Setting up a 20 gallon sink

[luminous]

Well, it's time for a bigger tank. I've been anodizing small trinkets in a 5 gallon pail, but now I have some larger items (2-3 sq ft) that I need to do.
I really like sswee's Utility Sink tank, so I'm going to set up a similar one. I already have a Little Giant 3-MD-MT-HC pump I can use for agitation, and I also have assembled a PVC "chiller coil" from 30' of 3/4" PVC and a big bag of 90° elbows. The chiller can sit in a plastic barrel and I have an infinite supply of 55° water that I can flow through the barrel for cooling. I'm hoping that will be adequate cooling?

Rather than suck acid out of the bottom of the tank and return it over the top like the setup in sswee's photos, I decided to do a concentric drain setup that pulls the acid out of the tank at the bottom drain and returns it through the drain also. This is fairly easily accomplished with a 1-1/2" tee, and some reducer bushings. One end of the tee gets glued to a 1-1/2" FPT fitting that screws on to the bottom of the sink. The other end of the tee gets reduced down to 1/2" pipe, and the little shoulder inside the bushing gets removed (Dremel tool) so that a piece of 1/2" pipe can slide ALL the way through and out the other end of the tee (sticks out both ends) When it's done it looks like this, and acid is drawn out from the side leg of the tee and returned through the bottom 1/2" pipe. More photos to follow soon...

Steve

[luminous]

Here's a shot of the inside of the tank with the drian installed. Acid is drawn in through the outer hole and dicharged back to the tank through the center pipe.
I'll cut the pipe shorter and add a tee so I can put some 1/2" "spray bars" in the tank.

Steve

[luminous]

And here's my cooling coil and cooling tank
Steve

[destroyer125]

Im not sure if your water around your cooling coils will be cold enough to affect the temperature of the acid, Im having trouble cooling my tank overall with 60* water to the 80* tank, but if I cool the water down to the 40*'s it will begin to affect the acid tank

[luminous]

Originally Posted by destroyer125

Im not sure if your water around your cooling coils will be cold enough to affect the temperature of the acid, Im having trouble cooling my tank overall with 60* water to the 80* tank, but if I cool the water down to the 40*'s it will begin to affect the acid tank

Hmmm, well, I wondered about that, but I think I'll give it a go and see how it works. I guess I can always throw a bag of ice and a little salt in the barrel if I need it colder.

Are you using a submersable chiller, or using a water jacket around your tank?

Thanks,
Steve

[destroyer125]

Currently I have a larger tub around my tank that I put 2 gallons worth of ice in the tank and within 30 minutes it will drop the tank down to about 72, and stay there, Im thinking about trying dry ice also, I will be upgrading to a chiller before winter hits and Will keep my tank at 68* if the chiller can do it