So I was ran out of c25 the other day and had to tig some hinges on this big metal door for a neighbor of mind and the heat from the torch was killing me. It got me thinking i sure could use a watercooled torch. I've seen the threads where people have made their own watercooling setups and I think I want to try and build my own but I thought maybe I would run my plan by you guys first.

Here is what I am thinking about doing, I have the heater blower fan and A/C evaporator core for a old integra that I ripped the a/c out of long ago. I am thinking this would be a great start for a watercooling setup, all I need are some sort of pump to run the coolant through the core, something to power the fan, maybe a 12v a/c adapter I have laying around, some sort of coolant resevoir and a few fittings to make it all work and figuing out how to mount it all together.

The only things I am worried about are if i will have any problems running water through the evap core and if the fan will push enough air to actually do any cooling. Just thought I would post it up here and see what kinda feedback I get.

 

you can just run a water hose necked down to the hose size on the torch and then drain the hot water into the ground or whatever.

 

true, but i dont have a water outlet anywhere close to my welder

 

could be wrong but I don't think you can use aluminum parts for a water cooler

 

I'm no expert with a watercooled torch as I have never owned a TIG but I think you could run something like in the link, powered from an old power supply from a junked computer to cool your torch. I use the same pump to watercool the CPU on my gaming computer. You could rig it up with 1-2 120mm fans attached to a heater core from any car inline with the pump and put a resevoir at the top of the system so you can bleed it out and such. You trigger the power supply to turn on by jumping a paperclip across the green/black wires in the main connector(20 or 24 pin usually).

It could be a pretty simple and cheap setup, I'd put it all in an old computer case and you could probably get away with spending 50-100 dollars depending what you use. Although I'm not sure what kind of flow rating you need to cool the torch so if this isn't enough then sorry for wasting your time

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?s...cture=Swiftech

 

I have no idea if i can or can't use an aluminum core, thats kinda why i asked.

I like the idea of using a pc power supply too, but I am not sure about that pump, it doesn't say what kind of pressure it makes or anything. IIRC you want to be around 40psi. I have seen some people are using the pump from soda carbonators which you can get realativly cheap.

 

i setup a watercooler on my 180sd miller.i used a 258 gph fish pond pump from harbor freight.i dropped that in a plastic storage container.ran the lines and power cord out the lid.i used a dins adapter from arc zone.had my welding shop makeup some hose with the right ends on it.so all said and done it flows plenty good.holds about 3 gallons of water.when welding on full 180 amps on aluminum the torch never gets even warm.the water is always ice cold.no need to run through a heater core.well unless you are running far more amps than i am then maybe you would.

 

best part about this setup is its dead quite.i hate listening to those carbonator pumps churning away all day.

 

For many years the Miller coolers were nothing more then a pump circulating water in a tank. NO core NO fan just a simple pump and a tank of water/coolant. A simple bronze gear pump. Pond pump might work well also but make sure it has enough pressure as some are made for volume at low head pressures. Shurflo pumps are whats in my lincoln units and they stop pumping when the water soleniod closes(in your welder is equipt with one) The pump has a pressure switch built in. basically just like a pump you would see in a camper but its a 115v version. You don't need a large pump in only needs to flow at about the same as you **** - barely.

 

the specs on that computer pump says it puts out 50psi

 

i had to try 2 different pumps to get the right pressure.the first one was smaller then the 258 gph.it would not pump water past the small restrictions in the torch.with the 258 gph pump.i measured the flow with my 2 stroke mixing cup.its graduated in ccs.the flow is very close to what they call for in the torch directions.i was a bit concerned how long this harbor freight pump would last.its been over a year now.i have it on 8 hours a day.some days i forget to turn it off.so its been left running for over 24 hours strait.still working as good as new.