Protecting welder from grinding dust?

[vbottles]

Hi all,
Just checking to see if I need to protect my *welder from grinding dust from a angle grinder and linisher. I use the angle grinder about 2ft from where the welder lives and my linisher about 6ft away. I have no wish to fry the electrics inside my welder. But any protection I can think of will probably reduce the cycle time due to restricted air movement.
I may be being a bit paranoid and searched this site for any info without success. Am I over thinking this?
Andrew

*MOD - Typo fixed in 1st line.

 

[penfold]

Other than perhaps switching off while grinding or dust raising if your welder has a fan, there's not much to be done without adversely affecting cooling; you should be periodically cleaning the inside of the welder anyway, so grot should not be building up to the point of causing a problem.

 

[rtbcomp]

Use a fume extraction system and place the welder upstream of the airflow.

 

[hotrodder]

Several members have fitted dust filters to their kit and not reported any problems. Several manufacturers fit filters as standard too these days. Search the TIG forum for 'filter' and cross reference it to the user names Shox Dr and Derekm and you might find some pics/descriptions

A hell of a lot also depends on the quality and design of the machine too. The following pics are of the insides of my 14 year old V205-t, first time the covers have been off in years and the PCBs are pretty much spotless because by design the delicate bits are virtually sealed off from airflow through the machine (it predates fan on demand by the way and there's no dust filter either)



The finned lump of ally just visible forms a kinda 'wind tunnel' through the machine and acts the main heat sink. The sheet metal cover effectively seals off the sides and 'top deck' from bulk airflow, in the pic below can just make out a finger mark in the dust on the bottom of the case (hadn't been cleaned at this stage)


This is the sort of attention to detail that's missing on a lot (most, all?) of kit at the budget end.

Again quality of the machine plays a role but, generalising, with TIG duty cycle is much less of a deal than it with MIG, for one thing you don't have a big roll of wire that lets you keep welding for long periods without having to pause and grab fresh stick of filler wire...

 

[500e]

There was a thread regarding this sometime ago, making shrouds with air filters in & upgrading fan.
Opps noted HR already suggested same.
Regarding clean air \fluid
We used to get old CAT air filters huge things from 996 to put in our washer tank the return into center of filter fluid filtered through to outside to be recirculated , lift filter out with most of the S**t inside

 

[ajlelectronics]

I thought at first that you were asking about some sort of dust cover for storage. I see that you aren't, but slightly OTT, would there be a market for storage dust covers at all?

 

[brightspark]

I thought at first that you were asking about some sort of dust cover for storage. I see that you aren't, but slightly OTT, would there be a market for storage dust covers at all?

only if your one o these guys who keeps his spanners and tools on a board on the wall and has more time to spend keeping everything clean and hardly uses them

 

[Welderpaul]

Just do what 99% of fab shops do and crack on with whatever you need to do and don't worry about it. Take the sides off once in a while and use an air line to blow all the rubbish out.

 

[vbottles]

Great to know the welder isn't likely to spark into oblivion. I have heard bad stories about vfd inverters and grinding dust. Put 2 + 2 together and seemed to get 5.
As I don't have a compressor at home I may take the sides off to see if I can fit some filter in to keep the dust down.
Andrew

 

[Shox Dr]

Linval Thompson

 

[Wedg1e]

My Oxford 300 came with a layer of internal dust so thick that apart from it hiding a lifetime's supply of torch tips, when I hoovered it out I found the owner's manual under it all!

 

[Robotstar5]

My Oxford 300 came with a layer of internal dust so thick that apart from it hiding a lifetime's supply of torch tips, when I hoovered it out I found the owner's manual under it all!

Go a bit deeper and you'd probably find the remains of the first owner?

 

[penfold]

Go a bit deeper and you'd probably find the remains of the first owner?

Or the nightshift worker who assembled it?

 

[zardoz]

Use a fume extraction system and place the welder upstream of the airflow.

what he said :~)

 

[wheresmejumper]

what he said :~)

fumes and grinding dust are very different

 

[zardoz]

fumes and grinding dust are very different

never even considered that to be honest. What would you use to extract grinding dust ?

 

[Jim Davey]

Blow it out twice a year and you'll be fine, you can get electric blowers if you don't have a compressor (I use a Makita cordless one for servicing on site as it's more convenient than trailing extension leads all over the place)

Put a big polythene bag ore even an upturned cardboard box over the set when its not in use (and turn it off while carrying out the grinding/linishing ops, you'll cut down massively on the amount of harmful dust your machine ingests.)

 

[wheresmejumper]

never even considered that to be honest. What would you use to extract grinding dust ?

I just wear a mask, and protect anything sensitive with a groundsheet if im doing a lot

 

[Shox Dr]

It not a good idea to use compressed air to expel the dust, it can force the partials into components causing all sorts of problems. Far better to use a soft bush and a vacuum, or...better still stop it from getting on there in the first place.

After all; Desiderius erasmus

 

[ajlelectronics]

It not a good idea to use compressed air to expel the dust, it can force the partials into components causing all sorts of problems. Far better to use a soft bush and a vacuum, or...better still stop it from getting on there in the first place.

After all; Desiderius erasmus

What sort of bush?