Plasma CNC water tank

[gerrymoore]

Struggling with tons of black dust coming from my plasma cutter and covering everything in my workshop..including me...in a fine covering of black s**t

Having tried a small bowl of water under the table I decided to go the whole hog and build a full size 'water tank' to absorb the sparks and dust from below the cut steel and I'm putting an extractor fan on the 'top' side too.

Having just sold my metal folder - silly me - I had to perforate the 1.5mm steel with the plasma and bend it up by hand before welding it all back together. It will hold about 60 litres of water so quite heavy when filled.

Had lots of pin holes so have spent a long time going over the welds to make it watertight. Will fit the drain and give it a coat of paint next. Pics of finished unit to follow...and hopefully a clean workshop!!

 

[Splatterer]

I've got a length of 5 inch SS single wall gas flue pipe spare you can use for extraction if you like. Free including the spiders.
Kept meaning to mention it to you.

 

[DrNik]

look at that crap welding.....told you about the pin holes. lol.
did get your ball valve ??

 

[gerrymoore]

Crap welding...you're only right Nik...it is crap!!! ...look better when it coated with black bitumen though......and no, I didn't get the ball valve

Splatterer...thanks for the SS pipe offer....I've got an extraction fan (thanks Nik) and 100mm ducting but I need a small length of 100mm pipe to connect the two...don't suppose you've got any lying round??...plastic or metal would be fine

 

[Paul.]

A bit late now but you would have been better to weld it from the outside of the corners, stand the job up and run the welds vertical down, its very quick and produces flat welds with minimal cleaning up required, and little distortion.

 

[gerrymoore]

Thanks for the tip Paul....as you say, too late now

I'm a better stick welder than Mig but 1.5mm is too thin for my 'skills' with stick. It doesn't look pretty but it's watertight (now) and will be painted black and never seen by humans again!!

 

[gerrymoore]

Water tank is all finished and installed. Together with the extractor fan I seem to have cured the problem of dust, smoke, and fumes..and especially the fine black soot that got everywhere. I've posted a few vids of the CNC in action if anyone is interested here's the link http://youtu.be/JeYi9Gijl6Q ...if that doesn't work just search gerrymoore5 on youtube. The vid shows parts being cut from 2mm steel using my new hypertherm powermax 30 - a great piece of equipment for CNC use..well worth the extra dosh.

 

[Normsthename]

Did you not think about having adjustable water level?
Really useful with a CNC Plasma.

Andy

 

[gerrymoore]

Hiya...because my ballscrew runs along the centre of the machines X axis I was limited to having the water level of the tank below the screw.....so the water is still a few inches below the steel being cut. But, together with the extractor duct following the torch above the steel, it has helped enormously in cutting down the soot.

If I ever build another, bigger machine, I will design it differently. I'm learning as I go along by my mistakes...but I'm getting there

 

[DrNik]

Gerry i loved the video, compressor is a bit noisey, but nice to see it all going well, did like when you couldnt get the elephant off the end of your magnet, lol had to laugh

 

[Normsthename]

Hiya...because my ballscrew runs along the centre of the machines X axis I was limited to having the water level of the tank below the screw.....so the water is still a few inches below the steel being cut. But, together with the extractor duct following the torch above the steel, it has helped enormously in cutting down the soot.

If I ever build another, bigger machine, I will design it differently. I'm learning as I go along by my mistakes...but I'm getting there

There are other ways to do the same thing.....
When I built my Plasma I had exactly the same problem with the ballscrew running under the machine.
Another way around this problem and also something that you could add to your current setup is to use an external reservoir.
Big advantage of using a setup like that is that it increases the water capacity.
You will find if you do a lot of cutting that the water will quickly get contaminated and believe me it is not a pleasant job cleaning out the Water Tank when it has an inch of plasma Dust sediment!
With the external tank you can replace the water often so no need to clean the tank out!

Andy

 

[gerrymoore]

Thanks for the info Andy....I'm very limited on space but will look into a separate reservoir....I am well used to cleaning up plasma dust...well, the wife is

Hi Nik.....I laughed too!! I had the camera in one hand and those neodynium magnets are super strong!! Just couldn't get little Nelly off the end of my magnetic stick!!! Oh...and the noise isn't just the compressor....your extractor fan, in its new box, sounds like a jet turbine!!!

Main thing is the machine never misses a beat now...I'm well pleased!

 

[DrNik]

Ah so it's all working well without any problems...... Just need to ring the council and tell them some guy in the area is running a business from home

Must be a jet engine testing company.........