StillSmart

Made a start on an SPP machine. It winds and I almost finished the cutter when I ran out of Argon for the TIG. Will carry on when I replace it.

Comments or questions welcome. Advice even more so.

I'll let the pictures do the talking.



Winder doing it's thing.




close up. Wheelchair motor. Thin hose barb feeding the wire to the mandrel. couple of bits of brass to grip the wire and you can just see the cut off kitchen tap to the right that turns the wire 90ish deg.



base and stem from a small copper and brass goblet also turning the wire 90ish deg. cup and stem nub of same goblet drilled out to keep the wire centred as it unwinds from the reel.





Spring loaded reel to the right.



Close up. 0.5mm wire. 4mm dia. Will be 4 or 5mm long when I get the cutter working. Nearly there.

All the friction surfaces are brass but I have since lined the brass gripper with ptfe to stop it snapping the wire if I tighten it all the way.

Heavily inspired by a bloke called BigSwede on another site.

couple of bits of blade and a linear rail.




The basic concept. Bottom blade fixed flat side up. Top blade sliding flat side down.




Clamped up for welding. Top blade is now inside the inner slide. Welded through the hole, at the front edge of the slide and underneath along the sides.




progress so far. Solenoid pulls top blade over bottom blade.




close up of blades and feed hole.

Nice work ant. Really nice.
(Now I used to have a motor the same that I used to drive my long-line winch. Damn!)

Very interesting thread Ant..I can see the orders flooding in.

Are You Ready....?

I'll have 2 litres, that should be enough to fill my column I hope :-)

Just out of interest, how long does it take to make, I've not tried to order any myself but lots of guys buying from abroad say it takes months for delivery.

Forget trying to order any SPP's from Odin.
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3047&p=20369&hilit=SPP#p20371

I don't know as it is not all working yet.

I'll let you know when I do.

Not too long I should think.

The long delays are just slackness and shipping I think.

The solenoid was not up to it so I replaced it with a better one.
Just need to sort out a loop counter to activate it now.



Not quite there yet but getting closer.

Rejigged the mounting of the cutter and added an exit chute.



Cutter gate swung wide open for setting up and maintenance.



Cutter gate swung closed and bolted.



Original 16mm exit hole. Deep and hard to clear when you stop.



Reshaped for easy access and a downward slope.


Added a flange.



Which takes a smooth 90deg bend in 35mm.



Which takes an extension tube.

All three bits were the one piece of scrap to begin with.

Should be in production next week.

Looking good, I've no idea how it works but looking forward to seeing the end results.

I am seriously impressed

If necessity is the mother of invention then you got to be it's father

that deserves a A+ for ingenuity and sheer brilliance

AM

Why thank you kind sir.

I am with my mate who has built a loop counter for me.
It works perfectly.
In theory I should be good to go
after a little fabricating to install it nicely.
Unfortunately the cutter jams up ocasionally.
I am going to have to strip it down and rejig it
to try and get it operating reliably.
If that fails then make a new one entirely.
Production this week may have been overly optomistic.

Serious home engineering.
I suspect that you are a born tinkerer,with a very decent workshop.
Look forward to hearing of your results.
Robert.

installed the loop counter. Still need to make a cover for the live terminals on the SSR and run an earth to the solenoid body. It works really well though. The bit of copper pipe holds the hall effect sensor where it needs to be. All still swings out when needed.




may have sussed the problem with the cutter jams. Have to remake it yet again tomorrow. Did it twice today but damaged the final version while making a mod to hopefully sort the problem. Fingers crossed it all goes well.