Dust/Grinding filter for TIG and Plasma sets

[Shox Dr]

Sounds interesting, keep us posted.

 

[derekm]

here is the dusthood/baffle as promised

its just a sheetmetal hood with perforated diffuser near the bottom

.
its hooked on with acouple of bits of ally angle bolt on to the fan grills and sealed to the welder with clear tape.

No filter media it just relies on the crud not being able to fall into the fan intake and not being able to turn the the corner and defy gravity

 

[Ed.]

Thanks Shox Dr, I like that idea!

 

[Shox Dr]

Glad to be of help

 

[Burf86]

At work one of the Tig machines would blow up every couple of months for exactly this reason. I said why not put a filter on it? The answer was that if would restrict airflow too much. I take you have found no such problem Shox doctor?

[Edit] Sorry, read the thread, thin filter material, got it.

 

[Shox Dr]

I take you have found no such problem Shox doctor?

[Edit] Sorry, read the thread, thin filter material, got it.

No problem what so ever

 

[s410man]

here is the dusthood/baffle as promised

its just a sheetmetal hood with perforated diffuser near the bottom

.
its hooked on with acouple of bits of ally angle bolt on to the fan grills and sealed to the welder with clear tape.

No filter media it just relies on the crud not being able to fall into the fan intake and not being able to turn the the corner and defy gravity

what about a magnet underneath this intake so that dirt would be attracted to this rather than going into the welder

thanks

 

[Ed.]

Should work on metal specks, but I don't think it would work on carborundum or Aluminium specs, but then again it wouldn't hurt to incorporate it.

 

[dannyp]

i've made a box to hold a car pollen filter, massive suface area

chould take some prssure readings to see if its causeing any restriction at all

 

[derekm]

A year later from making the baffle the Welder is still working....

Its not perfect good news

the welder has suffered from contamination and stopped a couple of times until I cleaned it out.

This contamination is coming in through the louvres at the side and front, one was splash of liquid coolant. This splash hit the AC driver stage and caused an intermitant problem with DC failing to work and the AC burning the tungstens. Once diagnosed a spray with iso propanol and a rub with a brush cured what was a leakage in the one leg of the AC chopper stage.

It seems I have more mods to make to the physical design. This time to reduce ingress through the louvres.

A times goes on it seems the extra £1000 or £2000 for a "known make" is down to a £1 of metal bashing and several £10,000 of thinking and design in placing that £1 of sheet metal.

 

[langy]

My TIG gets its air through a flat car air filter which is mounted outside

 

[Seano]

Best filter material I have seen is in the back of our Lorch tig, I think it's what's called open cell cellulose foam, I do remember it was black ........ Maybe Matt1978 can tell us what type ...... apart from German that is.........

 

[derekm]

remember it s not just the fan air inlet but dust comes in through the air outlet grills when the welder is switched off

 

[ali zeuse]

remember it s not just the fan air inlet but dust comes in through the air outlet grills when the welder is switched off

exactly,cause of that im every time turn of welder,cover it....my problem is when its working,and floating dust not eexactly grinding dust....because i turnd of and cover my welder befor doing dusty thing....i have a program for doing ,for example first 4 hours for cuting and everu job that macke dust ,then clean with air compresor and after that turn on welder...

 

[ali zeuse]

My TIG gets its air through a flat car air filter which is mounted outside

that seem cool,it will be ice if have a pic

 

[Seano]

My GYS Multi pearl is supposed to have what they call channeled air cooling where all the cooling air has been channeled away from all the electrics, havn't stripped the cover off yet to tak a look, will do over the weekend and put pics up.

 

[Richard.]

I don’t know about other manufacturers but ours the lorch sets either come fitted as standard or come with the option to have filters fitted.
For most applications on our kit they are unnecessary because the design of our machines doesn’t allow the contaminated air flow to come into contact with the boards. We offer the filters really as additional protection if the environment is really really dusty or idiots pointing grinder sparks right at the vents then the filters are properly needed.

 

[Gareth J]

Re. Filter/restrictions

Any filter you put on there will cause a restriction. The fans aren't likely to be the type that will cope well with restrictions well i.e a blower type will generally have a ability to overcome back pressure then the type you normally find in a welder.

With that in mind, I'd lean towards the simple inertial filter as above, or utilising something with much more surface area. Look at cabin filters - they're nearly always concertina'd to increase s/a.

As a Test, you could rig up a thermocouple inside the box. Test your modification before and after. It'd help you make an informed decision about when to change the filter too.

 

[ali zeuse]

thanx all,whats ur idea about make a chanel whith clothe net and put it behinde the fans?i test som net last night an it decrise the air flow about 50% maybe more ,so cant do somthing like car filter or some thing esle,but i think if i ma ke a big tunel with cloth net it can have enogh incomig air....

 

[Tommytiptip]

As I say Hitch, you can still feel the air flow coming out of the front panel, and to be honest with you, they would have no hesitation with denying you warranty if they found grinding dust in the machine, Ask me who I know. So I would rather restrict clean air flow a little, than restrict cooling by letting the grinding dust get in there and act as an insulator

I've had it fitted to a 200amp TIG for 4 yrs, and it's been used in that time as well, without a fault.

The machines water filter on my plasma cutter is mounted smack bang outside the centre of the intake for the cooling fan! The worst possible place for it. As well as fix up an air filter system like your own, I will move said water filter to a better spot which will probably outweigh the reduction of intake by introducing a filter. Hopefully!