c7z06
Well-known member
I combined an old Troyke rotary table with some old drill press parts to make a variable speed welding positioner,
DIY Rotary Welding Positioner
- Thread starter c7z06
- Start date
Walkers
Well-known member
Nice work!
Firebrick43
Well-known member
Are you putting the current thru the drive mechanism of the rotary table?
RoninB4
Well-known member
-I greatly appreciate the result but wish you'd used a different ROTAB. A Troyke is/was considered one of the finest makers of rotary turntables. You did a nice job but as a former toolmaker the words Troyke and welding just makes me cringe a little.
dr_clyde
Well-known member
I get where you're coming from, but the reality is rotary tables just aren't used nearly as much as they used to be.
As someone who runs a machine shop I can't think of a job where I'd rather set up a rotary table on the manual mill vs just running the job in a CNC.
What this means is there is a large surplus of old rotary tables sitting around and getting scrapped. And I've scrapped a few. I have a couple sitting on the shelf for "just in case" but its been years since I've even thought about setting one up.
I do get what you're saying. I do. But at least this way the rotary will get some use.
RoninB4
Well-known member
- I don't have CNC anything in my basement tool room, all manual. Jig borers aren't used as much as they used to be but I have a Mitsui Seiki 4B down there. Do I use any of my Rotabs? Rarely. Stuck in the last century? Perhaps so.
I've no objection to re-purposing but it's a friggin Troyke FFS. It only hurts a little bit....
dr_clyde
Well-known member
Once again, I get it. I have old obsolete tools that are really well made and a pleasure to use but hopelessly useless or inefficient in for profit shop. In your view, this is ruining the tool. Perhaps breaking some kind of code that this tool was only to be used in a fashion the manufacturer intended. As a maker of things I understand the apparent violation of the code of conduct that this appears to be.- I don't have CNC anything in my basement tool room, all manual. Jig borers aren't used as much as they used to be but I have a Mitsui Seiki 4B down there. Do I use any of my Rotabs? Rarely. Stuck in the last century? Perhaps so.
I've no objection to re-purposing but it's a friggin Troyke FFS. It only hurts a little bit....
Machinists and toolmakers view their tools as extensions of themselves, their abilities to make precise parts is directly related to the quality and precision of the tools they use. The machines are treated with a level of respect and care that is representative of the potential they hold. Whereas welders and mechanics usually see tools as the means to an end. I need to weld a circle, this thing makes parts go in a circle, ipso facto I can weld circles with this rotary table.
Lots of welders over the years have been viewed by toolmakers as crude hacks, nothing more than jack pine savages making sparks and hot slag. Nothing like the refined precision of the toolmaker. While working with both I've noticed that welders tend to be very creative people, solving problems and bringing unique or unconventional approaches to the trades. Toolmakers and machinists tend to be very particular fussbudgets, having an almost neurotic sense about them of right and wrong. They're cantankerous and ornery about the weirdest things. And they kinda have to be. You can't hold tenths on stuff without a very focused attention to detail and a personality that is inclined to notice or care about the tiniest little details. The most precise tool a welder usually uses is a dial caliper, and that's asking too much of some of these guys. Seems like some days I can't get them to look at the big numbers on the tape measure, forget about the little lines between them.
But all the same, if the OP will get more use out of it being a welding positioner than a rotary table, then more power to them. At the end of the day, this rotary table was either going to sit un-used for years, maybe to end up as scrap or now it has a new life as a positioner. OP probably didn't have a surplus of other positioners laying around. At least this way it isn't wasted or turned into Chinese car bumpers.
It's kinda like when the movies crashes an antique car for a stunt. Some see it as a waste, mindless destruction of some priceless artifact. The flip side to that coin is millions of people are enjoying the movie, bringing entertainment and value to the viewer that the original car could never do if it was just left as a car. A $50,000 car was sacrificed to make millions of dollars at the box office.
It's just stuff. If the guy had a bunch of kids running in circles on a treadmill to power it maybe I'd feel a little more broken up lol.
It is undeniably true that my Troyke rotary table is being used for a much more mundane purpose than that for which it was intended. I do have a larger and much newer Yuasa horizontal/vertical rotary table which I have yet to use.
I tried to sell the 9" Troyke multiple times on eBay, and the best offer I got was $125.00. Taking that into consideration, it was a fairly economical contribution to my positioner project. I understand the aura surrounding precision machinery, and it is a shame to see it put out to pasture. It brings to mind all the glorious steam locomotives scrapped in the fifties and sixties.
However, even if I were to never use the welding positioner, I've gotten more than $125.00 worth of enjoyment out of building it. Plus, it is after all still a Troyke rotary table. I didn't cannibalize it in any way.
I sold the little Kurt vise in the photo below on eBay for $250 as an example of the lack of demand for rotary tables.
I came up with a grounding setup where a spring loaded copper rod rides against the side of the rotary table. The rod bracket is insulated from the rest of the machine with nylon bolts and flat washers. Ground cable gets clamped to the vertical part of the rod holder bracket.
I tried to sell the 9" Troyke multiple times on eBay, and the best offer I got was $125.00. Taking that into consideration, it was a fairly economical contribution to my positioner project. I understand the aura surrounding precision machinery, and it is a shame to see it put out to pasture. It brings to mind all the glorious steam locomotives scrapped in the fifties and sixties.
However, even if I were to never use the welding positioner, I've gotten more than $125.00 worth of enjoyment out of building it. Plus, it is after all still a Troyke rotary table. I didn't cannibalize it in any way.
I sold the little Kurt vise in the photo below on eBay for $250 as an example of the lack of demand for rotary tables.
I came up with a grounding setup where a spring loaded copper rod rides against the side of the rotary table. The rod bracket is insulated from the rest of the machine with nylon bolts and flat washers. Ground cable gets clamped to the vertical part of the rod holder bracket.
RoninB4
Well-known member
To the OP and Dr. Clyde- My last post was poking a bit of fun at myself and all other Luddite-Wannbees. I do fully understand re-purposing an otherwise useless paperweight. I also agree that most ROTABS are next to useless, I haven't dragged any of mine out in years either. I applaud finding a practical use and nod at the enjoyment the OP must have felt in creating a useful fixture from this.
The small part of me that cringes is when something exceptional is facing some degree of destruction. Some things are limited in existing numbers and every one of them that gets altered/destroyed reduces that available quantity regardless of the purpose. I've got a 100 year old vise that is still in good condition (now) and several art pieces that are centuries old because someone took care of them. A Troyke ROTAB isn't an art piece but it's not too far a stretch to consider it within that realm for a toolmaker.
I also do NOT consider welders to be hacks. A nicely welded joint by any fusing process draws an admiring inspection from me, especially when it's better than my own. Contracting at Miller Industries (tow truck people) as a tooling engineer I chose to confer with the welders on every fixture design I created for several reasons. Welders earned my respect a long time ago.
To the OP- I saw your sale efforts on PM and know you tried to find a good home for it. I wouldn't let it go for a buck-and-a-quarter either.
To Dr. Clyde- My "cringe" is nothing more than the small sadness of watching the past being left in the dust of the future, right where it belongs. I really was poking fun at myself and my comments were with my tongue firmly planted in cheek.
I so still consider this blasphemy and both of you heathens shall be dealt with by the high council at the next convocation. Harumph.
The small part of me that cringes is when something exceptional is facing some degree of destruction. Some things are limited in existing numbers and every one of them that gets altered/destroyed reduces that available quantity regardless of the purpose. I've got a 100 year old vise that is still in good condition (now) and several art pieces that are centuries old because someone took care of them. A Troyke ROTAB isn't an art piece but it's not too far a stretch to consider it within that realm for a toolmaker.
I also do NOT consider welders to be hacks. A nicely welded joint by any fusing process draws an admiring inspection from me, especially when it's better than my own. Contracting at Miller Industries (tow truck people) as a tooling engineer I chose to confer with the welders on every fixture design I created for several reasons. Welders earned my respect a long time ago.
To the OP- I saw your sale efforts on PM and know you tried to find a good home for it. I wouldn't let it go for a buck-and-a-quarter either.
To Dr. Clyde- My "cringe" is nothing more than the small sadness of watching the past being left in the dust of the future, right where it belongs. I really was poking fun at myself and my comments were with my tongue firmly planted in cheek.
I so still consider this blasphemy and both of you heathens shall be dealt with by the high council at the next convocation. Harumph.
