[TSJ]

I have been looking on the web for a Tig welder to weld the aluminum gantry parts when I came across this link:

Coolant for TIG welding - WeldingWeb™ - Welding forum for pros and enthusiasts

They were discussing the water additives for a water cooled tig torch. There was a lot more to consider than I had
thought! I said to myself that many of the things mentioned in the posts were applicable to a water cooled spindle
coolant as well. So if you plan to use a water cooled spindle take a look at the URL and possibly save yourself
some headaches down the road.

I do not know why you cannot click on the URL above, but just cut and paste it into your browser.

[Dylwad]

Friendly bunch over there...

I used kid/pet safe antifreeze and purified water, real tygon lab grade tubing and made sure to only have aluminum parts in the system. Nalgene expansion tank.

Haven't touched it in over a year, no problems, It's away from sunlight and mostly shaded from florescent light so no real worry about algae.

A flow sight gauge is nice for peace of mind to make sure the pumps running at a glance.

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[JerryBurks]

I plugged the fluid ports and use external dust extractor air flow to cool my Chinese "water cooled" spindle. Gets rid of a whole bunch of cumbersome plumbing junk and works absolutely perfect for over a year now. I dare say the cooling efficiency is probably higher than for the usual water trickle. I find the spindle temp is mostly 5-10 degrees above ambient for a 2.2kW spindle. At full load maybe 20 degrees or so but I rarely have that.

For comparison:
- a water flow of 20 gallons per hour (I believe recommended for the spindles) has a heat dissipation capacity of 317 kilojoule per hour and degree Kelvin
- an air flow of 30,000 cubic ft/hour (typical for a 1 hp dust collector blower) has 916 kilojoule per hour and Kelvin

I am not sure about the convective heat transfer comparison but with the much larger outside surface area (compared to the tiny liquid channels) and the way higher velocity I guess it is also at least as good for air.

[Fastest1]

I run tap water through my tig torch with no negative results. I run city pressure and the flow would be much higher than 20 gallons an hour.