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  #1  
Old 05-04-2015, 04:53 AM
skintkarter skintkarter is offline
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Default DIY Tig Cooler

Iv'e been asked by a member to post some details of this project. No metalshaping as such other than bending a few bits of 1.0 and 1.6, but I did wheel a bit of shape into the panels before folding!

Admins, please feel free to delete or move if you think the post is inappropriate.

Iv'e only had a tig for about 2 years and am just starting to get the hang of it I think. It's a I guess, mid-range Chinese machine and I ended up with a 315a job as I wanted something which I could pug in anywhere around my shop and I'd just wired the shop everywhere for 3 phase. Single phase would have needed several 30a 240v points added and Iv'e paneled the walls.

As I later found out (having not used a tig before) the machine came with an aircooled 26 torch and only 4mtr leads. Doing a long run on an inlet plenum made from 3.0mm ali a few weeks ago, resulted in a pretty decent blister from the body.neck of the torch.

Time for a water cooled torch.

I'd originally built the trolley with this in mind, but the cost had gone up on the intended unit and this week's load of imports were a burnt orange colour, rather than a red. It's important that things look right!

So being the tight fisted ex-Yorkshireman that I am, I figured that I could make my own. Lots of good threads on some of the welding forums with the common source of bits being what is called in the US a 'soda fountain' and we know them in NZ as a postmix unit. Turns out that the motor and pump are quite often US made 'Procon' units and these are exactly the same motors and pump that are used in the store-bought Miller and Lincoln coolers.

A buddy with a chain of roadside cafes, put me onto the guy who services his beverage equipment. Only too happy to unload the innards of a couple of scrap machines and threw in a soda tank and a brand new computer case style cooling fan - $100 for the lot. One pump turned out to be jammed up with soda, but the other tested out just fine. They run at 200 psi, but have a relief valve with an adjusting screw. They need to deliver around 1-2 litres per minute of coolant. This works out to be around 45psi.

Bought a small trans cooler from the local wrecker for $50 and the proper panel mount hose quick connectors from my friendly weld shop - $60. Brass fittings and clear hose ran to around another $60. The rest I had laying around (seldom chuck anything out!).

Power cable is from an old computer (1.0mm x 3 as the motor is only 1/4hp) and bought a new illuminated switch and a thermo surface mount switch for $10. Wired so that tank coolant needs to get to 50 C before the fan kicks in.

Tank is fabricated from left over 3.0mm ali plate, chassis plate is 1.6mm and case panels are 1.0mm.

Perforated sheet was left over from a tractor nose rebuild and red paint is the last of some touchup paint for my eldest's Mini.

Case is held together with machine screws and 4.0mm rivnuts.

Watercooled 20 torch is like a surgical instrument after the 26 and so far is always cool to the touch. Tank contains 5 ltrs of tig cooler glycol ($38).

Less than $400 all up, works well, fits the hole and is a similar colour

Probably a couple of grand in labour...!

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Old 05-04-2015, 07:20 AM
Stretch Stretch is offline
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Just what I was after! Thanks Richard. You have a great eye for detail! Now... I need to make me one of these babies
Matt
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  #3  
Old 05-04-2015, 07:43 AM
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Kerry Pinkerton Kerry Pinkerton is offline
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Nicely done Richard. I used a water cooled Miller Dynasty at RockHillWill's event last year and it made my Dynasty with the air cooled torch seem very awkward by comparison.
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Old 05-04-2015, 08:01 AM
longyard longyard is offline
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Very handsome work Richard. Thanks for the excellent photography.
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Old 05-04-2015, 05:03 PM
skintkarter skintkarter is offline
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Thanks guys.

Yes Kerry the WC torch is a big improvement. Because I'm not now trying to wrestle a large torch and the crappy heavy leads it came with (despite draping them over my shoulder etc...) I now find that I'm not contaminating the tungsten nearly as often and the flex head allows me to maintain a comfortable position in most cases. The WC 20 is the same size I think as an aircooled 9, but with a higher amperage rating. Pretty sure this one is rated to 160a with a decent duty cycle, so for the short runs that I do, it will no doubt be happy enough for short bursts over and above this rating.

Only thing I would caution about the cooler, is that it has no electrical link to the welder. I broke my golden rule of not trying to weld stuff late at night and thought that after dinner I would try to finish the last header runner. Of course I forgot to turn on the cooler. No harm done on this occasion with low amps and short runs, but could have easily trashed my new torch and leads.

My sparky was out of town when I needed to wire the machine, but need to get him to investigate taking a feed via a relay from the cooler to the welder, so that the welder won't start unless the cooler is running. Higher end units often have a 110/240v outlet on the rear of the welder for this very purpose.

No matter how small the torch is, there are always spots which will be a challenge to get into. Thus it was welding the last runner to my 15 degree turbo collectors for the race car. I may as well have been trying to stuff a 2 inch bar in there. Forums to the rescue! Found a post from an old salt who described how to bend a tungsten for just such a need.

Looks like something out of a Dali painting.

Trick is and stop me if you have heard this one... hold a spare sharpened electrode down onto a block of copper (I used a big old brass fitting) then with your tig torch and the amps turned down, strike up on the electrode at the point you want it to bend. Press down on the electrode as it heats, to obtain the bend you need. Works a treat. Just need to be careful about maintaining the gas shield. I maxed the preflow and made a little dam to coral the argon around the joint. Not nuclear sub stuff quality, but should be Ok for our race car.

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Last edited by skintkarter; 05-06-2015 at 10:20 PM. Reason: typos
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  #6  
Old 05-04-2015, 07:51 PM
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Gojeep Gojeep is offline
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Nice fab work.
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  #7  
Old 05-05-2015, 06:02 AM
skintkarter skintkarter is offline
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Thanks Marcus. The headers were a challenge!
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Old 05-16-2015, 09:21 PM
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Very nice job on the cooler. Once you go water cooled you won't ever want to go back. My cooler is not wired into the welder either and I forgot to turn it on an occasion as well. I try to get into the habit of making sure to turn the cooler on first.
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Old 05-16-2015, 10:38 PM
skintkarter skintkarter is offline
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Thanks Jeff. Yes I've done it again this week - late night session again and forgot to fire the cooler first. I need to get my sparkie to have a look at some sort of link. Ideally it would be that I can't fire the welder unless the cooler is running. I guess it's just the matter of a relay in the welder pulling in from a feed from the cooler switch. Biggest issue will likely be finding a space in the welder case. I need to put the hard word on him! He still owes me from the 'light restoration' (read complete rebuild!) of his tractor bonnet.
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Old 05-17-2015, 07:59 AM
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nice job richard! could do with one of these for my tig...

ex-yorkshire man? you can take the man out of yorkshire but not yorkshire out of the man!

former sheffield resident neil
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