Need help with a water table for CNC plasma

[jfg455]

What I am looking for is a product to seal a water table I am building for my CNC plasma cutter. I have all the tin work roughed out but there are a ton of little nooks and crannies that cannot be gotten to to seal up easily. So I was wondering if the was a sealer / epoxy / under coat / seam sealer type of product that will seal metal, be under water and be in a harsh enviroment. Ideas? Thanks in advance. [S

 

[ruggs]

AS SEEN ON TV.....Flex Seal...You get not one but 2 for only $19.95 with added shipping and handling...........Sorry, had to do it...........ruggs

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

Marine product...

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...10001&storeId=11151&productId=21708&langId=-1


.

 

[jfg455]

Lol! I knew that was coming Ruggs!

Thanks Dr. C I will look into it. Might just be the ticket.

 

[offroadrolls]

There's a sheet metal sealer that house gutter tinners use that's very good too.

 

[Sunnybeach]

I was thinking 100% silicone caulk. Like you would use for a fish tank.

---
On a related note, I am not sure how much of the CNC plasma but this may be of interest.

http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?GantryPlasmaMachine

 

[jfg455]

Sunnybeach Thanks for the link. It has a bunch of stuff I want to add / change on my machine. Like making a quick change head to swap to my hand held Plasma cutter for small intricate sheet metal art stuff.

Biggest issue I have is I built my table first and am now retro fitting it for a water table. Otherwise it would have been super easy to make up a pan like they did and drop all my cross bars into it. Now I have to build the pan around the bar mounts hence all the little gaps I need to seal where parts weren't fully welded 100%. 3M panel adhesive would have been sweet to make the pan. Easy, quick and no warpage.

 

[ruggs]

What type of metal did you use for the pan? Helps to know if rust will creep under your sealing material........ruggs

 

[jfg455]

What type of metal did you use for the pan? Helps to know if rust will creep under your sealing material........ruggs

It was some free steel shelving from the side of the road. So if straight water is used then yes rust is an issue. Thinking of using a tool cooling fluid like the above posted "green" table. Also thinking of a drain fill possibility. Mounting a poly farm tank under the table with a drain valve into it. Then have a simple 110v transfer pump to re-fill the table pan from the poly tank. everything is dry when not in use. flip a switch and the pan is full by the time you are done firing up the machine and setting up your first cut path. [

 

[jfg455]

Knocked out 90% of the table this week. But the blizzard hit, I was basically on at work for 2 days straight and ran out of welding gas on thursday so no aork on it sunday...[S

 

[jfg455]

Well I finally finished the bed for the plasma table. Sealed it with marine adhesive sealer. Looked it over dry, found some voids in the sealer, resealed a second time, let dry 3 days and add water. 4 leaks and I only have 1/2" of water in it. Back to the drawing board.[S

 

[jfg455]

So I am getting there. 2 layers of marine adheasive / sealer. It shrinks a little and seems to always have pin holes. So then I undercoated the entire bed. Then on top of that I did a layer of body shultz (sets up like bed liner). now I am down to 1 little pesky drip in 1 corner. How I have no idea as I cannot see any place it could get through. Hopefully over time it will fill with metal slag, dust etc from the table and plug up. [cl

I did score 2 55 gallon drums to build my catch and pump system underneath. I will add pics tomorrow. And they were free!

 

[jfg455]

So this is the latest rendition of the water bed for the CNC plasma table. Found I needed 74 gallons of water to fill the table to 1" below the support tops. So 2 free 55 gallon plastic drums holds it. about $125 in a pump, switches and piping will fill it and then drain it when I am done. This way it cuts down on moisture in the shop and rust on the table bed itself. Machine actually cuts cleaner with the water splashing up on the underside to cool it. As you can see by the buckets I still have 3 pesky leaks I can't seem to plug up![S

 

[Screamin' Metal]

Go online to Ames or you can get it thru Ace Hardware. I got it factory direct, Ames Elasto-Barrier....get everything clean and dry, can't have any silicone sealer agaist this stuff, but you roll it on use a paintbrush for up in the corners. Let stand for 24 hours, do second coat, then a 3rd one.
Then, you won't have a leak....

ESAB Falcon w/ Burney8, Fanuc Controls....

 

[Screamin' Metal]

Go online to Ames or you can get it thru Ace Hardware. I got it factory direct, Ames Elasto-Barrier....get everything clean and dry, can't have any silicone sealer agaist this stuff, but you roll it on use a paintbrush for up in the corners. Let stand for 24 hours, do second coat, then a 3rd one.
Then, you won't have a leak....

ESAB Falcon w/ Burney8, Fanuc Controls....

 

[jfg455]

Thanks for the info. Should be good and dry as I haven't used it in a while. No silicone anywhere on it now