OK, as promised in another thread, here is my Mk1 version of the rotary welding table. I couldn't find anything small enough to buy, so I decided to make my own, most of the parts were sourced from Ebay and the material I got from the scrap bin at work.
I had the table itself laser cut from 10mm mild steel and also had some rings etched into it so I can centre parts on it
There are a couple of aluminium discs bolted to the under side to act as heat sinks and also to use as an earth pick up
There is a silver steel spindle welded to the disc to act as a spindle, I tried drilling and tapping this after I'd welded it in place but it was diamond hard and I broke the tap in it! I was going to put a piece of threaded bar in there to use as a clamp. I glued a strip of rubber round the edge of the table and them mounted an M8 cap head on the motor, also with rubber glued round the head to drive the table.
It's powered by a 12v motor with a reduction gearbox giving 15rpm, speed is then fine tuned by a 12v speed controller, both from China via Ebay
This is the earth pick up, this is one area that needs work, as you can see from the other pictures, it's arcing and cuasing the aluminium discs to become pitted. All the joints and bolts are either rubber mounted or use plastic washers, so the earth can only track through the copper parts.
This is the foot controller, a simple push-to-make switch from an electric guitar pedal
As a first effor it works really well, but I'm already working on a Mk2 version. This will have upgraded bearings to hold the table and a sturdier earth post.
I had the table itself laser cut from 10mm mild steel and also had some rings etched into it so I can centre parts on it
There are a couple of aluminium discs bolted to the under side to act as heat sinks and also to use as an earth pick up
There is a silver steel spindle welded to the disc to act as a spindle, I tried drilling and tapping this after I'd welded it in place but it was diamond hard and I broke the tap in it! I was going to put a piece of threaded bar in there to use as a clamp. I glued a strip of rubber round the edge of the table and them mounted an M8 cap head on the motor, also with rubber glued round the head to drive the table.
It's powered by a 12v motor with a reduction gearbox giving 15rpm, speed is then fine tuned by a 12v speed controller, both from China via Ebay
This is the earth pick up, this is one area that needs work, as you can see from the other pictures, it's arcing and cuasing the aluminium discs to become pitted. All the joints and bolts are either rubber mounted or use plastic washers, so the earth can only track through the copper parts.
This is the foot controller, a simple push-to-make switch from an electric guitar pedal
As a first effor it works really well, but I'm already working on a Mk2 version. This will have upgraded bearings to hold the table and a sturdier earth post.
. Is the brass barrel insulated from the copper wear pad?
