Hello fellow builders! Once again im here for your almight help and guidance! Do you guys have expiriences with cooling spindles, in particular 3kW ones? I bought a pc radiator that allows me to mount two fans on it, but im not sure what pump to have and will this one radiator be enough? At the moment i cannot test it yet myself, because i am missing a pump. I have found one option on ebay thought, It is 24VDC aquarium pump that pumps up to 3,6Liters a minute. For me it seems like it is enough. Any thoughts? Btw for cooling liquid i plan to use a coolant for cars, im not a car owner myself so you can help me with choosing the best one aswell For a tube i am using 6mm inner diameter tube.
I have a 2kw spindle that is watercooled, I'm using https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N6N4DDC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 as my radiator and 2 120mm fans. The water stays very cold and should work fine for a 3kw system as well. Since the fans run off 12v, I'm using a stepdown from the 24v my machine is running on. I also added a USB powered digital temp gauge so I can monitor the water temp My water pump is submerged in a sealed 3 gallon bucket:
Hi @Aleksejs, I know nothing about water cooling spindles, but the coolant in cars is water - with anti - freeze added - not something you are likely to need. Many years ago I was an electron microscopist. To cool the very powerful electromagnets used to focus the electron beam we used water with an additive to prevent algae growing, but just changing the water occasionally would probably be less hassle. Alex.
@Alex Chambers Simply changing the water isn't enough. Bacteria and other micro organisms will grow if introduced to a system that won't kill them. What fluid to use as well as mixed metal systems have been a huge thing in the PC building community for forever. Straight distilled water with a growth inhibitor added. Anti-freeze is a growth inhibitor.
Hi Kevon, you are, of course, correct, but we live in a world where we need to take care what we advise other people to do and any growth inhibitor is (by definition) a poison. I'm not even going to mention here the name of the stuff we used in our microscope cooling systems - that was really toxic! Ethylene glycol is the commonest anti-freeze - we have grown a bit careless about using it because most of us are used to putting it in our car cooling systems without much thought and occasional contact with it is probably not too serious. In a professionally designed closed system with proper seals (and hopefully thoroughly tested) its' fairly safe, but in an amateur lash up where a tiny leak may cause an aerosol your not even aware of it may not be. Safety data sheet here; ETHYLENE GLYCOL And a couple of extracts; WARNING! HARMFUL OR FATAL IF SWALLOWED. HARMFUL IF INHALED OR ABSORBED THROUGH SKIN. MAY CAUSE ALLERGIC SKIN REACTION. MAY CAUSE IRRITATION TO SKIN, EYES, AND RESPIRATORY TRACT. AFFECTS CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM. Chronic Exposure: Repeated small exposures by any route can cause severe kidney problems. Brain damage may also occur. Skin allergy can develop. May damage the developing fetus. As a representative of Openbuilds I try (don't always get it right!) to be careful what I recommend. Alex.
Pick your poison? Untreated water especially slightly warm as used here, is a breeding ground for bacterial growth, for example legionellosis, making it an equally dangerous recommendation (; So, its kinda like picking between chemical, or bacterial. Perhaps the more important discussion is: bucket with a hole cut in the lid, and a gloried water pond pump, or invest in a commercial Chiller: cw3000 water chiller - Google Search At least keep whatever nasty you want to play with, safely isolated in a seald closed loop? Also, a CW3000 (just blows ambient air over rad) , or even better CW5000 (actually does active cooling, has a fridge compressor system inside) will do a better job of protecting your spindle, even has output that can disable VFD when there is low flow (pinched pipe, blockage, who knows), and will cool it better
Indeed - it is easy to overlook the risks in what seems like a harmless activity and stuff we take for granted. A temporary lash up is fine for trying things out but no substitute for doing the job properly. Alex.
