Mig/Tig welding coolant pump

[algar]

I have a water cooled mig alum [push pull]and tig torch that are water cooled.Anyone ever make a coolant system?
 

[NCWayne]

Unless you have all of the necessary parts like the cooler, tank, and fan lying around, I'd venture a guess that it's going to be about the same cost to buy parts -vs- buying a commercially made one.

That said years ago I did make a water cooled block to hold a machine MIG torch on a home made build up machine. With it I just hooked up a water line from the spigot and cracked the valve open to get the flow of water I needed to keep it cool. Worked great, and since the water was coming from a well it wasn't costing an arm and a leg doing it that way like it would if paying for city water to do the same thing. Still the only reason that was done was because the cooler origionally tied to it crapped out and I was in the middle of a big job and didn't have the time to find a new cooler right at that moment.
 

[Puddles]

I made one years ago for my Miller tig welder. You need a low pressure, high volume pump. If the capacity of the tank is enough, you will not need a fan. I worked in a shop once that had all the tig welders hooked up to city water, (no tanks) and let the water drain out into the street.


 

[KF]

I made one with about a seven or eight gallon capacity. That is plenty of cooling for occasional use and lower amperages. It is on casters to roll out of the way when not needed. As far as the pump, I copied our Miller 350 Tig at work. It uses a small gear type pump with relief. So I found one similar to it and mounted it to a 1/4 horse industrial single phase motor. On the output I have a pressure relief back to the tank. The relief is set at 60 psi. The small tubes associated with the Tig hose needs about 40 psi just to flow reasonably well. You will have to go to your welding supply to get the hose adapters for the Tig hose. They are a special ones to prevent mixing up the gas and water connections. Use distilled water and add antifreeze to prevent corrosion.
 

[Puddles]

Make sure you don't use automotive antifreeze! It will plug the little openings.
 

[Stick welding]

You can buy special coolant for water cooled torch set ups.