Poor man's power feed...

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whateg0
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Poor man's power feed...

Post by whateg0 »

So, I am working on the design for a power feed using either a wiper motor or a power window motor. I suspect that the wiper motor, designed for continuous duty, is a better idea. But I digress.

In the interim, I have several projects which require the use of the milling machine to true up the edges. My arm got tired after doing the first piece. In comes the cordless drill and some creativity. Nothing fancy, but it sure did work well. And my arm is eternally grateful.

Image

Dave
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Bolster
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Re: Poor man's power feed...

Post by Bolster »

Clever!

I've been thinking of ways to accomplish this; the first was to drill two opposing holes in the wheel and have some sort of T-shaped, drill-chucked tool enter those holes, but this method requires no mods to the wheels at all...
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mrlucmorin
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Re: Poor man's power feed...

Post by mrlucmorin »

Good idea.

as an improvement, I'd try to weld a bolt to the end of the axis shaft so I could just put a socket on the drill instead of tightening the chuck on it. This way I could quickly go from one axis to the other.

I'll definitely try to implement this.

Cheers
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scooterwrench
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Re: Poor man's power feed...

Post by scooterwrench »

One thing I had thought about was a rotisserie motor used on BBQ's The downfall would be no speed control. I think you're on the right track with the wiper motor, you'll have several set speeds and if used with a variable resistor you can vary those. Most are permant magnet type so reversing is just a matter of switching the leads.There is usually a drop in rpm when you reverse them as they're designed to make the best power in the direction they normally run in.
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steamin10
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Re: Poor man's power feed...

Post by steamin10 »

I have done some wire welding of roundy things on a lathe driven by a drill to get the speed way down.

I had tried to adapt a $2 elcetric can opener to drive the slide on my mill drill, but no reverse, or speed control. I bought a Central Machine for Horror Fright, and have no complaints. It is on my Rockwell, that had a failed drive on it. I had to cut a coupla bushings to make it work, but no big deal.
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JackF
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Re: Poor man's power feed...

Post by JackF »

Dave,

What did you attach the ground to to keep it from winding around the part? Oh wait, did you weld with O/A? :shock: If so, disregard that first sentence. :lol:

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Mid Day Machining
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Re: Poor man's power feed...

Post by Mid Day Machining »

I always thought the best poor mans power feed was on the end of my roght arm.
You can buy good parts, or you can buy cheap parts, but you can't buy good cheap parts.
stevec
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Re: Poor man's power feed...

Post by stevec »

Here’s a coupla pics of my homemade mill drill power feed.
powerfeed 002.jpg
The red knobbed handle rotates about 45° right or left of neutral engaging a dog clutch (like lovejoy coupling without the spider) and hits the right or left directional switches of the gearmotor. The neutral position allows using the hand wheel at the other end of the table on my mill drill.
The gray knob on the bottom controls the speed via a KBC electronic speed controller.
The black button on top overrides the gray knob pot. To an overspeed wiring for rapid traverse.
The toggle on the left is “ON-OFF” and the red lens on the right is a pilot light.
powerfeed 003.jpg
The gearmotor came off a label machine at work.

I apologize for not being able to post the pics. If I can figure it out I can edit them in. In the mean time anyone interested could PM me and I'll e-mail you the pics and others, if you're interested

Just proof read and boy! does this suck without the pics :oops:

Lets see if it works.
Last edited by stevec on Wed Dec 22, 2010 8:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
EdK
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Re: Poor man's power feed...

Post by EdK »

stevec wrote:I apologize for not being able to post the pics. If I can figure it out I can edit them in
Steve,

When you go to reply to a posting scroll down below the area where you type in your message and you will see that attached image. You just need to browse to the picture file you want to upload and then click on the "Add the file" button. It's as simple as that. Hope this helps. :wink:
Attachments
add_pic.jpg
Vectrax 14x40 lathe, Enco RF-45 clone mill, MillerMatic 180 MIG.
whateg0
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Re: Poor man's power feed...

Post by whateg0 »

mrlucmorin wrote:Good idea.

as an improvement, I'd try to weld a bolt to the end of the axis shaft so I could just put a socket on the drill instead of tightening the chuck on it. This way I could quickly go from one axis to the other.

I'll definitely try to implement this.

Cheers

Actually, the whole thing just slides off of the handle. That way I can use it manually without having to attach anything. I'll try to get another pic tonight with it not on the handle.

Dave
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Davo J
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Re: Poor man's power feed...

Post by Davo J »

Now thats thinking outside the box, well done. If it does the job that is all that matters.

Dave
whateg0
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Re: Poor man's power feed...

Post by whateg0 »

Here's a pic of the whole thing. Again, not much to it. Just a couple of pegs to keep the piece from just spinning on the spinner.

Image

Dave
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