My Positioner

admin

I didn't want to steal worntorn's thread so I started a new one.  I happened to use my positioner today so I snapped a few shots of it. My main criteria when building it was to make it light enough to move easily. I've not got room for a permanently setup positioner and if it was heavy I'd never take the time to set it up. I made it from junk mostly from parts out of a old copy machine. The gearbox is from one of the copy machine motors. I took out the windings and drilled a hole in the end plate so that the shaft could stick through for the drill to chuck to. The chuck is a very worn out one that came with my P&W lathe.  I did try to make it fairly versatile. If you look at the fourth pic you can see that it will tilt all the way to vertical. I can screw the chuck off and make any type of fixture with a simple pipe coupling (I think it's 1 1/4" pipe thread but it may be 1 1/2" I'd have to go measure). Of course with it being pipe I can stick thin stuff through it. Just after making it I had to build a bunch of H braces for a pipeline company that was in town at the time. I did all the pipe cutting and saddling with the positioner. I put it on my drill press and a couple of roller stands for the pipe and using my plasma cut near perfect cuts in short order. I then made a pattern to set screw to the pipe and using the plasma to follow it made super fitting saddles. But on the second saddle for each pipe the chuck jaws wouldn't catch. To get around this I put 3 slits in a piece of exhaust pipe that would just fit inside the 4" line pipe I was cutting. I used a piece of all thread to keep the exhaust pipe against the face of the chuck and it served to extend my jaws.   The drill I have on it now is the best that I've used so far. I did burn up a really old nearly burned out drill on the H brace job and switch to this one. It works better because of the two speed gear box built into the drill allowing for a high low range. My other electric drills are either to fast or have electronic speed control built in and won't work with the dimmer remote control you see in the pic.   That leads us to the remote control. It's just a heavy duty light dimmer with a heavy duty light switch. That allows me to start, stop and set the speed even if I'm 20' or more away from the positoner. With the light switch I can have the speed preset and just turn it on and off. Of course that's if the switch is working. Currently it's broken because somebody hit it to hard against something. One draw back there. The other is that the dimmer isn't the best speed control device ever invented. For example when I was doing that shaft I wanted another bead at the end. The drill was running pretty steady and as soon as I struck the arc I could hear it slow down a bit. I figure that's probably because I'm using the support bearings for the ground. I just used bronze bearings on the turned pipe to keep it simple and light. I did have to add the second chain reduction to help compensate for this. It's much more noticeable at slow drill speeds. In fact the control won't reliably start the drill at a slow speed.   I do have several of the old Surplus Center triac based treadmill motor controllers from years ago. They have a tachometer feedback from the series wound motors. I have a motor as well but it's much to big for this IMHO. What I would like to do is modify a drill adding a tachometer. That would make this positioner much more usable and very stable. Of course the problem there is finding the time to do it.   Oh and don't look to closely at my build up. It doesn't hold a candle to Matt's work. Attached ImagesLast edited by irish fixit; 06-09-2010 at 10:09 PM.Millermatic 252XMT 304'sDynasty 280DXHypertherm PowerMax 1250Miller Trailblazer 302 EFIOptima PulserXR feeder and XR Edge gun and more athttp://members.dslextreme.com/users/waynecook/index.htm
Reply:Very nifty and well thought out. I wonder if the drill is slowing when the arc is struck due to a voltage drop in your main electrical supply?I used my contraption last night and it seems to rotate happily  away at a steady low or high speed.The drill is a cordless, so it is unaffected by any voltage drop that might occur when the arc is started.
Reply:Originally Posted by worntornVery nifty and well thought out. I wonder if the drill is slowing when the arc is struck due to a voltage drop in your main electrical supply?I used my contraption last night and it seems to rotate happily  away at a steady low or high speed.The drill is a cordless, so it is unaffected by any voltage drop that might occur when the arc is started.
Reply:Outstanding! Good use of a bad copy machine...If you want to roundabout weld in a serious way, take your time and think it through to fit your needs. It can take a bit of time to make but it is a real timesaver (both for putting on and taking off weld).Matt
Reply:Originally Posted by Matt_MaguireOutstanding! Good use of a bad copy machine...If you want to roundabout weld in a serious way, take your time and think it through to fit your needs. It can take a bit of time to make but it is a real timesaver (both for putting on and taking off weld).Matt