Welding Positioner

[coherent]

I know a couple folks have designed or built their own welding positioners with great results. Once you check around at the prices they want for these positioners, it's obvious why building your own would be an attractive option. I received a email from the makers of the certi-flat (tab and slot) welding tables last week. I have one of their welding tables on castors and really like it. Anyway, they are offering pre-sales of a new welding positioner kit they are offering now. For the first 200 ordered they are offering a $50 discount by using the discount code "Fabturn-Launch" . I've no idea if they have reached 200 sales yet.
I'm not affiliated with these folks in any way, but have been wanting a positioner for some time and was planning on building one, but for the price this seems like a simple low cost alternative. THe table I have is very well made and they have been great as far as customer service.
I can't comment on the quality of the positioner because I don't have one yet, but it looks like a very well made unit and thought it might interest others. I'll post more once I get it, assemble it and test it out.

https://weldtables.com/products/fab...ner-kit-a-welding-turn-table-for-the-everyman

 

[dlane]

That’s pretty neat, if you don’t have to hold your drill also while welding.

 

[coherent]

No, you don't have to hold the drill button lol. It comes with velcro to set the speed and hold the button. Like I said I haven't received it yet, but I have a DC gear motor and variable speed controller (for my planned one day build of one of these) and will be seeing if there is a easy way to attach/mount to the unit (a simple shaft coupler?) while keeping it neat and simple. If so it would be the way to go and do away with the drill and allow easy speed adjustment. Window wiper gear motors work great for these kind of projects and are cheap and plentiful.

 

[dlane]

Could you rig it with a foot pedal forward and reverse, would be nice.

 

[Ironken]

If I knew where to source the gears, I would consider drawing one up and blowing one out on my plasma table. Pretty cool. Although I already made one out of a deviding head and about got lynched for posting pics of it here.

 

[coherent]

As a follow up to my original post, I received the positioner the end of July. There is only one main gear and one worm gear to drive it. No bearings, just bushings. It has an isolated ground strap. Parts are heavy duty and seem very well made. It's set up to use any about drill. I haven't had a chance to assemble it yet. I think it would be fairly simple to add a dedicated gear motor and speed control dial or pedal if you wanted to go that route. They have now posted a video on their site showing the parts and assembly. I'm glad I was able to take advantage of the pre-sale discount, but after seeing it, feel its good value for the price anyway. Other options I looked into were pretty darn expensive and I think this one would fit the bill for any hobby welder who wants a welding positioner, and even light to moderate production work where a more expensive one just isn't warranted.

 

[pstemari]

If I knew where to source the gears,

Amazon has a good selection from Boston Gear ($$$), and sdp-si.com had more and cheaper, but of unknown origin. There's also McMaster-Carr.


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[skcncx]

As a follow up to my original post, I received the positioner the end of July. There is only one main gear and one worm gear to drive it. No bearings, just bushings. It has an isolated ground strap. Parts are heavy duty and seem very well made. It's set up to use any about drill. I haven't had a chance to assemble it yet. I think it would be fairly simple to add a dedicated gear motor and speed control dial or pedal if you wanted to go that route. They have now posted a video on their site showing the parts and assembly. I'm glad I was able to take advantage of the pre-sale discount, but after seeing it, feel its good value for the price anyway. Other options I looked into were pretty darn expensive and I think this one would fit the bill for any hobby welder who wants a welding positioner, and even light to moderate production work where a more expensive one just isn't warranted.

So, several years later... still like your certi flat weld positioner? Recommend? What are you using to power it? I've seen quite a few different creative solutions online.

I was looking at the vevor (import) options, all lower end, but under $600 dollar mark and then came across the certi flat from weldtables.com. Without motor, controller, foot petal and all, it's about $500, I'll have them assembly as I'm only setup for aluminum welding at the moment... BUT, it looks to be far heavier duty then the cheap import ones and very compact... just have to figure out how to power it... the drill options seems like a good option to try it, but beyond that, I see that being annoying. Plus it should match up to my stronghand tools rhino cart with the 5/8" holes on 2" center.

 

[aliva]

keith Rucker bought one from Vevor check the vid.

 

[skcncx]

Ended up ordering the certiflat (weldtables.com version). The vevo ones do look like a lot of bang for your buck, at size/style @aliva posted about... as they come with a chuck and motor controllers.

May be overkill, or under powered, but I'll look for a simple nema 23 stepper motor and variable speed controller to drive it. Not sure how much torque/size of nema 23 motor I'll need or I I need one with a gear box to increase torque.

Would have been nice if weldtables.com provide a motor mount or some type of parts list, even if they don't sell it directly. I realize, there are many ways to configure and wire it up. Ideally, at some point, I'll want a foot pedal to start/stop it. That seems the most natural when using it with a mig gun.