Harrison L5 lathe rebuild

[Micktoon]

I finally got back to doing the lathe today , I had an alloy damaged box I found at the scrapyard ages ago that needed patching up and holes filled in. Its going to be used as the main electrics box housing the transformer for the lo volt light and the main operating switches. An alloy switch box for the emergency switch with a hole that was bigger than my switch that needed filled so I could then drill the right size hole. The alloy shelf that will sit above the electrics box and inverter needed some alloy angle to go around the rim so things will not fall off the shelf. I have just spent an age trying to work out how to get the photos done on the new photo bucket so fingers crossed I have got it right or there may be no photos on this post lol.

The switch box cover with a hole that is too big.



Welded the patch in, welding could be better but will do the job.



Looks ok once ground off then sanded, I will now drill it the right size for the switch I have.




The corner of the alloy angle ready to weld , this will go around the shelf so things can not rattle off the edge.



This is it once welded , ground off and sanded.



The main electrics box was smashed on one side and had various holes drilled in it like these four here.



The four holes welded up, the clamp is holding a block of steel up onto the undersdie of the holes to stop the weld drooping through.



The area once ground off and sanded.



The main damage was on one side of the box , I cut out the badly dented bit and let in some alloy plate the same thickness, I clamped it in place with the steel block under the area to be welded and tack welded it into position.






The joins were then welded up around the patch.






The area patched side once , ground off filed and sanded, by some miracle whatever had damaged the box had missed the lid otherwise it would not have been worth trying to repair.



Well all looks to have posted ok , but scary 15 minutes as Photo bucket as usual locked the computer up right at the end of the post so thought I had lost the lot :bugeye: but lucky the post was still there on restart :thumbup:

Cheers Mick.

[sasquatch]

Great looking piece of work!!

Interesting pics, thanks for posting them.

[stevec]

on what my countryman said!

Can I assume that by alloy you mean aluminum or aluminium?
I'd love to be able to do that, what sort of equipment do you use?

[Micktoon]

Hi Steve , yes its aluminium between about 3-4-5mm thick depending on which part, I have used T.I.G welder set on AC with pure argon sheilding gas, ended up about 100amps ish, the welder is a Migtronic MTE220 which is nice heavy bit of Kit, I dont have a foot control pedal and at times you need it doing aluminium as heat can build up and melt the part into a mush , this happened last night on an edge when I was getting tired and trying to finish the shelf support, I will post photos of what happened and how I fixed it ( I hope , as not sure how I will do it right now lol ) I am just self taught with the alloy welding , books and Youtube, so still learning as I go. If you want to learn check out weldingtipsandtricks on Youtube , Jody has the best videos on welding and explains things very well, I would imagine he has booked his place in Heaven because of his videos
Cheers Mick.

[Micktoon]

This is the corner that I melted last night, the shelf part is about 5mm thick and the angle edging about 2-3mm thick so any hesitation or the weld pool not forming straight away and this happens :palm:




I decided a patch was the best way so cut a scrap to fit but this time left it longer so the thinner part had more bulk to soak up the heat and also decided I would weld these similar bits together then weld the rear edging angle to them before attempting to join them near the corners and along the rear to the thicker shelf so again there would be more of the thinner edging to conduct the heat before it would melt away. This is the patch in place and cleaned where it needs welding.





I have now clamped the patch to the main angle edging with the steel block behind to again stop the alloy sagging if it gets too hot.





It welded fine this time , just had to be quick and make sure there was enough weld bead at the ends so when it is dressed up it will still have the straight edge .





After a bit of grinding, filing and sanding and trimmed off to length it looks fine





I have cut the edging for the rear of the shelf but for some reason the welder has started to trip the garage and house breakers so after three attempts and all the lights going off have gave up for today, I will have to investigate tomorrow :palm:

Cheers Mick

[doubleboost]

Hi
Mick
Nice to see you back on the job
You need a pedal for that tig set of yours
It makes a massive differance to its ease of use
What filler rod were you using
Normally it is a silicone rod for cast and a rod with mag in it for extrusions plate ect
John

[Micktoon]

To be honest I am not sure what rod it is John , I have used the same ones on cast and sheet and they seem to work on both, I need a foot pedal but this welder has a plug with more connection pins than most so will either have to find out what they all do or get Migtronic pedal But they are mega bucks .
cheers Mick.

[DaveH]

A really good job Mick fabulous photos Very nicely shown and explained

DaveH

[stevec]

(11-21-2012, 08:59 AM)Micktoon Wrote: I dont have a foot control pedal and at times you need it Cheers Mick.

Thanks Mick, I admire your work. It's nice to know you can do magic like that WITHOUT a footpedal. I have enough problems with eye hand co-ordination, throw in a foot pedal and I'd have no eyes left to find my beer!

[Micktoon]

Nothing new to post I am afraid lads , as it looks like fault on the welder is causing the breaker to trip each time it turned on :zap: :bang: :bang: :bang:, so as usual one job leads to another job as the first job stands unfinished :palm: :palm:. My mate who knows about these matters is coming to test things on Saturday so fingers crossed its something fixable.
I noticed the welder let me down the instant I mentioned that Migatronic was good kit .................. Typical , I should have known better :(
Thanks for comments John and Dave
Cheers Mick