Cleaning out waterjet tank?

[Jetcutter]

Any waterjet cutters out there recommend a way to clean the garnet out of the tank in a way that is as painless and easy on your wallet as possible?

I'll be shoveling it out in a few days, but has anyone invented anything that would work and not cost a ridiculous amount of money?

Thanks!

[Shefron]

Any waterjet cutters out there recommend a way to clean the garnet out of the tank in a way that is as painless and easy on your wallet as possible?

I'll be shoveling it out in a few days, but has anyone invented anything that would work and not cost a ridiculous amount of money?

Thanks!

Find a local FSAE team at a college that needs some free cutting done. I know the UNM's FSAE team cleans out the huge tanks for a local business at least every 3 months. Two tanks are about 6'x6' and the other is 8'x20' I think. Those were fun times.

[Jetcutter]

All done, just for other waterjet cutters out there:

Had a buddy help me shovel, took out around 3-1/2 pallets worth of garnet (7,000 lbs -not including water), took the two of us an hour and a half of non-stop shoveling. Not so bad, but I wouldn't want to be doing this everyday! The top layer is the worst, it's sticky and once you step in the tank, you won't be able to move. Just dig around your feet and work in sections. The best shovel is the square point type, anything else just doesn't work.

Good luck!

[shamusmtb]

We are lucky enough that we just pull the grate and get in there with an excavator. Thank god the boss has one (and a skid steer). Our tank is around 12' x 6' and it takes us about three to four hours.

[JakeM]

We use an excavator like shamusmtb, we rent one though. Usually takes about 3-4 hr to do a 80"x160" filled to the brim. We've shoveled before, if you have more then 8-10k in there its not very fun.

[keebler303]

Many of these tanks also have divide chambers, which allow the water tank the suppleness it needs, to adapt to any shape or size setting it will be located in. It will exert enough force on the exterior, to remain firm sufficient to hold its form, and remain unbending so as not to rupture when it is placed under tiring amounts of pressure.

Tank cleaning UAE

Valuable information!

[JerryFlyGuy]

I've had some luck w/ a trash pump and a settling tank.. if you use water to stir the material up it flows pretty well. The key is the settling tank has to be large enough. We also manufacture a type of Vac truck... that is VERY effective at removing everything from water, garnet and 'drop's from the tank.. as long as they are smaller than 4". It takes about 8 minutes to pull off 5000 gallons of water and then another hour or so to pull out the rest of the material.. If you have access to a 'hydro dig' operation where they can suck it out for you.. it'll be faster and cheaper than most everything else with zero chance of damage to the tank etc [compared to an excavator etc]. We used to pay $4-500 each time we had them in [until we started to manufacture our own]

Fwiw