Welding Tips and Tricks

I did a short course in welding recently which I found most useful. One of the things I was impressed by was that each of the welding bays had a clamp/vice thing which was really good for holding your work at any height or angle. I'm wondering where I could get such a device from:




Any idea where I could get one, or even what it is called?
I could conceivably make my own however I don't have a Tap and Die set


BTW: If it makes any difference I'm in Australia.

Hey mate,

Don't think to hard about it, they are very simple to make and the design itself really doesn't matter. I'd call it a welding test plate holder and all you l need is a way to go up/down in and out, and a clamp. As for the threads, forget the taps, just weld nuts and bolts. Do a google images search for welding test clamp and go from there.

Mick

Thanks Mick. Welding on nuts is a good idea.
I also did a search for "welding test clamp" but I'm afraid I didn't find anything too useful

I did however then break out Google's SketchUp and managed to draft my own













I'll see how I go

+1 to Mick's response: you can find all the bits at a hardware store, plus the looking and finding will be part of the fun.

The other aspect of building your own is designing to your own specs. In the original photo the hinge mechanism (that you subsequently drew up) *looks* like it's an inch thick, which seems like overkill. Plus you can vary your design: instead the tab on the clamp arm mating up to two tabs on the fixture, you might have just one tab on the fixture with a nut/bolt axle.

McMaster Carr can be your playground! I tried to insert a screenshot of a web page but for some reason could not: here's a link to the threaded pipe coupling that's welded onto the clamp arm in your photo.
http://www.mcmaster.com/#metal-pipe-couplings/=tsetu6

BTW welcome to the forum! Post up pics when you build it!

We have them at school that basically are set up on a vertical pipe. Similar to the picture shown. But ours have a small piece of pipe that goes around the vertical pipe like a sleeve. Then a hole is drilled a nut is welded outside the hole a bolt put it an tightened. Some have a piece of flat welded to the bolt kinda like a wing nut. An on the sleeve is opposite the bolt is another small pipe and also a hole,nut, and bolt on the end of that pipe. Then a smller pipe put in that sleeve and on the end of that pipe is a c-clamp welded to the end....This gives you any adjustment you would need! and you would need to tap/die anything...Just need some scrap pipes a c-clamp 2 nuts an 2 bolts an 2 pieces of small flat pieces to complete your wing nut design so you can adjust it with just gloved hands no tools! That way it'll hold anything for doing positions 1-4 and more! Easy as hell to make really. I couldn't imagine it'd take more that an hour or 2 to complete....Good luck hopefully I gave u some ideas

Most of all, I love the theme that has evolved in this thread: go make stuff.

Sketch, measure, sketch again, measure, buy (find) stock, cut and weld.

This strategy works over and over. We just have to think of it.

Well done, team.

If you're thinking of building a positioner, take a look at this project:
http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?48 ... ing-clamps

It can really expand your thinking when you realize it's all common parts joined to create an uncommon result. The holes for the ball clamps would be a bit tricky for someone without a CNC plasma... a monster size drill bit, maybe.

Is there a way to get notifications when posts are made to this thread?
I can't seem to find a "Subscribe" button

Edit: Uh, found it
(was looking at the top rather than the bottom )

Artie F. Emm wrote:...In the original photo the hinge mechanism (that you subsequently drew up) *looks* like it's an inch thick, which seems like overkill.

Is this the part you're referring to?


I made that 24mm wide. The hinge axle is 8mm in diameter and having the 'hinge' 24mm wide gives 8mm of "meat" either side. I could slim this down to 4mm of meat (which is the width above and below the other hole) which would look like this:


The height is kind of fixed at 30mm as I plan to get a length of 30mm steel and cut the other sections from it. I'm also planning to use steel that is 8mm thick. Finally that bolt looks to have about a 10mm thread and seems 80mm long.

Hey,

Consider making the base of the clamp as narrow as possible to fit into pipe. Also maybe a 45° attachment for down the track if you end up doing 6g pipe.

Mick