Help with Rotary Tig Welding Table!?!? Rotation mechanics?
Howdy everyone,
I need some help building this Rotary style table.
I'm building it significantly smaller as my table is only 10" x 20". I need to rotate like in the pictures and I also would like to rotate horizontally. I get all the framing, that I believe I can do. I understand the flange bearings at both ends and I can put one underneath the middle to allow the table to spin horizontally. What I don't get is how I'll lock it in place in both axis. I guess I need some sort of way to clamp it down like the way they clamp drill press tables in place? Also where do I get the part that has the crank handle that rotates the whole contraption? In the horizontal axis I can just rotate that part by hand. But I think you need the crank part on the other axis as it could so heavy it could be dangerous and flip over (especially on a larger table). So I need to figure out that crank mechanism or just buy one. Again my table is pretty small so I don't need it to be massive. Hopefully someone can walk me through this. Been laying in bed at night trying to imagine it but drawing a blank in the aforementioned realms of construction. Thanks, Av
Re: Help with Rotary Tig Welding Table!?!? Rotation mechanics?
I have modded HF winches and hoist and winches for turning stuff. One of their electric hoist has/had a hex shaft for direct drive and attachment to a hex socket. i have also used a worm drive winch. The worm drive might be too slow. Also their pipe threader might work? You turning less than one rev. DC power would work too.
Trailer jacks would be helpful for vertical movement.
You buy a lathe and mill to turn the hand wheel. $6k for the hand wheel. A ring roller would work too. But you need a plasma table to cut the solid locking plate. Still $6k-ish.
Mcmaster carr is a good source of parts in the photo.
Re: Help with Rotary Tig Welding Table!?!? Rotation mechanics?
Like tap welder, I, too, have used HF's worm drive winch on projects that benefit from the automatic in-place locking feature. It is slow, if turned by hand, but can be speeded up by using a drill driver. I used this winch on a keg lift I built for a local brewery a few years ago.
Re: Help with Rotary Tig Welding Table!?!? Rotation mechanics?
Interesting so does nobody make any off the shelf parts that don't need modification for this type of thing? Also wondering if anybody knows of a component that is a pipe clamp perpendicular to each other like in the above drill press but I need that assembly to secure to a 1" steel rod.
Re: Help with Rotary Tig Welding Table!?!? Rotation mechanics?
Since you are using such a small table, 10" by 20". I would skip right over any kind of gear driven rotation system. Make the table with the stub sticking out like the one with the yellow hand wheel.
Get a motorcycle or even bicycle chain sprocket and put it in place of the yellow hand wheel. Then use retractable pins or even just a nut and bolt to lock the sprocket in a position.
For the horizontal rotation, get a lazy susan. Here is one from amazon for $18. Use the same sprocket as on the side and drop a pin through the table to lock it in place or come from underneath and have the pin press up to the bottom of the table.
Last edited by psacustomcreations; 03-06-2021 at 05:05 AM.
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Re: Help with Rotary Tig Welding Table!?!? Rotation mechanics?
Originally Posted by Avie
Interesting so does nobody make any off the shelf parts that don't need modification for this type of thing? Also wondering if anybody knows of a component that is a pipe clamp perpendicular to each other like in the above drill press but I need that assembly to secure to a 1" steel rod.
1” pipe will nest inside 1 1/4” pipe. I used that for material stands. Just drill and tap the 1 1/4” pipe for 1/4” bolt (or weld nut) with T-handle (weld rod to top of bolt). Scale up or down to suit but principle is the same.
Since your table is small that likely would work to lock it down.
Burt
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Re: Help with Rotary Tig Welding Table!?!? Rotation mechanics?
What about just v groove rotation points. Round stock sitting in an angle then no reason to purchase bearings. As for a brake, just a c clamp on both ends when in position.
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Re: Help with Rotary Tig Welding Table!?!? Rotation mechanics?
My bad. TSC sells Hitch pins and reducing sleeves that could be adapted for pivots and made lockable. Also, an automobile hub assembly for a pivot. Use the lug holes as stops. A used / free one would do what you want. With good bad support you only need one ended pivotability. You will need a weld ground anchor on the table of part.
I recently used 1 inch bar/tube in 1 inch pipe. Pretty close fit.
Re: Help with Rotary Tig Welding Table!?!? Rotation mechanics?
Originally Posted by psacustomcreations
Since you are using such a small table, 10" by 20". I would skip right over any kind of gear driven rotation system. Make the table with the stub sticking out like the one with the yellow hand wheel.
Get a motorcycle or even bicycle chain sprocket and put it in place of the yellow hand wheel. Then use retractable pins or even just a nut and bolt to lock the sprocket in a position.
For the horizontal rotation, get a lazy susan. Here is one from amazon for $18. Use the same sprocket as on the side and drop a pin through the table to lock it in place or come from underneath and have the pin press up to the bottom of the table.
This is definitely a neat idea, simple and effective. The only thing I wonder is about trying to make sure my sprocket gear is perfectly aligned so that I get level, 45dgs, 90dgs, etc perfectly. I guess I would have to size my spring pin/bolt so that there is room for play so that I can adjust it for precision.
My goal is to build out the table like a full welding table (but smaller ). My original idea was just a simple 4 legged stand with cross bracing and some leveling pad as feet. But then I thought about spicing things up with being able to rotate them in two axis. Time frame is not immediate and budget is isn't too tight. My shop is in Central Oregon (Redmond). I have saws and welding capabilities but no machining. I have to outsource all that, so I try to keep that at a minimum.
The rotary tables are neat but I think needlessly precise and likely way to slow for moving the table around. The worm gear reducers from Princess Auto look really cool. That looks very much like what BuildPro is using on their tables. I'll definitely look into that.
Here is a picture of the table for reference. 10"x20"x.75" drilled and tapped holes. The table is for Medium-Small projects. The table underneath that is for my micro projects. They're both TIG only. Mostly robotics and electronics projects.
Re: Help with Rotary Tig Welding Table!?!? Rotation mechanics?
I think what I'm going to do is fabricate a steel structure. Then I'll mount two pillow block bearings like these at both ends of the columns of the structure.
I'll have a 1" (or bigger) solid rod that I'll mount my table too. Maybe welding a square tube section over the round rod is easiest under the table.
Then I think I'll use either the sprocket idea PSACustomCreations came up with or use the Princess Auto reduction Gear box that MeltedMetal linked to (Great find by the way! That really helped) in order to give me that rotisserie chicken action lol.
The attachment I'm thinking would look something like this...
My only concern is the connection area. Isn't there something off the shelf that can be used in the RED SHADED AREA below?
Re: Help with Rotary Tig Welding Table!?!? Rotation mechanics?
Snap ring on the end of the splined shaft. There a hole at end opposite of where the shaft goes thru that a pin goes thru a clevis that is hooked to a brake chamber. In your case it would be used to stop the slack adjuster from rotating. You would then use the bolt on the adjuster to rotate the shaft hooked to the table.
Re: Help with Rotary Tig Welding Table!?!? Rotation mechanics?
Here's a video showing similar use.
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Re: Help with Rotary Tig Welding Table!?!? Rotation mechanics?
These are available and ship free in the US but you would lose the fun of building it yourself. Don't know how robust they are. The truck parts that MJD showed look interesting for your own build.
Re: Help with Rotary Tig Welding Table!?!? Rotation mechanics?
Originally Posted by Avie
I think what I'm going to do is fabricate a steel structure. Then I'll mount two pillow block bearings like these at both ends of the columns of the structure.
I'll have a 1" (or bigger) solid rod that I'll mount my table too. Maybe welding a square tube section over the round rod is easiest under the table.
Then I think I'll use either the sprocket idea PSACustomCreations came up with or use the Princess Auto reduction Gear box that MeltedMetal linked to (Great find by the way! That really helped) in order to give me that rotisserie chicken action lol.
The attachment I'm thinking would look something like this...
My only concern is the connection area. Isn't there something off the shelf that can be used in the RED SHADED AREA below?
Re: Help with Rotary Tig Welding Table!?!? Rotation mechanics?
Those gearboxes are cheap to find on the Chinese sites like Aliexpress.
Search for NMRV063 gearbox
The great advantage is that they offer a great reduction,so a small pin can easily handle the weight of a large table.
If you get one with a 10 to 1 reduction only 2.5 turns of the small handwheel rotate your table 90 degrees, while at the same time a pin or a stop that needs to hold the table in a certain position only has to hold a quarter of the weight of the table and anything on it.
The larger wheel would not be my option, as is takes up very much space, and as there is no gearing the construction that holds the table has to hold the entire weight.
Re: Help with Rotary Tig Welding Table!?!? Rotation mechanics?
Originally Posted by Dutch Welder
Those gearboxes are cheap to find on the Chinese sites like Aliexpress.
Search for NMRV063 gearbox
The great advantage is that they offer a great reduction,so a small pin can easily handle the weight of a large table.
If you get one with a 10 to 1 reduction only 2.5 turns of the small handwheel rotate your table 90 degrees, while at the same time a pin or a stop that needs to hold the table in a certain position only has to hold a quarter of the weight of the table and anything on it.
The larger wheel would not be my option, as is takes up very much space, and as there is no gearing the construction that holds the table has to hold the entire weight.
I agree, the wheel option I dismissed rather quickly. You have to manipulate the whole weight of the table and parts by hand. Strong hand tools' table is a 40:1 gearbox so I'll probably go with that. I thought about 60:1 for more precision but i can't think of the reason why you would need so much precision in the orientation of the table. It's just for welding, it's not for machining, so the orientation of the table is really just for the ease and comfort of the operator.
I've got the pillow blocks, the shaft (which I found from the scrap yard which is a gorgeous chromemoly hydraulic piston 2" dia), and now i just need the gear box. I'm also toying with the idea of later putting on a stepper motor and digital read out though that is overkill. For now i'll just put a crank handle lol The hard part is always knowing when is enough haha. I started off with the idea of just a normal 4 legged stand and that quickly evolved into something far more complex.