My Totally Over Engineered Water Table Fill/Drain Setup

[FabLab]

So, When I decided to add a water table to my DIY table I had a list of design criteria:

• I didn't want to just have a "static" pan I wanted to be able to fill and drain it.

• I didn't want to use a pump, not sure why I just didn't...

• I had an old 60 gallon air compressor tank (unused) that I thought would make a good water tank, I figured I could lay it on its side and put it under the table, that way it would be out of the way and not waste any space

• I wanted an automatic shut off for the fill

After thinking about it for awhile this is what I came up with & built, I have been using for about a year and a half now and it works great!
To be honest it didn't seem that over engineered when I was doing it, I just did it on the fly & it came together well but I never documented it... over the last few days I decided to draw it up so I could remember what I did if it ever broke , after finishing the drawing I thought, WOW that setup looks complicated on paper!!!!
Anyway take a look & let me know what you guys think. If you too would like a totally over engineered water table and have any questions on what I did just ask!!

PlasmaWaterTable.svg

[SegoMan DeSigns]

Keep in mind at some point in time that tank will need drained and replaced with new fluids. Install a "P" trap in the blue fill line with a drain on it to minimize the larger materials from entering the tank.(this will require a ball valve at the inlet of the water tray)

The drain at the P trap is a good place for hose fittings (both in and out) One 3" line to the low side of the water pan or trough down the middle is plenty big, you should see a fill time of a minute or less. I also use clear vinyl tubing on top of the tank for a site glass on water level.

[Dmaxpwr]

Looks like a nice design, I haven't decided how I'm going to handle my fumes yet, I keep going back and forth between fume extraction and water table. This just tipped the scales towards water table, awesome design, thanks for sharing.

[robertspark]

Suggest getting rid of the value at the bottom of the tank as
A) you don't need it
B) it's in for a hard life and not likely to last long as the valve seat will end up with metal swarf on it over time and it won't work.

I have a similar arrangement for my pneumatic parts washer where the paraffin is kept in a vessel below the wash trough and I have a big 2" valve on the drain from the trough. If I close this then the level is maintained in the parts washer and the compressed air blows cleaning fluid through a wash brush.

If I open the 2" valve with the compressed air supply on the paraffin from the tank is forced upwards into the parts washer ( until air bubbles out of it and there is no fluid left in the tank as the drain is piped as a long syphon to the bottom of the tank)

If I turn the compressed air off and vent the tank the level will drop in the parts washer.

This has the advantage of keeping any solids in the bottom of the tank which has a big drain cock on it to allow flushing the solids out of the storage tank.

This is the one I have and will give you an idea as to how it works with the photos + manual listed (I didn't know they cost so much.... nowhere near what I paid 2nd hand)

https://www.permex.co.uk/product/rl7036 ... hing-tank/

I have another parts washer that works similarly but uses an oil drum (20 gallon?.... Half 44 gallon size) and has a long drain tube into the bottom of it and a connector that goes onto the air vent of the oil drum to the air supply..... Just no fluid fed brush

this is like the other one:
https://www.tptools.com/30-Gallon-Drum- ... ,9565.html