Bowling ball welding table

[willy3486]

I have a question on the bowling ball welding tables I have seen made. These are the ones that has two rotors holding a bowling ball and they grip it when a jack is raised. I am wondering on this instead of a hydraulic jack could one of the newer scissor type jacks that you wind up on newer cars be used? Would it grip it enough? Is there a reason not to use a wind up jack? I am the gathering up stage of making one and hope to weld it up in a few weeks.

 

[Old Man Roger]

They lift a truck so they’re gonna be pretty strong. Get a grippy ball.

 

[LXCam]

I saw the title, read the post and still was like WTF? You talk’n bout Willis

So I looked. Holly heck, that’s badass.

 

[drmarkr]

I have a question on the bowling ball welding tables I have seen made. These are the ones that has two rotors holding a bowling ball and they grip it when a jack is raised. I am wondering on this instead of a hydraulic jack could one of the newer scissor type jacks that you wind up on newer cars be used? Would it grip it enough? Is there a reason not to use a wind up jack? I am the gathering up stage of making one and hope to weld it up in a few weeks.

Googled it. The hydraulic model is fooking badazz. How would you work the scissor with your foot though?!?? I see bottle jacks as cheap as $20 on Amazon....

 

[Murby]

I've been welding for 40 years and the bowling ball welding table seems kind of pointless.. at least to me..

Something far more useful would be a motorized rotator.. something that rotates a pipe or an object while your grinding or welding so you can go full circle without stopping.

 

[willy3486]

For those who are not familiar here is one. I plan to do a different type top.

bowling ball table

The hydraulic model if fooking badazz. How would you work the scissor with your foot though?!??

Instead of using my foot I was wondering if I could just turn the handle with my hand. One issue might be that I would have to bend down more than I want. I have some of these. But after thinking about it I may go ahead and use a hydraulic jack.

 

[KwikFab]

Interesting.

I'll never see the need for one, nor will I ever want one, but interesting nonetheless.

 

[willy3486]

I've been welding for 40 years and the bowling ball welding table seems kind of pointless.. at least to me..

Something far more useful would be a motorized rotator.. something that rotates a pipe or an object while your grinding or welding so you can go full circle without stopping.

I plan on using it for other things than just welding. I will make a post for it when I make it showing how I plan to do it.

 

[willy3486]

Interesting.

I'll never see the need for one, nor will I ever want one, but interesting nonetheless.

One reason I want to make it is to see if I can. I have other ideas for a top instead of a flat piece to weld on.

 

[drmarkr]

One reason I want to make it is to see if I can. I have other ideas for a top instead of a flat piece to weld on.

post pics when you do...

 

[LXCam]

Ya know if someone was into the art’se fart’se stuff I could see this being super handy.

 

[DaveAndStuff]

I've been welding for 40 years and the bowling ball welding table seems kind of pointless.. at least to me..

Something far more useful would be a motorized rotator.. something that rotates a pipe or an object while your grinding or welding so you can go full circle without stopping.

We had a few rotators to weld flanges on rounds and they were pretty handy once you got them dialed in, and rotate them 90 degrees. They have really gotten cheap too.

I think the bowling ball thing would be more useful if it tipped 90 deg,, but it is still pretty small.

 

[iagsxr]

Didn't Royce build one here that was badass?

 

[jblnut]

If I have to sit and weld I’ll end up with splatter in places I don’t want it.

Neat idea though.

 

[whateg01]

I've been welding for 40 years and the bowling ball welding table seems kind of pointless.. at least to me..

Something far more useful would be a motorized rotator.. something that rotates a pipe or an object while your grinding or welding so you can go full circle without stopping.

 

[Old tool guy]

I bet the bowling ball would get pretty badly scarred in 6 months.

 

[Beerhippie]

I think the bowling ball thing would be more useful if it tipped 90 deg,, but it is still pretty small.

You'd have to scale this up a bit





but it will go to 90 degrees.

I suspect the original maker of the BB table got the idea from a photographic tripod ball head. The one in the video locks like a standard Arca-Swiss.

 

[Beerhippie]

I bet the bowling ball would get pretty badly scarred in 6 months.

A few minutes with a flap disk and angle grinder on those disks and some UHMW tape would fix that problem.

 

[whateg01]

Similar to the dog meat vise a few years ago. Neat concept. Would be useful for a bunch of stuff. Would collect dust most of the time.

 

[Beerhippie]

Similar to the dog meat vise a few years ago. Neat concept. Would be useful for a bunch of stuff. Would collect dust most of the time.

I can see that being very useful as a mount for a bench vise. Kind of a giant PowrArm.

 

[DaveAndStuff]

A few minutes with a flap disk and angle grinder on those disks and some UHMW tape would fix that problem.

Spatter burns maybe

 

[DaveAndStuff]

You'd have to scale this up a bit





but it will go to 90 degrees.

I suspect the original maker of the BB table got the idea from a photographic ball head. The one in the video locks like a standard Arca-Swiss.

The last shop worked we had four powered rotator that rotated 90 degrees that would take a 48" round, and a vertical rotator that would take at least a 12 foot.

 

[whateg01]

A few minutes with a flap disk and angle grinder on those disks and some UHMW tape would fix that problem.

Too smooth and the force required to grip it well might go up a bit. But it should also make movement more consistent.

 

[whateg01]

I think the bowling ball thing would be more useful if it tipped 90 deg,, but it is still pretty small.

You'd probably have to have a custom ring cut out, but if the upper has an ID big enough (grips past the +/- 45 Mark but above the equator) it could be easily made to go past 90.

You'd have to scale this up a bit



but it will go to 90 degrees.

That requires somebody to make a spherical bushing to go around the middle of the ball. That's what makes op so attractive is that most people can find an old brake rotor or 2 laying around.

 

[willy3486]

I can see that being very useful as a mount for a bench vise. Kind of a giant PowrArm.

Cha ching! This is what I am looking at doing. Install a vice so I can use it as a vice, make a metal to use as a welding table and also be able to use my tabletop B&D workmate on it. Keep in mind I do little as far as cars but I do woodworking, electronics and some welding. I want it versatile as it can be.