Down Draft

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CNCCAJUN
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Down Draft

Post by CNCCAJUN »

I stumbled across something that may be of value to some.

I have a Dynatorch 4X4 XLS with downdraft.

I have found a benefit of a downdraft table I had not considered.

Beyond the fact that my shop has ZERO soot on the white walls I have noticed another benefit.

My exhaust fan is capable of eliminating smoke/soot with the only thing on the table being a piece of metal less than a square foot.

But what caught my attention was when I had the entire table covered with material and started cutting I heard a whistling sound.

It was the air rushing through the newly created kerf.

Long story short it eliminated warping for me when cutting 16 gauge.

I realize you have to have a hefty exhaust fan to this, but now I don't feel like an idiot for buying such a large fan.

Steve :D
Smiling Gator Metal Works, LLC
Dynatorch 4X4 XLS
PowerMAX 85
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
quadboy
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Re: Down Draft

Post by quadboy »

Wondering what you thinks better down drift or water table?
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_Ogre
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Re: Down Draft

Post by _Ogre »

the benefits of covering up the open area on a downdraft table has been mentioned many times

as far as down draft vs water table? it depends on where you are located
i would prefer a downdraft, but up in snow country i'd have to filter and exhaust the air back into the shop
therefor i have a water table
though a water table has less warping from heat and the parts are self cooling :mrgreen:

jim colt has designed a nice filtered return air system for his display/demo table that he also runs production on
bulltear 4x8 cnc plasma table, candcnc bladerunner w/dthc, hypertherm powermax 65, sheetcam, mach3
laser cross hair for hypertherm torch http://www.plasmaspider.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12508
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Dana gear
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Re: Down Draft

Post by Dana gear »

We run down draft systems on our plasma cutting tables, absolutely no plasma dust . We actually had a water table on one of our earlier units and ended up converting to down draft,. Its a no brainer for us, no water mess , no problems associated with the plasma torch and water/moisture.
No more refilling or cleaning out the swamp, we just pull out the trays and dump them when needed.
There is however a disclaimer we are located in Northern California and in the last 2 years we never had to heat the shop and in the summers its generally dam hot for about 5 months of the year. So in the winter venting the shop air outside is not much of a problem.
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see&see
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Re: Down Draft

Post by see&see »

My exhaust fan is capable of eliminating smoke/soot with the only thing on the table being a piece of metal less than a square foot.

But what caught my attention was when I had the entire table covered with material and started cutting I heard a whistling sound.

It was the air rushing through the newly created kerf.

Long story short it eliminated warping for me when cutting 16 gauge.

I realize you have to have a hefty exhaust fan to this, but now I don't feel like an idiot for buying such a large fan.
Steve,

Your remarks got my attention because I had the same killer fan experience with my 4 x 4 table. Air whistling! :lol:

The 3100 CFM wall fan pulls from end of the table in with 2 feet of 20" flex tube. As if the fan didn't pull enough there is a 12000 CFM swamp cooler at the end of the shop pushing enough air inside to vent the table without the wall fan operating. The wall fan still turns slowly and the draft louvers open just like it was on. Sometimes I run the cooler without water in the winter and it acts like a normal push vent fan but the only time I need it is cutting on the table and welding in the shop at the same time. We're in a dry climate so evaporative coolers work well in the summer here. I say that, but were at 4 times average percip with 20+ feet of settled packed snow up on the mountain ready to pour down on us and still one storm after another on the way. :?

Over kill on the fan also works well when cutting into square tube as the smoke blows out the end of the tube and into the shop more than over the grates. But with that much air flow it still sucks smoke hanging around the table down into the grates and outside.

I'm currently putting a 5 x 10' Sampson table into a new 5000 sf shop with a 20' ceiling height. I'm putting an 18' Big Ass fan at the ceiling with natural gas reflective heaters along side the fan. Along with another 21,000 CFM 5 HP 480 volt evaporative cooler pushing in and a 7000 CFM wall fan at the end of the table.

The downside to all this airflow in the winter of course is the huge heat loss. We have waste oil heaters in both shops now so that takes most of the sting out of high natural gas expense.

Couple picts of the 4 x 4 table with the fan baffle on the end of the caster waste valet cart.

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see&see
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Re: Down Draft

Post by see&see »

Just got done installing the 21,000 CFM table pusher fan & evaporative cooler for the 5 x 10 table. It was 99 degrees outside today and it brought the shop and offices down to about 75 degrees in a couple of hours. The shop was 88 degrees yesterday at 4 PM, way too hot to get any productive work done.

You currently do not have access to download this file.
To gain download access for DXF, SVG & other files Click Here

You marry into the PlasmaCam family and must accept the fact your software and hardware are proprietary. It's a for better or for worse engagement with overwhelming security. PlasmaCam controls the computer, table, hardware to their advantage IMO. :x
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