cordless drill as a weld positioner

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I making a set of 3/8" x 10"  T handle bolts and was going to put the bolt in my cordless drill and spin it nice and slow with a rubber band around the trigger. I'm goin to use apeice of  braided copper  wrapped around it for my ground. I'm wondering if his will smoke my drill and batteries or if it will be oK.  Anybody ever try this?Lincoln 140cLincoln ac225
Reply:Cool project idea.No Tesla here; however, recommend you electricall ISOLATE the prime mover (DC cordless drill) from the load (welding positioner). Use a non-ferrous shaft or, better, a drive belt to "connect" the drill subsystem (drill, gears, drill platform) to the positioner. Then, the ground cable from your welding machine could be affixed directly to the welding positioner.  Essentially your subsystem should electrically "float", or be prevented from reaching Ground with respect to the positioner.An example of your idea is available via . And, you could fab/weld a sweet dill platform as part of the build. Ha!Now, could you rip the welding machine ground directly thru the DC drill safely?  It depends.  The drill will only draw the current it needs, but....there's always a chance for a fry-out when the drill is in the high-AC/DC voltage/current path of your welder.  In addition, wrapping the welding machine ground cable around your 3/8" T-bolt may yield a sketch Ground.  You want the welder-to-machine connection to be 100%.  Make sense?Last edited by ManoKai; 07-26-2013 at 12:03 AM."Discovery is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought" - Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
Reply:You could,  but I'd estimate that with a little hustle you could have the part welded faster than you could get it set up in your drill.My name's not Jim....
Reply:I don't think you will have any problems since most power tools are double insulated, but I would probably wrap the bolts with a layer of rubber or electrical tape before chucking them. That should work. I have a positioner I use with a small electric gear motor. The company said the motor would not be hurt by welding, but I used a coupler with a rubber insert to isolate completely. If you have a lot of these to do, that is a pretty easy setup.Burt _____________________Miller Syncrowave 250Millermatic 211Miller 375 Plasma Cutter Hobart Handler 12010FtDrillBit.com
Reply:I've done it, it works fine without any extra insulation.
Reply:It'll probably still be too fast. Even for something small diameter you'll likely be around 4-8ish rpm.Welding/Fab Pics: www.UtahWeld.com