Welding Machine Stand from Video Boom

May26
by Thomas Yoon Chee Tuck on May 26, 2021 at 11:56 pm
Posted In: DIY

Previously, I had made a video camera boom stand using the base of a stand fan. It could be moved around easily at my workshop because I had fitted castor wheels on it. Now, I had a need to use my welding machine in my workshop, so I decided to make use of the same stand for this purpose. This was modeled after another version that I had made in my previous house, of which I was not able to bring along with me to my new house.

I had to fabricate a piece of plywood for supporting the welding machine. The plywood was fitted with a means to secure it to the vertical spindle of the stand. The height adjusting mechanism was already a built-in feature when it was functioning as a stand fan.

The reason for me to use the welding machine stand was because the welding machine came with quite short lengths of welding cables. These cables were the electrode holder cable and the earth cable. They were thick cables so that they could carry high currents during the welding process. Probably to keep the price low, the manufacturer had opted to supply the machine with short lengths of these thick cables. The welding machine itself was powered by a mains 230 Volt 13 Ampere wired plug.

So, if there was any welding to be done at site, the welding machine could be brought into position near to the work piece by using a normal mains extension wire. However, because of the short welding cables, the welding machine itself had to be brought near to the work piece. This was when the height-adjustable stand became useful. This was especially so if the work piece was higher than ground level. The stand enabled it to reach higher. For my workbench, it was ideal for welding. Because the welding machine was placed on a stand which was separated from the workbench, more space was available for the actual welding work.

The video shows the setting up of the welding machine stand.



└ Tags: , , , , , ,
 Comment 

Spindle Location Block 26

Apr26
by Thomas Yoon Chee Tuck on April 26, 2021 at 12:00 am
Posted In: CNC

As the holder for my spindle could be removed so that I could replace it with a laser module holder, or a pen holder, I sometimes found that this arrangement could very often cause inaccuracy issues. This was because the spindle holder could shift position slightly, depending on the clearances between the attachment bolts and the holes. This was especially so for the angular position. This resulted in the spindle tool not being exactly vertical to the work piece.

I found this inaccuracy when I did tramming of the z axis.

In most machinery, in order for the various parts to be matched exactly, the manufacturers would drill accurate holes and drive cylindrical or taper pins between the matching parts so that there would not be any clearances for movement. In my case, the matching part was one of aluminium alloy and another of wood. Wood is soft and of uneven material composition. It would be difficult to drill accurately without drifting, so it would not make much sense to follow the same countermeasures. However, I found that a block of wood, fitted perfectly into a machined pocket of the aluminium alloy part could become an effective stopper for any lateral movement.

That’s what I did.

Having positioned a perfectly fitted block of wood in the aluminium holder pocket, the spindle holder was bolted in place and its position was adjusted for accuracy by tramming the cnc machine. Once accuracy of the spindle was achieved (when the tool was deemed perfectly vertical in relation to the waste board), a set of screws were tightened onto the block of wood through the spindle holder, thus attaching the block of wood to it.

The block of wood thus became part of the spindle holder. Whenever, the spindle holder was removed, it had to be moved a little at a time because of the friction fit. Similarly, when installing the spindle holder, it also needed some amount of pressing in order for it to fit in position. But when everything was fitted in place, the accuracy of the spindle remained perfect.



└ Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
 Comment