Walking Beam Conveyor

[Brian Rupnow]

Pieces of 3/8" dia, cold rolled x 3" long.

[Brian Rupnow]

Here you see the bar which was machined to 5/16" thick, drilled and bandsawed into 4 separate pieces. I don't need that 5/8" hole in the center for any purpose on the walking beam, but I needed to drill and ream it so I could mount each plate on a shouldered arbor, to finish turn the outer diameter and to turn the "step" which allows the cam to fit nicely into the hole in the side of the walking beam. The 1/16" flange keeps the cams and the walking beam assembly in place after everything is put together. The 3/8" reamed holes which are offset from the center actually are for the axle. That offset is what gives the walking beam its orbital travel. In the second picture, two of the cams are in place in the side of the walking beam, and two are laying on the table with the shouldered arbor.

[Brian Rupnow]

Things are changing and evolving as this build progresses. I have come to the conclusion that the miter gears I purchased from the hobby shop simply aren't going to have what it takes for this operation. I had to go across town this morning to Princess Auto to buy a piece of 5/8" cold rolled round stock, and while I was there I checked out their inventory of chains and sprockets.  They had a pair of "weld on hub" 12 tooth sprockets for #35 pitch chain, which look to be just about perfect for the walking beam model, scale-wise. This will save me some headaches, and still guarantee that the head and tail-shafts turn at the same rpm. I will update the model this afternoon. I woke up to what is probably bad news. My lathe is DEAD!!! I checked the fuse, and checked the prox. switch which prevents the lathe from running if the gear cover on the end is removed. Nothing wrong there. I checked the electrical wall outlet, and I have power there. And there simply isn't much else I can check. I see a trip to BusyBee in Toronto in my immediate future. The trip doesn't bother me, it's less than an hour away. The problem comes in getting that big bastard of a lathe out of my shop, thru my office, into the garage and into my pickup truck. I paid some local machinery movers the outrageous sum of $400 for 30 minutes of work to put it in there from my truck when I bought it. This time it will be me and a helper that moves it.

[Brian Rupnow]

Here we are with a roller chain drive. It doesn't look quite as funky as it did with the miter gears, but it has a better chance of operating successfully.

[Brian Rupnow]

Aha!!!---Maybe the baby Jesus loves me afterall!! Closer inspection shows that the black plastic 15 amp fuse holder for the little glass tube style fuse right beside the on/off switch is broken. If I wiggle it a bit with my finger, the lathe runs fine. Of course the stupid thing is broken in a manner that can't be crazy-glued, but at least it is a repair that I can make here without having to move the lathe. I will contact BusyBee tomorrow and get a new fuse holder sent up to me.

[Roger B]

Glad it was nothing more complicated   

[Brian Rupnow]

I got up this morning and made a quick dash to BusyBee headquarters, an hour south (50 miles) from my place, where they assured me they would have the part I required waiting for me. They did have a part waiting for me, but certainly not the part for my lathe. (There has to be some kind of natural law that governs this kind of thing.) Fortunately, I had the broken part with me, and after I dragged the salesman out onto the showroom floor and showed him the same lathe as mine with the same part as my broken one, he rooted around and found the RIGHT part that matched my lathe.--(That was the head of their technical sales division!!) No charge of course, as my lathe is still under warrantee. Then an hour back to Barrie, 5 minutes with a soldering gun, and Voila!!--I'm back in business. Lathe is running again just like it should.

[crueby]

Its always the 50 cent bit of plastic that shuts down a ton of heavy metal machinery. Glad its going again without moving the whole beast!

[Brian Rupnow]

In this shot you get to see the ugly side of the walking beam. Ordinarily, I NEVER recommend welding on machined parts. However, as in all things, there are exceptions to the rule. When assembled, this side with the welds will be totally hidden. There is nothing particularly high precision about this, and welding the axles and spacers to the discs saves me a ton of machining work. The flanges on the outside of the wheels and the welded spacer on the inside keeps the walking beam centered.  I can plainly see, based on tests that I have made this afternoon, that this thing is going to run at a low speed, or it will flail itself right to death. That's okay though----walking beams are supposed to run at a slow pace. If they ran fast, I suppose they might be called "running beams"----

[b.lindsey]

Sounds like you had a bit of a roller coaster day there Brian, but its good that everything worked out for the best in the end. Moving that beast would NOT have been fun, even with a few helpers. I have always found that riggers are worth what they charge but I was spending other people's money at the time

Bill

[Brian Rupnow]

I have a very interesting mock-up of the walking beam, but I'm having a problem with Photobucket right now. As soon as the site will open up for me, I will post a picture. Things are getting really exciting!!!!

[Brian Rupnow]

Well, give or take a bushing or two, I have almost reached the "Piggy point" of this build. the "Piggy point" of any build occurs after all of the parts are made, but you have to get everything freed up and working in concert with every other part. sometimes that can get, well,---Piggy!!!

[Brian Rupnow]

I actually test drove this thing tonight. I haven't put the chain drive on yet, but used two pair of vice grips to turn the shafts in tandem. Ha!! I knew it was going to work. I just had to see it to believe it. The only fly in the ointment right now is that my lumpy welds on the spacer between the flanged discs is hitting the underside of the center portion, preventing a full rotation. I thought that might happen, but I had to try it and see. If I have time tomorrow, I will get  my pneumatic grinder with a 3" cut-off wheel fired up and clean a lot of the weld off. I have no idea at the moment whether this thing is going to run slow enough with the current gear reduction set up or not. I have room for another set of gears on that drive end if I have to.

[Gas_mantle]

Looks good Brian 

Just what every chain smoker needs - a device to keep them supplied with cigarettes 

Any chance of a video once it's up and running ?

[Brian Rupnow]

Yes, there is always a video.---Brian