the design concept for my plasma table water tank is almost finalized... "The Kid" got the OK from his job to come in and use their laser and press brake to cut and form everything. We're going with 11 gauge material.
One last question. The top plate on my captive air bladder needs to be removable for future maintenance. Its a 6' x 10' sheet with a grid of strips spaced 2' x 6' to fasten to. What fastener should I use? Bolts are likely to just be rusted solid. How about pop rivets, do they drill out easily? Will a squirt of silicone in the rivet hole seal them up (only .5 psi)? other suggestions.
"Lenin called them "useful idiots," those people living in liberal democracies who by giving moral and material support to a totalitarian ideology in effect were braiding the rope that would hang them. Why people who enjoyed freedom and prosperity worked passionately to destroy both is a fascinating question, one still with us today. Now the useful idiots can be found in the chorus of appeasement, reflexive anti-Americanism, and sentimental idealism trying to inhibit the necessary responses to another freedom-hating ideology, radical Islam"
Bruce C. Thornton, a professor of Classics at American University of Cal State Fresno
"Lenin called them "useful idiots," those people living in liberal democracies who by giving moral and material support to a totalitarian ideology in effect were braiding the rope that would hang them. Why people who enjoyed freedom and prosperity worked passionately to destroy both is a fascinating question, one still with us today. Now the useful idiots can be found in the chorus of appeasement, reflexive anti-Americanism, and sentimental idealism trying to inhibit the necessary responses to another freedom-hating ideology, radical Islam"
Bruce C. Thornton, a professor of Classics at American University of Cal State Fresno
Sealing Blind Rivets Also known as closed-end sealing rivets; these fasteners prevent water and air from passing through or around them. Because 100% of the mandrel is retained they have higher shear and tensile strength than standard blind rivets of the same size and material. Stainless steel rivets and mandrels have excellent corrosion resistance and may be mildly magnetic. Rivets are 18-8 stainless steel; mandrels are 400 series stainless steel. Aluminum rivets and mandrels are corrosion resistant and nonmagnetic. Rivets are 1100 aluminum; mandrels are 7000 series aluminum. Aluminum rivets with steel mandrel are nonmagnetic. Rivets are corrosion resistant and made of 5056 aluminum; mandrels are C1006-C1010 steel.
For the 11 gauge plasma tank that you are building????
Gunner
"Lenin called them "useful idiots," those people living in liberal democracies who by giving moral and material support to a totalitarian ideology in effect were braiding the rope that would hang them. Why people who enjoyed freedom and prosperity worked passionately to destroy both is a fascinating question, one still with us today. Now the useful idiots can be found in the chorus of appeasement, reflexive anti-Americanism, and sentimental idealism trying to inhibit the necessary responses to another freedom-hating ideology, radical Islam"
Bruce C. Thornton, a professor of Classics at American University of Cal State Fresno
"Lenin called them "useful idiots," those people living in liberal democracies who by giving moral and material support to a totalitarian ideology in effect were braiding the rope that would hang them. Why people who enjoyed freedom and prosperity worked passionately to destroy both is a fascinating question, one still with us today. Now the useful idiots can be found in the chorus of appeasement, reflexive anti-Americanism, and sentimental idealism trying to inhibit the necessary responses to another freedom-hating ideology, radical Islam"
Bruce C. Thornton, a professor of Classics at American University of Cal State Fresno
They are used all over sailboats btw. Hobis have at least 100 of them holding them together.
Gunner
"Lenin called them "useful idiots," those people living in liberal democracies who by giving moral and material support to a totalitarian ideology in effect were braiding the rope that would hang them. Why people who enjoyed freedom and prosperity worked passionately to destroy both is a fascinating question, one still with us today. Now the useful idiots can be found in the chorus of appeasement, reflexive anti-Americanism, and sentimental idealism trying to inhibit the necessary responses to another freedom-hating ideology, radical Islam"
Bruce C. Thornton, a professor of Classics at American University of Cal State Fresno
Stainless hex bodied rivet nuts installed in the angle iron. Coat the stainless bolts with teflon sealer and assemble. Or use a captive stainless stud.
Some plasma tables use air bladders to displace water to raise or lower the water surface level; others have a two- compartment tank with no bladder, and use compressed air to push water out of the lower tank to raise water surface level in the upper tank. The top part of the lower tank is air-tight and the water transfer pipe picks up near the bottom of the tank.
I think Karl's early post in this thread talked about a bladder, but some more recent ones give me the impression there won't be a bladder, just the two-part-tank arrangement, with a big flat plate dividing the parts. Although I don't know whether his plan has the angle iron supports above or below the flat plate, if the supports were above it I don't see how he would get it out again later (as he apparently wants to be able to do, for maintenance). So, I think he is looking for fasteners to hold the plate down, air tight up to say 3 psi, on top of angle iron supports. It seems like an alternative would be a framework that lays in on top of the plate and bolts to the tank sides with nuts on the outside of the tank. This would stiffen the tank sides and wouldn't make any holes in the plate, while holding it down against gasket material on the angle iron. Or, if angle iron were welded along the edges of the separator plate, the gasket would be vertical, captive between the angle and the tank wall. If holes are drilled in place and if the walls taper out just a bit, then bolts will fit ok and assembly/disassembly is possible.
But.....why bother with all the internal workings? Yu need at most....3" of water under your work piece and an inch of freeboard to make sure it doesnt drip on the floor.
IRRC...its only going to be 6x10 feet in size...and its NOT going to be used for rocket motors and large assemblies.
If he is actually going to cut assemblies...thats another story..but then he is going to have to have a large liftable gantry for the torch and moving parts and that becomes a much larger issue.
Im not seeing where all the complicated stuff is involved here.
Shrug..while not a "pro"....Ive a bit of hands on with plasma tables and the side mounted milling cutters for using the same hardware for cutting plastics and wood on the other side of the tank.
Gunner, scratching his head in a bit of confusion apparently.
"Lenin called them "useful idiots," those people living in liberal democracies who by giving moral and material support to a totalitarian ideology in effect were braiding the rope that would hang them. Why people who enjoyed freedom and prosperity worked passionately to destroy both is a fascinating question, one still with us today. Now the useful idiots can be found in the chorus of appeasement, reflexive anti-Americanism, and sentimental idealism trying to inhibit the necessary responses to another freedom-hating ideology, radical Islam"
Bruce C. Thornton, a professor of Classics at American University of Cal State Fresno
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