I think you would be talking 240 litres of water and yes for that you need a pressurised system, believe you only need a few PSI like 5 to 7 to shift.

That,s why I am thinking that for 25 to 30 litres as a test I can just lift a drum on a stand to fill and put under the bench to empty keep it simple for me anyway.

I just do not know anyone with an Edwards folder?
is Hydrogen an issue, I would have thought the amount of air being blown into the water would mix/disperse hydrogen, is that formed by the plasma splitting the water molecules?

As it is lighter then air I would have thought it would soon escape.

Adrian

I am building an press that would bend that but you are miles away and the wife has me decorating the grandsons bedroom currently.

If you are still stuck in a week or so give me a shout.

 

[AdrianH]

@henry Kadzielski

No pictures of such so here is one from a video I did some time ago that shows the table.


It is sat on a bench, under the bench is things like a gearbox, scrap metal store, and general odds and sods related to cars. To the left is a plastic screen that separates my welding bench, at the time laptop I used and the plasma cutter. The greeny blue thing to the right of the picture is the garage door.

I just looked at it and thought cheapest way at the moment is a water tray, quickest, simplest and takes no power. The white thing that is just creeping in the picture top left is a 100mm extractor pipe which does squat as one would expect really. The bench top is about 120mm below the working height of the plasma cutter and I did wonder about sitting the whole frame in the water, but at the moment just going to try for the slats.

It does mean that I will only have at max about 35mm depth of water and my biggest issue could be keeping it in the tray!

Adrian

maths was wrong 35 not 70mm

 

[Hood]

Have you tried putting the fan so that the ducting is in the tray? All the smoke/fumes are below the material and trying to then suck them out as they rise upwards again will not be very effective.

 

[Hood]

Not very good description above with what I meant.
If the fan is drawing from below the material it should be much more effective than doing it the way you are, ie trying to suck it from a much bigger volume of air after it has risen above.

 

[henry Kadzielski]

Not very good description above with what I meant.
If the fan is drawing from below the material it should be much more effective than doing it the way you are, ie trying to suck it from a much bigger volume of air after it has risen above.

The other way around that problem is to fit a "hood" over the top, no pun intended