[slammedxonair]

Hello everybody, I have had my Dynatorch for a couple years now. I have the downdraft table but I have not been able to find a good deal on an exhaust fan and I'm not really sure where to start with the setup. The smoke and dust is starting to get kind of old. I have thought about selling the downdraft part and building a water table as well as just building a tent around the table out of welding curtain with a smaller exhaust fan connected to the top of it.

I also need to get a larger air compressor and figure out why this thing likes to crash like once per sheet of cut and mess up the entire sheet, I think thats caused from a tip or electrode goin bad but I'm not sure I usually just replace them and its good to go but the damage has allready been done. It just crashes and drags along the sheet and usually moves the steel and I have to hit the E stop as soon as it happens( if I'm really lucky I can get through a sheet without it crashing, biggest sheet I have cut so far is 4x4). It's mainly the reason I have to babysit this thing while its cutting, and the fact that I have to pause the feed to let the compressor build up more pressure every couple min. Thanks for the help.

[Edwardo]

I have the air handler also, for the time being i have just used a old furnace fan and some cheap homedepot duct to vent it outside, its not perfect but better than nothing.
Have you talked to anyone at DT about the crashing? What are you using for a plasma and what are you settings for the steel you are cutting?

EDD

[slammedxonair]

I haven't really talked to them about it I've only called really cause mine fried a couple motors. hasn't done it since i spent a ton of money to get a new servo board thing though.

How does the furnace fan work? I wonder if I found 2 old ones if I could T them out of the air handler into 2 seperate lines and if that would help keep the shop a bit cleaner(plasma dust outa my lungs and off the computer)

my plasma is a hypertherm 1250

[Edwardo]

Mine works ok when cutting 1/16th or 1/8th steel with fine cut consumables, there isnt much smoke or dust and the fan keeps it cleared out, in the winter when all the doors are closed i spray water on the sheet as i am cutting and it makes a huge difference combined with the air fan, but i cut up some 3/16 aluminum a few months ago using a 80 amp nozzle ( it was all i had and wanted to try it ) and it was like a shuttle launch in here, there was no way the fan could keep up...even with spraying water on it... eventually i will build a new shop designated for my cutter, at that time i'll spend the money and install a proper vent system or convert my table to water, or combo..

I bought a 60 gallon 3.2 hp compressor from home depot, i had to change the psi switch as the original would let the psi drop to low before kicking on, but it works great now, i have a cheap motor guard filter and just recently installed 2 desicant air dryers, i run 40 feet of air line up and away from the compressor and back to the dryers and then the filter and i dont have any moister to speak of...

I have the 1250 also and the only time it crashed on me was when i play around with the settings as im cutting, so i try not to do that anymore.. or if i am cutting to close to a edge and run off the plate a little... i found that if doing fine detailed cutting, close to a edge that if i turn off the thc it cant dive, that after a year of cutting...lol... learn as i go...

I havent used my table for a little while now, been away and now doing some other little jobs around the house, but next week i hope to fire up, will gladly share what ever little experience i have with you. When i get going again i will send you my settings for the gauges of steel i cut using fine cut..

What are you using for CAD CAM ? i use corel draw 3x and sheet cam... its taken awhile to learn corel but i am getting the hang of it now..

Regards
EDD

[magma-joe]

slamedxonair, If during your cut you have a momentary drop in air pressure below the requirements for your Hypertherm the torch will crash.

[slammedxonair]

that could be part of the problem. Most of what I cut is 3/16 and 1/4" plate once in a while some 1/8" or 16 ga. In post #41 here I use alof of these as good starting points http://cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26227&page=4 I have to keep my THC at around 138-140 sometimes though or it will crash. It used to crash alot more than it does now. And would any moisure in the air effect the thc as well? I have like 3 water traps on the line in different places before it goes into the plasma. I thought about taking a big tote bucket of cold water and tossing the coiled up hose in it to see if it helps reduce moisture as well as a temp fix. I wish I had the $ for this thing lol http://torchmate.com/air_filtration_system/index.html

[slammedxonair]

Does anybody know if a 16" 2500-3000 cfm 12v exhaust fan would work? Like if I work the ducting to it and run a power inverter to it?

[jemmyell]

Mine works ok when cutting 1/16th or 1/8th steel with fine cut consumables, there isnt much smoke or dust and the fan keeps it cleared out, in the winter when all the doors are closed i spray water on the sheet as i am cutting and it makes a huge difference combined with the air fan, but i cut up some 3/16 aluminum a few months ago using a 80 amp nozzle ( it was all i had and wanted to try it ) and it was like a shuttle launch in here, there was no way the fan could keep up...even with spraying water on it... eventually i will build a new shop designated for my cutter, at that time i'll spend the money and install a proper vent system or convert my table to water, or combo..

I bought a 60 gallon 3.2 hp compressor from home depot, i had to change the psi switch as the original would let the psi drop to low before kicking on, but it works great now, i have a cheap motor guard filter and just recently installed 2 desicant air dryers, i run 40 feet of air line up and away from the compressor and back to the dryers and then the filter and i dont have any moister to speak of...

I have the 1250 also and the only time it crashed on me was when i play around with the settings as im cutting, so i try not to do that anymore.. or if i am cutting to close to a edge and run off the plate a little... i found that if doing fine detailed cutting, close to a edge that if i turn off the thc it cant dive, that after a year of cutting...lol... learn as i go...

I havent used my table for a little while now, been away and now doing some other little jobs around the house, but next week i hope to fire up, will gladly share what ever little experience i have with you. When i get going again i will send you my settings for the gauges of steel i cut using fine cut..

What are you using for CAD CAM ? i use corel draw 3x and sheet cam... its taken awhile to learn corel but i am getting the hang of it now..

Regards
EDD

Hi,

If you are using the DXFTool with CorelDRAW there is a FREE upgrade available that you really should give a try.

-James

[slammedxonair]

k thread jacked lol. but does anybody have an answer to post #7?

[WSS]

Not really an answer. But what are the specs on this? Does it show a duty cycle? 12V (to me) seems like an intermittent duty voltage. Is it a blade type or a impeller fan or even a hamster cage? That is a lot of volume to move with 12V, what was the previous application? Just throwing it out for thought.

WSS

[slammedxonair]

its like the ones that go on cars to cool the motor down Ive seen some with those specs. It was just a idea I thought of for something temporary for a while. I really need to build some kinda filter or exhaust or soemthing before the winter. It gets pretty cold trying to build parts with the doors open to vent the smoke out lol.

[Edwardo]

If its the the type of fan i think you are talking about i have my doubts it will work or last long, not only for output but because the if fan motor isnt sealed and is within the dust flow it will probly get clogged and burn out. Just my thoughts...

EDD

[slammedxonair]

Yea thats the only thing I was thinking of, the motor gettin caked all up. I just eed to get something figured out before winter. Last year sucked.

[WSS]

slammed,
If you have 3ph, here is a good one, and if your close to Ohio it would ship cheaper as well.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

It doesn't list the cfm but I bet it is close to 4000. I know it takes a lot of air movement to work on a down draft. With a welding head you can get away with 1200cfm because you can get at the source (top). I can see were the volume of air moved would be a problem in a cold climate. Our shop air gets changed every 60 seconds which is helpful to us. I had a 2" plate that was 650 degrees sitting on a table all day today. I ran a fume extractor over it just to keep the temp in the shop down. It is hard to believe that other shops have a problem with a water table freezing over the weekend!

[slammedxonair]

no 3phase here my old shop had it. I think I need 2500-3000 cfm. Thats not a bad deal either and about 45 min to around 1 hr away from me

[Mike Ray]

Check out my thread on Air and Exhaust.

This is money well spent and everyone should add these items to the budget.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showpo...&postcount=195

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showpo...&postcount=228

Medical bills later in life will be way more than the dollars it takes to add safety.

My setup allows me to regularly run at 95 to 105 THC voltage. I to have three seperators 10/4/1 and have had no problems with the little I get to run my system.

I still have a lot to learn and I like the new designs coming from DT. I need to get my system at least to a dual X drive setup. I have some issues with slop on the drop side of my table. I purchased the tube cutter and I am not really using it. I am going to call and see what I need to make my system dual X drive.

[Edwardo]

MetalHead

Good to see you posting again, thanks for the links...

EDD

[slammedxonair]

yea I bought a 3m breathing resperator filter thing and it seems to work great for my lungs anyways. but I still need to get something setup. eventually before winter so i can do something with the smoke.

[Mike Ray]

I also have an Air dryer you'll see in the theads. The Metal dust that is in that smoke is what will get you. I am sure Jim Colt has some threads or comments about it also I know he's out here......

But if you think about it a Plasma vaporizes steel... Where does it go? Into the air as tiny particals in the smoke. That in turn will not only get in your lungs, it will stick and build up on anything with a static charge (Think Magnet) ... and think Electronics among other things. Once enough of it gets built up on stuff in the shop all sorts of wierd "Unexplained" things will quit working. Computers and Monitors are among the first to suffer since they are close to the machine. Just some thoughts.

I saw some very basic skirts with big fans that would help that is basically sheets of duct screwed to the legs of the table with one of those big fans from a Big Box store. Probalbly can do that for less than a grand.

In the Air front

http://www.pattonsinc.com/

http://www.ingersollrandproducts.com...px-am_en-12878 (Tractor Supply has a good seletion of IR stuff)

I went IR, but doing it again (Found them after I installed) I'd talk to Patton. But the main thing you want in your air system is an air dryer and filters. Clean air is KING . I would also not go below a 7.5 HP unit on either brand. My unit had a motor failure as it had a 5hp unit in it. After the fact my sales guy told me my unit was an entry level unit (Not happy about that for sure) anyway the 5hp fried and I hade to have a motor then so I ended up buying one at a shop here in town to the tune of about 300 bucks. Moral of the Story..... You will spend the dough on good stuff weather you do it the first time or not.

Search out either and tell them what you are doing and see what they can offer. Do not go below a two stage unit and add a muffler. (You can see the blue one on my unit in the thread I posted before). I can stand beside mine and cary on a conversation while it is running.

[slammedxonair]

Yea I try to keep a cover on my laptop when I'm cutting and I keep the control box covered all the time as well.