Cooling fans

[Toby]

Is there any sort of mod someone has came up with to setup the cooling fans to only come on at a certain temp? it would be nice for the machine to be quite unless the fan is needed. My buddy has a blue machine and his is whisper quite until it needs the xtra cooling. Just a thought

[rake]

I never liked the idea of on demand cooling fans. It's just one more thing that can fail and kill your machine.

[performance]

No, it can/will damage the machine...

[johnson697]

on this subject i wanted to ask if i set up a filter to help keep out dust and dirt from the machine and set up a small fan on the outside to help push a little extra air from having a filter on it to help cool it a little more,would that be hard on the machine?

[johnson697]

no anwers on this?

[performance]

Johnson,
Not sure what answer you are wanting. We tell you in the manuals NOT to obstruct the cooling and leave free space around the units. Any restriction will reduce your cooling and possibly damage your circuits. The units have a good duty cycle on average compared with other units in their class, and we achieve that by free, and fast air flow. Anything else is not acceptable.

[johnson697]

its a 250 ex i was wondering if i could put a filter on it ,to help keep dust out of it but was thinking of putting a small fan behind that to push a little more air to compensate for the filter but you already answered my question.

[5440]

I never liked the idea of on demand cooling fans. It's just one more thing that can fail and kill your machine.

In theory maybe but the practical side is Miller has been doing this this without issue for years

Many large utility power transformers often use 1 or 2 stage fan cooling to increase capacity and have been doing this for decades. If that principle never worked then we would not have power to run our machines.

[performance]

In theory maybe but the practical side is Miller has been doing this this without issue for years

Many large utility power transformers often use 1 or 2 stage fan cooling to increase capacity and have been doing this for decades. If that principle never worked then we would not have power to run our machines.

Yeah, and their duty cycle is pitiful on most of their units too...in many cases when they went to fan on demand, their duty cycle crashed by half. Just noticed an early dial arc the other day and the duty cycle was 50%. Now, its barely 20 if I remember right for the same unit.

[everlastsupport]

I know where you are all coming from, shops do get quite nasty with all the material in the air. Imagine, we breath a lot of that too.

As a habit, like safety checks before welding and cutting. I try to keep all our welders/cutters off the floor by 2.5+ feet (seems the lower stuff collects more), keep them covered when not in use (most of the time), never point grinders/chop saws/etc in the general direction. On occasion (think it's in the manual or on the forum) a "lite" blow through with clean dry air.

A filter box "might" work (still not recommended), but it would need to be course (catch almost nothing unless treated it) and probably need to be much larger than the welder. But like said you could damage the machine.

On demand, would add to cost and not be really "on demand". As you weld, it would pop on, when you stop welding, the heat sensors would keep it on (like post flow) for some time to get the heat sinks cooled down (that is to keep our current duty cycle and not damage the final drivers).

Our internal fans are a little on the loud side, but more than 70% of my tools are much louder (grinders, cut-off, chop saw , saber saw, saws-all, etc). I also myself leave our welders on for 5-10 minutes after welding just to let it cool down to an idle state before shutting them down.

[zoama]

My new 250ex has a much lower tone than the 256 it replaced. The 250 is not exactly quiet but it doesn't have that hairdryer sound of the older machine. I like the new design.

[sw2x]

You know what would really be nice!!! Use the W300 and throw a couple ports on the face of your welder and install some water cooling blocks.. Won't need fans in the welder at all...

[zoama]

You know what would really be nice!!! Use the W300 and throw a couple ports on the face of your welder and install some water cooling blocks.. Won't need fans in the welder at all...

You would still need some airflow to cool the boards.

[sw2x]

In that case you could use small standard computer fans... the duty cycle would probably go up quite a bit. Just have to worry about a leak lol.

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[everlastsupport]

In that case you could use small standard computer fans... the duty cycle would probably go up quite a bit. Just have to worry about a leak lol.

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Oil leak? From what type computer fan?

[Poptm]

My 250ex is kinda noisy but it doesn't bother me a bit. Something I just have to live with. I know peoples sensitivity to noise varies from person to person but and as stated above most other tools that are used in preparing the material to get them to the point of welding the materials together are much louder than the welding machines. If the fans/machines are too loud, I'd suggest a using ear plugs. That will really cut down on the noise. And it is a cheap fix too.

[everlastsupport]

Very good point on the ear plugs. Should be standard equipment for metal working in a lot of cases. And safety is a good thing.

I wonder how many people that complain about the fan noise own a harley or drag car? Would be a funny poll. Worse how many are welding in an apartment Shhh, need to finish this and it's after 10PM.

First line is the serious line. Rest is in jest.

[sw2x]

I was saying that if someone were to use a W300 with computer water cooler blocks and small PC fans that the only thing you'd have to worry about is if a cooling block sprung a leak...

[zoama]

I was saying that if someone were to use a W300 with computer water cooler blocks and small PC fans that the only thing you'd have to worry about is if a cooling block sprung a leak...

There are no waterblocks for computers that are large enough or would take that much heat. Water cooling a welder would require custom blocks and void any warranty.

[aaxiss]

Very good point on the ear plugs. Should be standard equipment for metal working in a lot of cases. And safety is a good thing.

I wonder how many people that complain about the fan noise own a harley or drag car? Would be a funny poll. Worse how many are welding in an apartment Shhh, need to finish this and it's after 10PM.

First line is the serious line. Rest is in jest.

Haha, I used to weld on my apartment balcony with my little harbour freight inverter unit and a valved torch and scratch start it while learning. Manager was even cool with it as long as the gas wasn't flammable. Just made a 1 foot high partition to block anyone from setting the arc and never had any complaints. Most of my major welding took place at my parents house and when my dad built the shop I do every thing there now.

Most of the stuff I did at my apartment was minor fix it stuff any way. 2 - 3 min of welding to fix a small part. Mostly my broken wheelchair foot rest hangers.

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