What do you think about using a small dorm room micro fridge, holding a container of coolant with a small pump mounted on the back to pump it through the tube?
I think you can get the fridges for about $100.
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What do you think about using a small dorm room micro fridge, holding a container of coolant with a small pump mounted on the back to pump it through the tube?
I think you can get the fridges for about $100.
Depends how much power you plan to consume while cutting and how long you plan to cut. I don't know the cooling capacity of a frig but I can melt a quart of ice cubes on a radiator in about 20 min of cutting at high power. I think you would be better off with a radiator in a bucket of ice water. But you also have to have a decent amount of water running thru the system. Also keep an eye on the temperature and make sure it doesn't get too cold.
A lot of those dorm friges now are not freon/refrigerant based any longer, they use that electronic converter. See if you can dig up an old drinking fountain or Alhambra water cooler. Water cooler might work pretty well with a coil of tubing in it then fill with water.
Those newer small fridges use a peltier cooling unit. You can buy those cooling units by themselves without buying a whole fridge but I don't think they'll do the job for you.
Excellent idea if done right. Especially if it has a mini freezer inside. Get yourself a 50 foot roll of 1/4 copper and coil it inside the fridge and through the freezer section and you will have a well regulated cooler. Much less expensive than a $500 cooler and if you put some ingenuity into it I’d be willing to bet you can make one more efficient as well.
A water cooler may be a good idea if utilizing the water tank and feeding that as return. You will want it to cool the entirety of water bottle before starting since they don’t cool as efficient as a enclosed mini fridge. From personal experience every water cooler I’ve owned takes overnight to cool the water where a freezer/fridge can freeze a bottle of water in 45 minutes.
I should’ve also mentioned with mini fridge just removing the dividing tray below freezer section so you can run copper coil will turn the entire fridge into a freezer capable of 5-10 degrees. This gives you the greatest chilling power. People give those fridges away all the time. You could do the entire project for under $50.
I just posted a video about this on YouTube, it's not edited or detailed but it gives an idea of how I did this cheap+easy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGl9BwqvdhA