Gear Making Information

[Andy Baker]

Originally posted by Alan Ing
Oh, one more question directed to the Technokats, in your dual motor assembly, how does one go about lightly welding that hex coupler to the back of the Drill Motor without destroying it (TIG, MIG?), any precautions?

Alan,

I believe that we used a TIG weld to do this. We first started with a partial weld around 1/2 of the shaft... and that didn't hold too well, so we put on a more complete weld to the shaft.

Also, before we welded the shaft, we tried our best to dry out the oilite bearing on the back end of the motor. After the weld was done and the shaft cooled down, we re-oiled the bearing. We didn't want the oil in the bearing to bubble up and deform the bearing.

There are other ways to skin this cat. There are other types of welds I've seen that may work, such as "press welds", that use high pressure between the materials while heating the metal.

I'm no welding expert. I suggest you do what I did... take it to someone who is very good at doing this precise, but quick job.

I suggest that you try some things out and have plenty of spare motors to use. We always had two spare drill motors ready to go with hex shafts welded in case of a broken weld on this coupling.

Good luck,
Andy B.