[ZTFab]

Hey Guys.

My name is Paul and I'm the head R&D Fabricator for Pro Armor in Riverside, Ca. We just purchased a new 4x8,TM 2 machine for the R&D dept.

I just got the table and gantry assembled and still have some small pieces to put on and squaring/leveling to do before firing it up.

I have been trying to decide on what type of system would be best for our purpose, a water table, downdraft table, or overhead hood ventilation?

I will be cutting a lot of steel and aluminum for prototypes and fixtures. I have about a 2000sq/ft room where the machine will be used but it has no doors or windows that open to the outside and I am concerned about controlling the dust.

I have read a little bit of info about potential dangers with aluminum and a water table but don't know any specifics about it.

If anybody has any suggestions or recommendations as to what would be the best system to use that would be great.

I'll post some pics of our setup once I get it going.

Thanks in advance.

[Mike@Torchmate]

Hey Guys.

My name is Paul and I'm the head R&D Fabricator for Pro Armor in Riverside, Ca. We just purchased a new 4x8,TM 2 machine for the R&D dept.

I just got the table and gantry assembled and still have some small pieces to put on and squaring/leveling to do before firing it up.

I have been trying to decide on what type of system would be best for our purpose, a water table, downdraft table, or overhead hood ventilation?

I will be cutting a lot of steel and aluminum for prototypes and fixtures. I have about a 2000sq/ft room where the machine will be used but it has no doors or windows that open to the outside and I am concerned about controlling the dust.

I have read a little bit of info about potential dangers with aluminum and a water table but don't know any specifics about it.

If anybody has any suggestions or recommendations as to what would be the best system to use that would be great.

I'll post some pics of our setup once I get it going.

Thanks in advance.

The concern with cutting aluminum over water is that when the molten aluminum hits the water it creates hydrogen gas. This gas can build up and eventually ignite, which causes a small explosion (or large, depending on quantity) which can move your material or damage your gantry. Some customers run the water a few inches below the plate, which still helps the amount of smoke and dust greatly, but gives the gas room to dissipate into the air in quantities that aren't dangerous.

A down draft or overhead draft does not have this risk associated with it, but may be less effective overall due to the design of the system, or CFM volume of the fan. For a downdraft system we usually recommend the square footage of the table x 125 = CFM volume recommendation. Some people section their table off to get more suction with a smaller fan in a smaller area, others will put light pieces of material over open spots on the table to concentrate the air being removed towards the cut.

-Mike