This will be a picture heavy post since its way easier to see than explain. And probably faster. Up shot is I now have a lathe on wheels. So I can move it under the block and chain lift point and take it on/off as/if needed. Obviously this is just one design which works with my stand. But hopefully of interest to some.
To get the ball rolling here are some initial design and fabrication work:
So here is what we have the draft design:
[youtube1]https://youtu.be/Zmjuntyp2ZQ[/youtube1]
The resulting steel work in play. This is 80x80x6mm angle iron, really solid stuff. This was about drilling holes and welding the other side of the hing on with a mix of TIG and stick welding. The TIG was all the outside fillets. The stick work was on the tight inside fillets where there wasn't enough room to get my #26 torch into.
More work: Cutting slots in the uprights so they can be fitted for welding. Plan being to do some cleaning and getting in there with the TIG on the easy to reach parts. Then blitzing the hard to reach seams with 3.2mm 6013 stingers.
I did a little bit more on the lathe wheel legs and miss read my plans. This resulted in the holes being in the wrong spot on one of the legs. I did it correctly on the second leg. So how to fix things. Well I have TIG torch and I have seen guys built up holes with gas or TIG setups before. So why not give it a go?
First off we plug the holes with mild steel filler.
Then after cleaning things up and grinding back to a flat finish started drilling in the CORRECT spot.
And the finished product. Old holes all filled in and new holes filled. I could have achieved a similar approach with an oxy/gas rig but TIG is what I have and wth the foot peddle its quite easy to control the heat going into the metal. The general approach was to close over the hole on one side then flip over, heat up the edges and fill in until its just a case of pouring metal into the centre of the hole.
I got some progress after what felt like a marathon drilling effort and got the first of the the hinged wheel legs installed. This one is the tailstock end assembly. Things looking promising.
Okay this isn't a hinged leg. But it is a sample of the TIG welding I did this morning when putting the final leg together. I think I might have finally clicked with this TIG business. All the welds were similarly clean and consistent.
So heading into the home straight and to start things off here is a close up of the construction of one frame. Not complex, not perfect but functional enough to do what I need.
Now for all the gratuitous photos ...
And now we tension the pull cable and lift this bad boy up.
And a moving lathe. All it needs now is speed strips.
Cheers everyone,
James.