Anyone make a swamp cooler / Evaporative Cooler

[Kail]

I have a 1600 sq/ft shop that is going to be getting hot soon. I have been looking at the 24" port-a-cool at a best price of 1600.

I have a hard time paying 1600 for a something that circulates water over some curvy elements and then uses a big fan to pull air through it all.

So I am crafty with my tools...., I could make a housing out of aluminum, then buy a good size high power fan, get the replacement cooling elements, use an electric water pump that pumps water to a tube above the elements that has holes in it facing up, the water shoots out in little streams against a shroud which distributes the water evenly across the elements. is it much more complex than that? Has anyone done this?

 

[HOTFR8]

In my experience it would be better to shop round and see what is made that you can buy as by the time you make something like what you want you find you could have purchased it off the showroom floor. Have a look at some of the coolers made for farms to help keep animals cool as they often work well in workshop situations. Ex Demo models are a good way to purchase.