Mig question

O

outsider347

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Sep 3, 2012
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Don t have a TIG,so
Can i weld bearing quality grade E52100 alloy steel 1 in ball bearing to a mild steel .375 solid round with a mig?

I want to make a holding device
 
The biggest issue will be the dissimilar materials. You would probably be better off drilling and tapping the ball and using a die to thread the rod. More permanent and repairable if the ball becomes damaged. Just a thought.
Bob
 
I've welded plenty of ball bearing to the end of shafts. We would weld them to the end of our bore alignment shafts so we could pound them with hammers and not mushroom the ends. What worked real nice was to weld a nut to the shaft then weld the ball to the nut. That way you could also turn them with with a wrench. So I say if on ones in danger of harm, weld em up.
Dan


Master of unfinished projects
 
Drilling the BB is not a problem with carbide, but tapping......another story. You could drill it slightly under, and turn the end of the rod to press fit and not worry about welding.
 
You can drill a bearing, but have to use a carbide bit to do it. Another concern I had was having enough giddy up in your welder to get a good solid weld. If it is for a dial indicator or low stress part then you should be OK, but if it is weight bearing or a critical system I would pursue the drill and tap or make a ball turner and do one that is completely solid. The Ball turners are a great project and you will find other uses for it, so that is a good prohect and tool to have.

Bob
 
I keep up with Lazze but missed that one somehow. That is going on my to do list for sure. I am also thinking a ball turner might be the way to go to simplify construction. Perhaps a ball with a threaded stud to attach to hollow threaded arms. It's like a large version of those third hand tools you see in the cheap tool store.
 
Last edited:
Yea
I was not much interested in making a ball turner prior to seeing the thread, so looks like I'll be making one
Should work
 
outsider347 said:
This is project I have in mind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnpOa9WtF7o
Click to expand...
For this application , mig welding the ball to the rod is probably the way i would do it. Precision and warping are not really a huge concern since the whole arm is made to be adjustable anyway. I'm planning on building one of these octopus clamp fixtures in the very near future. I like his except that i find that he has limited adjustability on one of the axis on each clamp. The problem can be solved by either using a bigger ball, a smaller rod, or smaller clamp clamp radius clearance. I've seen others that do just that.

Instead of using allen screws on the clamps i'm gonna weld a t-bar to the bolt so that they can be adjusted by hand, without tools.
 
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