WIP: Full Featured 2x72 for under $1500?!? Housemade Gen 4 Revolution Kit Build

[Bühlmann]

Let’s move on to the risers.

I deviated from the instructions a little here for a couple of reasons:

1. My drill press is small, and I couldn’t work out a practical way to drill these hinge pin holes in one operation with the table height, height of my mill vise, and short stroke of of the press.

2. I think a 3/4” twist drill makes a crappy hole. This is especially true if your setup isn't rock solid like with a mill.

I was able to manage issue #1 with a small pilot drill bit, but the length of the chucked bit is ultimately the limiting factor. So I decided to use Brian’s instructions for drilling a 1/8” pilot through both walls in one operation. Then used a Hougen RotaCut carbide hole cutter to complete each hole using the pilot hole as the cutter guide on each side. This two-step alternative worked beautifully, allowing my less-than-ideal drill press to tackle this task with precision.

 

[Bühlmann]

Got a new 80lb bottle of argon and back to work. Today I finished the plug welds on the motor mounting plate, got the tracking bar drilled & threaded, the pillars tacked, and the hinges aligned and tacked. Also got to do a little tuning to get the vertical/horizontal planes perfect.

So I re-learned a lesson I first learned long ago. See my short sleeves? Yeah, well the insides of my elbows and biceps have a nice "sun" burn thanks to my failure to respect the flash. Ouch. Dammit.

Here's the pillars squared & plumbed. I also deviated from the instructions a bit here, too. I placed a few washers under the pillars before lining them up and tacking. The reason for this is to ensure that any lack of flatness on the baseplate won't allow the pillars to sit below the bottom surface, creating a high center situation. My baseplate is flat, but this is just a little insurance and peace of mind on my part. The washers recess the pillars about 0.063".

Digital protractor zeroed on the baseplate. Perfectly parallel at top of receiver.

I was off 0.9

I was 0.9 degrees off on my horizontal plane. Easy fix. Just buffed off a tiny amount off the top of the pillars where the receiver rests in the horizontal position to allow the extra range of motion. Took it slow, disassembling, removing just a few thousandths at a time, reassembling, and repeat until I was dead nuts at 90 degrees.

Now with all of the critical fab points complete, I'll go back and finish my welds out where I had only tacks.

 

[Bühlmann]

I forgot to mention that I got into a little bind with tapping the through holes in the tracking bar. I drilled the 5/16" through holes with a RotaCut bit just like I did with the large pillar holes, but when it came to tap the holes I realized that my tap had a shaft diameter that is the same as the O.D. of the cutting teeth, which meant that the tap was not going to go through the threads it just cut to continue cutting the opposite-side hole. That's important, because if your threads aren't "continuous", there's better than a good chance they won't sync up and your threaded fastener will bind up as it tries to engage in the second hole. Hope that makes sense.

Either way, I was lucky enough to have a second 3/8-16 TPI tap that I was able to modify by grinding the shaft down to slightly less than the ID of the cutting teeth of the tap. This allows the tap to continue to engage the opposite hole before the cutting teeth are out of the near-side (now threaded) hole, resulting in continuously synched threads. Mod'd tap on left:

 

[Bühlmann]

Knob day.....which is remarkably similar to motor mount plug welding day. I remember Brian mentioning in a podcast about the hex bolts being unique to source because they are threaded all the way to the head, instead of having a shoulder as most hardware store bolts do. That's a feature that allows the knob bolts to utilize the entire length of the bolt for adjustment. So, I decided to align the bottom of the hex head to the bottom of the knob to take full advantage of the threaded length. It'd be easier to just set the bolt on it's hex head and put the knob on and weld, but you'll lose 2-3 thread revolutions that way, and with my luck I'll need those 2-3 threads some day. So I did it this way. Again, a MIG machine would make much quicker work of this task.

I took a bit of aluminum plate I had and drilled a 1/2" hole in it to drop the hex bolts into and place the knob over, aligning the bottom surfaces. The aluminum also ensures that my fasteners don't inadvertently get welded to my welding table.

Ground flat and ready to prep for finish. I'll probably break the edges more, and blunt the tips a bit.

 

[Bühlmann]

Some gratuitous weld porn….

https://imgur.com/a/1HEQZYM

 

[Bühlmann]

Time to finish out the welds. Front & rear risers and the hinges get welded up.

With those pieces fleshed out, I moved on to mounting the tracking bar and fabbing up the hinged tracking mechanism. The hinge is drilled all the way through, which called for some creativity on my part with my mill vice, a couple 1-2-3 blocks, and a two-part approach to drilling the .250" hinge hole due to my short little drill press. Again, less than ideal but a little redneck engineering with a sprinkling of select cuss words and I was able to persevere. It's a pretty critical operation that has a direct impact on the functionality and precision of the tracking mechanism.

Tracking mechanism assembled and mounted with an Ameribrade 4" crowned tracking wheel.

The top of the hinge is able to rotate about 30 degrees or so forward and aft. The jackscrew adjustment pushes on the end of the tracking wheel mounting bolt to allow the hinge to swivel left & right. Pretty slick setup.

After that I assembled the D-plate and flat platen components. There was a few simple welds to make on the support legs to the flat platen backing plate, and a couple of holes drilled & tapped into the tool arm. I have ceramic glass platen liner on my 2x42 grinder and think it's a no-brainer to fit one to this one, too. I chose to use a rubber coated 2" wheel from Ameribrade for the top of the platen and a standard aluminum 2" wheel for the bottom. This way I can get the utility of a 2" contact wheel on the flat platen arm, which is a nice added feature, and on of the benefits of being able to spec out all of the parts for this build. The aluminum wheel is temporary, but more on that later. This operation makes it really take shape and look like a grinder!

 

[Bühlmann]

With that done, it was time weld up the handle assembly. Easy enough, just fit a piece of square stock for a plug and weld up. I ground it flat to look nice, and will tack it to the tracking bar once I mount handle material to it, just like knife scales.

I have a little complaint on the handle kit--the handle frame comes with the holes pre-drilled to .3125", or 5/16". Not sure why that size was chosen, but I don't keep pin stock above .250". Maybe I'm in the minority, but I don't care for large pins. I'd have preferred .250" or no holes pre-drilled at all so a guy could handle it however he chooses. Not the end of the world. I could always just ignore those holes and drill my own, or fill them up with weld and re-drill, I guess.

Here's how it looks to date:

 

[52 Ford]

With that done, it was time weld up the handle assembly. Easy enough, just fit a piece of square stock for a plug and weld up. I ground it flat to look nice, and will tack it to the tracking bar once I mount handle material to it, just like knife scales.

I have a little complaint on the handle kit--the handle frame comes with the holes pre-drilled to .3125", or 5/16". Not sure why that size was chosen, but I don't keep pin stock above .250". Maybe I'm in the minority, but I don't care for large pins. I'd have preferred .250" or no holes pre-drilled at all so a guy could handle it however he chooses. Not the end of the world. I could always just ignore those holes and drill my own, or fill them up with weld and re-drill, I guess.

Here's how it looks to date:

That's a good lookin' machine! What wheels are you using to grind your welds? Just curious. I was told by some guys who weld more than me that Walter and 3M wheels are the ones to get. In my opinion, ceramic abrasives are the ones to get. They're AWESOME.

Sent from my Champion Forge using Tapatalk

 

[Bühlmann]

That's a good lookin' machine! What wheels are you using to grind your welds? Just curious. I was told by some guys who weld more than me that Walter and 3M wheels are the ones to get. In my opinion, ceramic abrasives are the ones to get. They're AWESOME.

Sent from my Champion Forge using Tapatalk

I don't grind my welds......unless they are super ugly! But for surface prep I use 3M Cubitron or Diablo tigerpaws/flap discs. If you are referring to the knobs, motor mount, and handle where I ground the plug welds flush, I used 36 and 60 grit 2x42" EdgeCore ceramic belts from Red Label Abrasives on my little Norse belt sander. That way I can use the flat platen and get a nice even & flat finish.

 

[fitzo]

Nice welder! Any troubles with it at all, or tips? I just got a Primeweld225x. So far so good.

Nice work. Great build thread! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Bühlmann]

Nice welder! Any troubles with it at all, or tips? I just got a Primeweld225x. So far so good.

Nice work. Great build thread! Thanks for sharing.

Thank you!

No problems at all. If your welds are crappy, it's not the machine I can tell you that! I spent about six months pouring over different machines, and I think the PrimeWeld is the best welder for the money out there. This is especially true as some of the big blue & red brands have moved sourcing overseas. If I had a complaint at all it's that the fan is pretty loud, and runs continuously. It'd be sweet if it cycled on/off with a thermostat, or just ran more quietly. But that's nothing to do with performance and features, and I love what my 225x offers.

Tips? Well, I'm just a hobbiest hack and self-taught at that. I did take a one-day TIG class at The Fabricator Series shop in Las Vegas, and I have to say that was worth the money. That's also where I was sold on the PrimeWeld as my choice, and ordered it immediately after returning home. The owner's manual is awesome, and the settings they offer are a great starting point. Learning to use the pulse feature can be a shortcut to good looking welds, but there is much more to a good weld than how it looks. Still, pulse is very cool, and helps keep your work cool, too. Especially with aluminum. Really the best teacher is time on the machine. Burn up a lot of metal, experiment with amperage, run a little hot & learn how to use your pedal to modulate and correct your amperage as your part heats up. You don't have to floor it all the time. Practice feeding rod, don't get wrapped up in your torch, blahh blahh blahh.....practice practice practice! It's a skill that takes time and repitition, just like anything else. It's also a skill that depreciates over time if you don't practice, so practice practice practice.

 

[Bühlmann]

Today we finish up the metal fabrication work!

A bittersweet day. Happy to have the bulk of the fab complete, but I ran into some snags in the final stretch. I probably should've quit for the evening once I started struggling, but I'm too stubborn for that kind of reasoning. Seemingly simple parts ended up being a real bitch, and aligning the work table gave me a few extra grey hairs. I have been on a bit of a streak in welding the way I know I can weld, but sadly tonight ended that streak, and I actually had to grind -tan ugly weld and lay a slightly less ugly weld over top of it. Once I realized that was going to be my high water mark for tonight I accepted the bar-time weld. It lives underneath the work table anyway, so I'll only have my ego kicked occasionally if I happen to be dinking around with adjustments under there every so often. But.....I got it done. A few other challenges will be pointed out below, but it also looks like a big success in some features that really matter, namely tracking.

Started with the work rest tool arm and mount. Simple drill & tap. Same workaround with drill tooling as previously described.

I like using the laser cut swivel stop and transfer punches to layout my holes.

Now clamped to table and aligned to weld. This is the simple little piece that chapped my ass so badly. Started out with two tacks, then fit the work table and aligned everything to the flat platen. Not too terrible, just a bunch of fiddly tweaks & re-tweaks, but in the end the swivel stops didn't line up at 0 degrees and 45 degrees. This didn't sit well with my CDO (it's like OCD but in alphabetical order, the way it's supposed to be) and I cut a tack weld on the work rest mount and adjusted the fit. This created a decent sized gap in the final weld fit up of that mount to the swivel plate, and that created the ugly-ass weld I ended up getting humbled by. In the end, it was the right adjustment to make, but I probably should have paused and slept on it. There may have been an easier/simpler approach that I might have overlooked.

And here it is, the finished work rest. 8"x15", a lot of real estate:

And here is the price I will have to pay for not being more patient:

After struggling with that work rest mount weld/alignment circus, I was frustrated and a little heavy on the pedal welding the work rest tool post to the bottom of the work rest, and the extra heat warped the table a bit. I kick myself now for not clamping both ends down before welding it up, but it didn't cross my mind that such a large chunk of 1/4" plate would take a bend like that. It did. The good news is that it the apex is clear and linear, so I'm confident that I can correct it with a little targeted heat and gentle leverage. I'm working out a plan for that now, but if anyone has any suggestions, please post 'em up!

So with all the metal fabrication wrapped up, let's check in on where we are in cost so far for the grinder (all prices are shipped prices):

Revolution 4 Cut Kit w/weld seams removed: $595.00
Ameribrade wheel kit (2-2" wheels, 4" tracking wheel, & "TBD" accessory): 233.00

Running Total: $828.00​

 

[Bühlmann]

Gotta get that motor mounted to get the feel for the balance of the machine! Easy operation, just four bolts. My motor is the IronHorse MTR series premium efficiency AC induction motor, general purpose and inverter rated, 2hp, 3-phase, 208-230/460 VAC, 3600rpm, TEFC, 56C/HC frame, rolled steel, rigid base/C-face mount from Automation Direct. Fantastic company, super easy, lightning fast shipping. Ordered the motor and it was shipped FedEx arrived in two days. I had originally ordered one of their VFDs too, but it was backordered until mid September, so I cancelled and went another route. More on that later. Here it is with the motor mounted:

Heck yeah! Let's get a drive wheel on and see how this thing tracks with a belt! I chose a 6" drive wheel, because the math for SFM comes out perfect for what I want this grinder to be. 6" is not all that popular of a size, and I'm not sure why. The trend is for a 7" wheel and running over 6,000 SFM. That seems like a blade burner to me, maybe more suited for an industrial application. Thin stock and low volume doesn't scream that kind of speed to me. 5" is another popular size, and I'd choose 5" over 7" for making knives. But 6" delivers a high end of around 5600 SFM and is still well suited to low speed work too, in addition to being able to run large diameter contact wheels if I choose to in the future. Anyways, I had difficulty sourcing a 6" drive wheel that didn't cost as much as the rest of my wheels combined, so I plugged my nose and held my breath and bought a VEVOR (Chinesium) branded wheel off of eBay. I came quick, is nicely machined, and by all accounts appears to be a quality made part. Cool! Especially for $53.01.

Wait..... that's not right....bottoms out before shaft is fully engaged. Turn it around?

There we go! Wait...set screw. On the back side. No prob...............shit!!!

No way to access the set screw to lock the drive wheel on. MOTHER$*@#^&%@!!!!!

So....I am returning the VEVOR drive wheel. The good news is that in the month since I bought this one, I see Jose Navarro over at Pheer Grinders has his 6" wheels back in stock. Great! I'd rather have a Pheer drive wheel anyways, even if it IS twice as much. So that's on order as of last night.

I still mocked up the drive wheel I have and hand, put on a belt, and run it by hand to see if I have any severe alignment issues from fabrication & assembly. No issues at all, and I got to play with the primary & secondary tracking planes to see how they affect belt alignment. Sweet setup, and I think I'm going to be very happy with it.

Oh, you forgot it's a tilting grinder that rotates on the same horizontal axis? That was what I didn't like about the Reeder. Beautiful machine, and a lot of well thought out features, but the way they chose to tilt the machine is kinda janky IMO, with the hinge and the kickstand, and the result is the grinder is lower in the horizontal position than it is in the vertical position. I don't know if that is a huge deal or not, but in my head it sure doesn't seem ideal. Especially if I'm going to take the time to station my grinder so it is ergonomically correct for me. I want that to be correct in all positions, not just one. Rotating on a center pinned axis allows that, where a hinge/kickstand setup does not. Personal preference, and YMMV, so please don't be offended if you own a Reeder. I know what kind of machines they are, and I have an idea of what kind of brilliant guy Don is. I looked very, VERY hard at them. This was just one feature that I didn't care for on his machines.

So now we have a fab'd up chassis, complete wheel kit (will swap out drive wheel), and a motor. Let's check the ledger:

Revolution 4 Cut Kit w/weld seams removed: $595.00
Ameribrade wheel kit (2-2" wheels, 4" tracking wheel, & "TBD" accessory): 233.00
Automation Direct IronHorse MTR Series 2HP 3600 RPM 3ph Motor: 262.00
Pheer 6" Drive Wheel: 100.00

Running Total: $1190.00​

 

[fitzo]

Thank you!

No problems at all. If your welds are crappy, it's not the machine I can tell you that! I spent about six months pouring over different machines, and I think the PrimeWeld is the best welder for the money out there. This is especially true as some of the big blue & red brands have moved sourcing overseas. If I had a complaint at all it's that the fan is pretty loud, and runs continuously. It'd be sweet if it cycled on/off with a thermostat, or just ran more quietly. But that's nothing to do with performance and features, and I love what my 225x offers.

Tips? Well, I'm just a hobbiest hack and self-taught at that. I did take a one-day TIG class at The Fabricator Series shop in Las Vegas, and I have to say that was worth the money. That's also where I was sold on the PrimeWeld as my choice, and ordered it immediately after returning home. The owner's manual is awesome, and the settings they offer are a great starting point. Learning to use the pulse feature can be a shortcut to good looking welds, but there is much more to a good weld than how it looks. Still, pulse is very cool, and helps keep your work cool, too. Especially with aluminum. Really the best teacher is time on the machine. Burn up a lot of metal, experiment with amperage, run a little hot & learn how to use your pedal to modulate and correct your amperage as your part heats up. You don't have to floor it all the time. Practice feeding rod, don't get wrapped up in your torch, blahh blahh blahh.....practice practice practice! It's a skill that takes time and repitition, just like anything else. It's also a skill that depreciates over time if you don't practice, so practice practice practice.

Thanks so much for taking the time to type all that up. I appreciate it! Learning is slow going right now as I get hot too quickly out in the garage and that's not good thing with me. I am seeing small improvements, so that's exciting. The rest is reading, getting tips, and truning the practice crank. Fun City for me to finally be burning metal with TIG!

Loving the build WIP...

 

[Bühlmann]

Thanks so much for taking the time to type all that up. I appreciate it! Learning is slow going right now as I get hot too quickly out in the garage and that's not good thing with me. I am seeing small improvements, so that's exciting. The rest is reading, getting tips, and truning the practice crank. Fun City for me to finally be burning metal with TIG!

Loving the build WIP...

Here's a few video resources that I leaned on when first starting up, and still do. In no particular order:


6061.com

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcuMSDG2svjR7BncF841GJg

This guy is amazing to watch, and he offers an inexpensive paid tutorial access to his website.

------------------------------------------------------

The Fabrication Series

The Official Page for The Fabrication Series YouTube Channel and Merrill Performance custom built products.

thefabricatorseries.com

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheFabricatorSeries

Also an outstanding instructional video series, all free on YT. This is also the guy I took the 1-day class with.

-------------------------------------------------------

This Old Tony:

https://www.youtube.com/user/featony

His welding videos are smart and entertaining. Be careful though....you may find yourself going down rabbit holes and hours, if not days of lost productivity may result. He does very cool stuff, and he is a friggin' genius.

---------------------------------------------------------

Jody Collier:

About Jody

About Jody page for welding tips and tricks

www.weldingtipsandtricks.com

https://www.youtube.com/c/weldingtipsandtricks

Jody is a legend. His videos and instruction are among the best. That's all I can say.

 

[fitzo]

Thanks so much!!

Edited to add: subscribed your links. In addition I had TimWelds and Weld.com subscribed on YT.
I also have two smallish primers on the subject and a pair of DVDs on Basic and Advanced TIG with Ron Covell.

It's all about remembering all the stuff at once and practice, practice, practice. It's improving.
Thanks, again, Eric!

 

[KenH]

Bühlmann: What happened to all the photos? AND, those are some very good links you posted. You're right, videos like those get me going down rabbit holes and I don't get much work done sometimes. I tell myself it's educational ​

Edit Wed, Sept 7: The photos all show up for me now. Not sure what the deal is. GREAT job with the welding and assembly.

 

[fitzo]

@KenH I see all the photos and links okay as of the time of this post (18:14 CDT).

 

[bladegrinder]

This was a great step by step tutorial Buhl and that grinder looks great.
If I built that and it came out looking like that I'd be half tempted to go all out and send the whole thing out to get chrome plated.

 

[KenH]

It's on the first page where the photos don't show for me. Let's see if this screen shot comes thru.