Tig water cooler

[Gene_Olson]

I doubt that would be a problem, Peter, unless the output grate on the back of the welder is connected to the radiator by a shroud AND the fan was spec:ed to close to capacity as you noted.
If the air flow is just pointed at the radiator there will be no restriction worth talking about. (That should be as much as is needed most of the time. Mine doesn't have a fan on it at all; it just has lots of radiating area.)

[hardtailjohn]

I have an old Millermatic 200 Mig, and at a shop I used to work at, we had a new Miller mig... at any rate, my old one has the fan that runs anytime the switch is on... the new one has an "on demand" fan... I was totally impressed that the fan hardly ever came on!! I think they're over engineered as well.. but I'd still keep an eye on it for the first while that I was using the new cooler setup.
JH

[Joefish]

Hay Peter

I share your concerns saveing a nickel only to have it cost you a doller.

However there is a 3 inch gap between the fan and the radiator and I thought about building a fan shroud but i figured that might limit the air flow so I didnt.The fan runs all the time and is not quite, I sometimes wish it was on demand. Same with my wire welder.

My one concern I have not figured yet is conecting to the radiator inch and something push on fittings.

[underdog57]

I'm interested in doing this too ,
One thing I read was to solder the radiator inlet and outlet closed with a fitting installed ...in a meatal disc ..
I think I will run out of a garbage can with a sump pump I used to charge my radiant heat floor with ...If it needs cooling can add ice possibly ???No radiator...
This has the antifreeze in the pail already left over from that job....

One thing the tig torch said was to have 35lbs of pressure depending on the run ,
but if 5 psi works for 20 plus years ....

hmmmm , wonder if a freeze plug would fit ??? Just thinking aloud ...
I'm watching this posting with both eyes ...
Later
Bob

[Gene_Olson]

Bob's post got me wondering,
I went out and pulled the pump out of the pail.
I found I was misstook in my memory.

The current model has a different prefix but all the rest is the same.
I went back and checked.
This one has a 7.5 psi pressure rating not 5.1 (I tried a small one like they use on a tile saw and that was too puny.)

this is the one I've been using for the past 20 yrs.

PUMP,SUBMERSIBLE
Compact Submersible Pump, Power Rating 1/15 HP, Equivalent Pressure 7.5 PSI, Maximum Head 17.3 Feet, FNPT Inlet 1/2 Inch, MNPT Outlet 1/2 Inch, Water Flow @ 1 Foot of Head 500 GPH, Water Flow @ 11 Feet of Head 255 GPH, Water Flow @ 13 Feet of Head 163 GPH, Water Flow @ 3 Feet of Head 435 GPH, Water Flow @ 5 Feet of Head 337 GPH, Water Flow @ 9 Feet of Head 255 GPH, Length 7 Inches, Height 5 1/2 Inches

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg...mId=1611629362

It sits in a covered 5 gal bucket.
Coolant goes from the bucket to the torch, back through an old radiator and into the bucket.

My apologies if I messed anybody up.

Gene

[whm1948]

I bought a Little Giant pump at Lowes for cooling for one of my band saws. I'm sure one of those would do well for cooling your tig torch. I would definitely build a fairly large reservoir to hold your coolant. The more coolant, the longer it takes to get the stuff hot. Also use some sort of radiator and fan. Using an old fan and radiator, I think you could easily build one for under a hundred bucks. I hope this helps. Bill

[Gene_Olson]

Another thing, I put a filter on the line to keep any gunk out of the torch.

G.

[Peter Miles]

I doubt that would be a problem, Peter, unless the output grate on the back of the welder is connected to the radiator by a shroud AND the fan was spec:ed to close to capacity as you noted.
If the air flow is just pointed at the radiator there will be no restriction worth talking about. (That should be as much as is needed most of the time. Mine doesn't have a fan on it at all; it just has lots of radiating area.)

Gene, I doubt that it would be a problem, either, and I'm always happy to be proven over-cautious. Joe's approach is actually pretty elegant and compact.

Myself, if I wanted to go real cheap, I'd probably try using an old car radiator and strap a big box fan to it. It wouldn't be elegant and it wouldn't be very compact, but it would be cheap and easy.

My one concern I have not figured yet is conecting to the radiator inch and something push on fittings

Joe, if you can't find what you need in a hardware superstore, try a radiator shop. They either have or should be able to make most size conversion fittings for you. The race car hardware boys also have a lot of adapters.


Stuck in a hotel room again after putting in almost 60 hours for the taxpayers this week, Peter.

[Duck]

I used to weld with a portable TIG welder at work that we would connect to a fauset and then run a line back to the sink. The water would only flow when the torch was in use. The water would flow through a hose with about a 1/8" Id. hole. It probably would only fill a 5 gal bucket in a hour. Kind of a waste of water but for sort term portability it worked out great.

Duck

[Joefish]

Hi Duck

I am using an air cooled torch right now. I got a pic of how I mounted the radiator.



The one thing is I could hit the plastic tank moving the welder and break it I guess I better be careful.



Hay Gene

What kind of filter? Just a house type water filter?

You have some very cool things in your gallery.

I am not in a hurry like I might be if I couldn’t weld till I was done