dan wrote:

What's that Lassie? You say that Pete C. fell down the old
rec.crafts.metalworking mine and will die if we don't mount a rescue
by Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:53:04 -0600:

Storage / "air bladder" tank for CNC plasma cutting water table. 24" x
36" cut area x somewhere in the 4"-6" depth, hence the 25-40 gal
capacity. Air pressure only goes high enough to displace coolant from
the tank up to the table area 18" above.

The last wet cutting table I saw was a tank within a tank.
The bigger tank is open topped, and the smaller tank is facing down.
There was about 1/2" of space all around the perimeter.
Air is introduced at the top of the smaller down facing tank and the
water is pushed out the 1/2" gap and covers the top of the smaller
tank, providing the wet cutting surface. Purging the air lets the
water drain back down. Evaporation is minimal when not in use due to
the small air/water interface when drained.

--

Dan H.

That design is probably better for large tables, but for a 24" x 36" a
separate tank allowing full drain down for cleaning of the cutting table
and retrieval of the cutouts is better.