Screwdriver
Member
- Messages
- 10,157
I have had this thing for ages. If I can find it, I'll link to the original thread. It was never reliable, don't know if it was me or the machine but after trying everything I could think of, I bit the bullet and read the manual..
Just kidding, it had issues and I didn't have the time or the inclination. Now I do and here it is.
Some pretty well used consumables will need replacing but the bigger problem is in here:
The spring loaded tip doesn't spring. It's jammed.
It is a simple mechanism but very fiddly. There's a tiny pin holding the jammed spring mechanism which I assume needs to come out along with the fixed electrode which I assumed would hammer out.
Tiny little grub screw held the fixed electrode in place and it was then possible to hammer it out. I made up a punch by grinding a masonry nail to about a mm and punched the little pin out.
I think the tip must have overheated and deformed enough to clamp around the electrode when I really ought to slide up and down it. Just needed a bit of emery paper then reassembly.
...and it worked!
Rather than burn the whole workshop to the ground, I took it outside for the job it was intended for. Cutting leaf springs.
Must admit, I was seriously impressed it could do it but it went through 7.4mm of truck spring like a cold knife through butter.
I have a few of these to do and I didn't want to use an angle grinder to cut them lengthways. It is doable but noisy, dirty and dangerous. I might try cutting one with a disk just to see how doable it is with this material.
Sometimes didn't quite go all the way through but the halves snap apart easily.
Going to make a set of throwing knives so I'll be making 8 of these for material stock. Two sets of three plus some spares.
Can you see what it is yet?
Just kidding, it had issues and I didn't have the time or the inclination. Now I do and here it is.
Some pretty well used consumables will need replacing but the bigger problem is in here:
The spring loaded tip doesn't spring. It's jammed.
It is a simple mechanism but very fiddly. There's a tiny pin holding the jammed spring mechanism which I assume needs to come out along with the fixed electrode which I assumed would hammer out.
Tiny little grub screw held the fixed electrode in place and it was then possible to hammer it out. I made up a punch by grinding a masonry nail to about a mm and punched the little pin out.
I think the tip must have overheated and deformed enough to clamp around the electrode when I really ought to slide up and down it. Just needed a bit of emery paper then reassembly.
...and it worked!
Rather than burn the whole workshop to the ground, I took it outside for the job it was intended for. Cutting leaf springs.
Must admit, I was seriously impressed it could do it but it went through 7.4mm of truck spring like a cold knife through butter.
I have a few of these to do and I didn't want to use an angle grinder to cut them lengthways. It is doable but noisy, dirty and dangerous. I might try cutting one with a disk just to see how doable it is with this material.
Sometimes didn't quite go all the way through but the halves snap apart easily.
Going to make a set of throwing knives so I'll be making 8 of these for material stock. Two sets of three plus some spares.
Can you see what it is yet?