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Thread: DIY TIG Pedal
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8th May 2020, 09:56 PM #16
I too subscribe to the 'screw it, just do it' school of making things.
I'd like to have everything drawn up in a 3D CAD program, but I usually swear at the computer too much and retreat to the shed to make 'real progress'.
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8th May 2020, 09:58 PM #17Golden Member
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8th May 2020, 10:17 PM #18
AMEN.
That's why wood is the devil's material.
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9th May 2020, 06:58 PM #19Golden Member
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DIY TIG Pedal
Chunk done today. Looks rough but I’m sure it will scrub up beautifully with a lick of paint. First up was sorting the mechanism to adjust the potentiometer. I had a section of 40x40mm tube and set about drilling holes on each side. One to accept the potentiometer and the other to have a Teflon bearing.
Chucked up some Teflon in the lathe and set about turning a bearing for the other side. Slight press fit:
All done. Took no time:
Fitted:
Next up was to turn a pulley out of some Aluminium. I measured the travel of the pedal (got it a little wrong in the end but we’ll see how that pans out) and translated that to a 270 degree circumference = 24mm diameter.
I drilled a couple of holes to create a loop of the string to stop it pulling through and also added a set screw to attach it to the pot shaft:
Bricklayers string to make it all work with 2 full loops:
The pulley also stops the Teflon bearing backing out. Bit tight to put it all together but it works.
Next up I set about making the pedal. I cut the 50mm tube up so it left only an L shaped piece of metal with some of the rounded corner left. In order to attach these to themselves I got some hot rolled, cut it to length and notched the ends so it would fit in to the tube:
With a solid 12mm rod as the pivot point and the 2 ends welded it was time for a test fit:
Seemed to be working so far
I deliberately made the pedal wide so it wouldn’t interfere with the base. So it wasn’t sloppy I made a couple of Teflon washers. So it not only was solid but it had a lower friction fit to make it a nice smooth action:
I annoyingly made the washers a little to thin but actually in hindsight I think it might be perfect as the sides with actually be wider once the Alu panels are on.
Once I got to this point I realised I needed another couple of crossbars on the pedal to allow for mount points for the potentiometer string and maybe a rear spring setup for the pedal return mechanism (I’m undecided on this at the moment). So I cut the rest of the hot rolled and notched them again:
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9th May 2020, 07:02 PM #20Golden Member
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DIY TIG Pedal
All welded up and I replaced the 12mm pivot rod with some bolts. I started to make my own but couldn’t be arsed to turn down 30mm bar to 12mm, so instead I’ll buy some shouldered button head bolts instead:
The throw in the pedal isn’t huge and I’m not sure if I’ve gone too short but I’ve been using the eBay pedal a lot and that one has way too long of a throw, so I think it might be ok. I put it under the foot and it certainly feels good, nice and solid too, but you’d expect that as it’s super heavy duty!
As my last step of the day I thought I’d try and see how it will look with the Alu panel on. It’s really going to finish it off I think as it transforms it from an industrial box to something that is starting to look like a TIG pedal:
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9th May 2020, 07:09 PM #21
Wow you really have gone balls deep in this project. 3 days in, and maybe another day left until it's complete by the looks. Go to woe.
Props.
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9th May 2020, 07:13 PM #22Golden Member
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DIY TIG Pedal
Gardening day tomorrow unfortunately so might not be finished for another week. But it’s pretty close.
I’ll have all the panels on next (going to rivet them on and have the bottom on with bolts), which will let me work out all the internals. A few fiddly bits like the shutoff switch and spring setup to do, but should be welding with it soon I reckon.
Then I’ll strip it down and paint the chassis in machine grey.
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9th May 2020, 07:50 PM #23
Hi Neevo,
Looks very good ! I've not gotten around to doing any welding yet.
As far as the return spring is concerned, and I do note that you have used nuts and bolts for the pivot. Why not use a length of rod like you did earlier and put a coil spring over the rod, anchor one end of the spring on the chassis and the other end on a pin in the rod. This way you will be able to set the peddle pressure as you want.
HTH.Best Regards:
Baron J.
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9th May 2020, 08:17 PM #24Golden Member
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Now that’s an interesting idea! I’d need a way to fix the pedal to the rod but that’s quite an elegant solution.
I could open up the pivot rod to 15mm as I have some of that on hand too I think. That would allow me to drill it in the centre and add an arm off the back that would provide a bit more leverage and I could then run a wire down, around a wheel and run a spring to the front of the chassis.
Thanks for the idea!
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9th May 2020, 08:27 PM #25
If you got the right kind clock spring, you could just nothc the pivot bar, and pin the chassis. If you are lucky, it might take the space of one of those teflon bushes.
Tension it up according to the number of turns you give it.
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9th May 2020, 09:53 PM #26Golden Member
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DIY TIG Pedal
That’s a good idea too!
Thinking about that pivot myself the only way I could think I could get it to work was if I made 2 pivot rods. Essentially because I can’t get the idea of how to key the pedal to the rod when it’s 1 piece.
My plan was to make a bolt type part that would go from the outside in. The head would have a pin above the main hole that would key to a hole in the pedal and fix the rod. On the inside the rod would be threaded for a nylock (to get the right tension) and the very end would be turned without a thread to accept a threaded lever.
A flexible wire running down to a pulley (with a bearing) to the front where it would be attached to the frame with a spring.
1 on each side.
Adjustment could be accessed by the bottom and changing the springs or potentially a system to preload the springs to make adjustments.
Wondering if this is turning into overkill for a simple TIG pedal
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10th May 2020, 04:23 AM #27
Hi Neevo, Commander_Keen,
I think Commander_Keen understood where I was coming from with the spring idea.
Using a rod as the pivot inside the coils of the spring. You would only need a pin in the rod to catch one end of the spring, the other end could just be resting on a part of the frame.
By securing the rod to the peddle at one end, you could adjust the tension simply by rotating the rod to tighten or loosen the spring tension and hence the peddle pressure.
Thinking about that pivot myself the only way I could think I could get it to work was if I made 2 pivot rods. Essentially because I can’t get the idea of how to key the pedal to the rod when it’s 1 piece.Best Regards:
Baron J.
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10th May 2020, 07:57 AM #28Golden Member
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Ok, get it now. I missed the point about the clock spring in your note, even after the pic from commander
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10th May 2020, 06:27 PM #29
Hi
I see no pic !
Anyway, here is a quick drawing showing what I was trying to describe.
Neevo.png
The spring is in yellow and the blue is your frame. The grey is the pivot rod.Best Regards:
Baron J.
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11th May 2020, 08:24 AM #30Golden Member
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Thanks Baron. Very clear.
I bought a few items on the weekend to try something a little different but if that doesn’t work I still have the clock spring to fall back on.
Didn’t get any shed time on Sunday so will be a few more days until I get to push on with the pedal.
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