Brilliant idea for a welding table!

[fredybender]

Just saw that on youtube: This idea is just plain brilliant!
Making one for myself in the very near future!

 

[Rogue1987]

Wow. That is a fantastic idea. I think I will be copying that quite soon.

 

[rlitman]

WOW that is brilliant. I would just think that three legs would be better than 4 in this case.

 

[Strouty]

I just told my GF the one of the bowling balls from her garden art is going to disappear. That is awesome, thanks for sharing. Or maybe I should be upset you shared, now I have another thing to build!

 

[Johnny chaos]

awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have everything to make one.

 

[Zeke]

Clever. If its's brilliant, it's brilliant in a crude way. I hope he has a good supply of BB's.

 

[upndown]

Cool idea! I watched a bunch of his other videos..mans got skills..built his own plane,sawmill..etc. unfortunately all in french(canadian) Well worth a look tho!! Thanks for posting..

 

[Shootingdad2]

That is cool! I know what is going to happen to my ol bowling ball.

 

[koditten]

I'm very impressed. I like it....Alot

KO

 

[ringneck]

Pure Genious!!

 

[Richard D]

I guess he just machined out the "hat" part of the rotors? Looks like he put a foot pedal on the bottle jack release as well as the lift handle.

 

[ADSR]

That's awesome!

I going to copy it!

 

[Oldbear]

Anyone have an extra bowling ball?

 

[Richard D]

So has anyone called the bowling alley to price used balls? Heh heh "balls".

 

[juiced10]

Walk into any bowling alley and they have racks for you to choose from. I have never had a problem taking one home. They are put there by others when they don't want them anymore. This is brilliant and will copy.

 

[kald]

Very clever!

 

[Steevo]

I think the design of the table is very clever, and a good re-purposing of materials.
I don't see the bowling ball lasting very long, but since you can easily swap it out for another, I guess it doesn't really matter.

Every rummage sale, garage sale and flea market has bowling balls.
Some even show up in free ads on C/L.

 

[Jose G]

you could grind a bevel (round of) on the inside of the disc brake to try to extend the bowling ball life a bit.

 

[ybnormal70]

A good place to get used bowling balls is Goodwill. Everytime I have been in one they have several bowling balls. Usually only a couple of $$$.

L8r,

Kevin

 

[fredybender]

I am still in very deep admiration for this man's work: look at some of his other video's ; He actually made a portable sawmill, with a pocket bike and a ladder !!!

Anyways, it might not be "brilliant" but he's a clever one !!!

For good manner, I would suggest leaving him a good comment on his youtube ;
he had 275 views,when I saw his welding table...

Cheers!
Fred

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

A rotary ball mount table jig. Okay, that's pretty damned clever. I think I'm even more impressed with the foot mount operation of that bottle jack!

 

[Richard D]

Reminds me of a jeweler's vise.

 

[K2Orion]

I just watched a bunch of his videos. That is a clever guy.
Makes me wish I took French instead of Spanish in High School.

 

[willymakeit]

Added to my favorites. I may never get anything done in the shop, but I will have some neat gadgets.

 

[SteveL]

Will have the two rotors soon and the bowling ball is a piece of cake. Damn it! I don't have a welder! Just one more reason I need one.

Brilliant idea!

 

[Dick in Wisconsin]

Walk into any bowling alley and they have racks for you to choose from. I have never had a problem taking one home. They are put there by others when they don't want them anymore. This is brilliant and will copy.

I've been going to bowling alleys for close to 50 years. I didn't realize that those bowling balls in the racks were "ours" for the taking. I'd always used one, and then put it back!

 

[ilovevocs]

Very cool, thanks for posting.

 

[madjack]

Just ask at the desk. Bowling balls do wear out, and the loaner balls are no exception. They usually give them away for land scaping projects.

 

[Big-Foot]

Fabulous idea...

A key ingredient to a good welding job is the weldor's comfort.
If you have good access to the work and can comfortably lead or follow weld, you will have a lot better weldments.

 

[KPSquared]

Why would the bowling ball wear out? You're not gonna constantly move it like that guy. Unless it was in a full time dedicated fab shop, you'd get years out of it before that ball wore out.

 

[Steevo]

I found a source for a more robust sphere for this clamping setup.
I knew I had seen steel sphere's somewhere, but it took me a while to dig through all my saved links and find it.

http://www.kingmetals.com/Catalog/CatalogListing.aspx?CatalogId=C39&CatalogDetailId=225&ViewAll=true

And an even cheaper source:
http://www.pattonscorp.com/catalog/...Iron-Hollow-Steel-Balls/c49_230_86/index.html

 

[rlitman]

I found a source for a more robust sphere for this clamping setup.
I knew I had seen steel sphere's somewhere, but it took me a while to dig through all my saved links and find it.

Those steel spheres are hollow. I would expect them to dent and deform if clamped like this.
Also, the urethane in a bowling ball will make for a tighter grip when clamped in metal rings.

 

[WhoWhatNow]

Those steel spheres are hollow. I would expect them to dent and deform if clamped like this.
Also, the urethane in a bowling ball will make for a tighter grip when clamped in metal rings.

I wonder if you could fill them with epoxy to give them more rigidity.

Do you worry about the urethane and welding slag? Is urethane flammable?

 

[king nero]

It wouldn't need a jack in the bottom: four strong springs that "clamp" both rotors together would be good enough, and a large lever to "unclamp" the bottom rotor.

It's not like you're going to put huge pieces that extend multiple ft towards one side therein...

 

[ert01]

Or a coil spring from a truck under the ball instead of 4 smaller springs between the rotors

 

[king nero]

^^^even better.
I was thinking of 4 smaller springs as that's what I have lying around, sourcing a coil spring wouldn't take too long..

 

[PCO6]

^^^ I just scrapped my kids' old trampoline. I saved about 10 springs that would likely work. I'll give them a try when I get back from the bowling alley.

 

[1953mercury]

Just thinking you could configure 4-6 old tapered roller bearings (wheel bearings,etc.) on the the lower disc to make it a lot easier to rotate and cut down on wear on the ball. I think I would cover the base to keep all the **** out. You could also just use a mechanical screw with a hand wheel on a pinon setup, half turn from loose to tight to lock the table, . Mike

 

[Guster]

I have a simpler table top setup like this. I cut a flat on the bowling ball using my bandsaw and bolted a 4" benchvice to the flat on the ball. That way I can position the vice any way I like for tricky TIG welds. The bowling ball easily counter balances the weight of the vice making for a stable jig.

My ball clamping mechanism consists of two 10mm steel rings slightly smaller than the circumferance of the ball. The bottom ring sits on standoffs welded to a heavy steel plate base. The rings don't require much clamping as friction plays a large role. I only needed two bolts pre-tensioned by springs so that loosening one bolt by one or two turns seperates the rings slightly.

Still want to modify it so it can be stuck in a receiver tube on the side of the workbench so I can work off the side for awkward bits.

 

[Richard D]

Need to see pictures!