DIY Welding Positioner

[c7z06]

I had no luck trying to sell an old Troyke 9" rotary table, so I combined it with some drill press parts to make a welding positioner:

[liveaboard]

Cool.

[SteveM]

That's some serious out-of-the-box thinking!

[GlennW]

How do you keep from arcing the bearing in the rotary table?

[Bill Shields]

Is really cool

I did something similar a long time ago with a CNC control on it for plasma welding for a customer.

I insulated the table from the work, put a conductor up through the center and used a rotary welding contact.

[c7z06]

How do you keep from arcing the bearing in the rotary table?

Ground is connected to a spring loaded brass rod (brush) that rides against the edge of the table on the work side of the bearings. The bracket that holds the rod is insulated from the rest of the unit via nylon bolts, with nylon washers between the bracket and the plate below it. Ground cable is either bolted to the vertical flat part of the bracket or clamped to it.

The brass rod, spring, etc. can be accessed from the rear without having to remove the bracket.

[GlennW]

Very nice!

[Bill Shields]

That's a cool solution

[c7z06]

Electronics consist of a 12 volt dc gear motor driven by an 8 amp Radio Shack power supply and a variable speed control I picked up on Amazon.com. An on/off foot pedal frees up both hands. A variety of speed ranges are possible by switching out timing pulleys and belts.

[Bill Shields]

And it all sits on a wood (insulated) sheet?

[c7z06]

And it all sits on a wood (insulated) sheet?

I didn't necessarily plan it that way, but yes, I guess the machine is insulated from the support stand.

[c7z06]

First attempt with the positioner. Grounding setup worked great!