Bar Twister

[clinton]

I found this thing a few years back and it has been buried in my garage, I am not real sure what it was but I know what its good for it has a square chuck on one end running through a reduction box and this thing has some serious torque! On the side it has a key less chuck that turns much faster, there is also a step pulley on the motor side to change speed. My plan is to attach this thing to an I beam and build a receiver that will slide back and forth with removable dies for different size stock. With the aid of a presser foot from an old sewing machine I can run this with great speed control and hands free. Now I need to do some fab work and see what this puppy will do. Also if anyone knows what this thing was used for I would like to know(not that it really matters, just curious)

[clinton]

I got some time to get this thing mounted on the I beam yesterday I made a saddle for turret and anchor point to slide on. I need to do some more work on the anchor side I plan to cut a slot in the side of some heavy plate so that I can slide different size dies into it. I gave it a try just to see what this thing will do and it twisted 1/2'' bar hot pretty well, but the presser foot started smoking it smelled like someone was cooking curry and rice (yuk) so I just plugged it in and let it rip. I am going to take off the motor and build a handle to crank this thing manually, this will also give me the ability to reverse direction, and 1/2'' could be done cold

[pkrankow]

Neat! You may want to add some side ties to join the top plate to the bottom plate and make more of a box section as I beams do not resist twist very well.

Then again you may not have a problem unless you get into some large stock.
Phil

[Mainely,Bob]

Neat new toy!
I can see where you`ll be having big fun with that rig.I know I would be.

One small tip for the hand powered conversion.I found a large diameter handwheel to be a lot more handy than a crank.The last hand powered machine I built had an old wheel off a boat helm that I salvaged and adapted.If I remember correctly it was around 3 feet in diameter and worked so well I now have another waiting for the next machine.
The wheel allowed me to stand in place right where the work was being done and turn with one hand while applying the torch with the other rather than having to put the torch down or side step back and forth while using the crank.

[monstermetal]

I found this thing a few years back and it has been buried in my garage, I am not real sure what it was but I know what its good for it has a square chuck on one end running through a reduction box and this thing has some serious torque! On the side it has a key less chuck that turns much faster, there is also a step pulley on the motor side to change speed. My plan is to attach this thing to an I beam and build a receiver that will slide back and forth with removable dies for different size stock. With the aid of a presser foot from an old sewing machine I can run this with great speed control and hands free. Now I need to do some fab work and see what this puppy will do. Also if anyone knows what this thing was used for I would like to know(not that it really matters, just curious)

K O lee made electrical contractor gear. My guess is this was a powered vise for threading conduit with a hand die

[martensite]

From the K O Lee web site they show there products to be for the auto ind, mostly grinders.This would make me guess it's the table feed for one of there surface grinders.

[Mainely,Bob]

We used to use K O Lee tools to do things like punch holes on metal bulkheads.
We refered to the tools as knock out punches so the company became Knock Out Lee.

[martensite]

In clinton's first post the nameplate reads knockout on it.There website shows there promo mascot as a boxer to go with the K O Lee name.Not sure how to link it but the website is www.kolee.com .

[clinton]

Neat new toy!
I can see where you`ll be having big fun with that rig.I know I would be.

One small tip for the hand powered conversion.I found a large diameter handwheel to be a lot more handy than a crank.The last hand powered machine I built had an old wheel off a boat helm that I salvaged and adapted.If I remember correctly it was around 3 feet in diameter and worked so well I now have another waiting for the next machine.
The wheel allowed me to stand in place right where the work was being done and turn with one hand while applying the torch with the other rather than having to put the torch down or side step back and forth while using the crank.

Yes I am planing to make a round wheel to mount on this, I removed the reduction box yesterday and checked the ratio 20:1 it should do some serious twisting. I will be working on it today and I will get some pictures up later. Hmmm I wonder if a vw bus steering wheel would work (got a few of those laying around)

[Bentiron1946]

I once visited an older blacksmith in Oklahoma, when I was somewhat younger, that used a somewhat worn out pipe threading machine head to twist his square stock cold, it had some serious torque also.
That looks like it is going to be a very handy jig for twisting too. B)

[clinton]

I got some more work done on the twister yesterday, I got the wheel finished it is 30 inches in dia I just did a quick circle on the hossfield using 5/8 round stock it came out fairly round. I then welded pieces of 1/2'' square to a sheave that I had using some stick electrode called brutus (good for welding dissimilar metals). I also took a piece of 1/2'' spring steel and drifted a square hole in it (after I made the drift of course) it looks like it should work it fits good not too tight. I just met a guy who does water jet cutting and I hope i can get on his good side and get him to cut me some more dies of different sizes as they are time consuming having to make a tool to make a tool, and the larger diameter ones will be very labor intensive.

[Mainely,Bob]

An alternative approach to avoid multiple dies would be to mount a vise or chuck and allow the assembly to move along the beam rather than have the material move thru the die.
Come to think of it a 4 jaw chuck with properly radiused jaws could be locked down to the beam and the jaws adjusted to be slightly loose and that would allow the material to move thru the chuck.

[Bentiron1946]

Bob, It looks like his die holder already moves along the beam, am I mistaken? :mellow:

[Mainely,Bob]

Bob, It looks like his die holder already moves along the beam, am I mistaken?

Could be,if so he`s already half way there.I just assumed he was making separate dies so he could fit them to allow the stock to move thru them as I had seen on some factory made twisting machines.
Wouldn`t be the first time I assumed something and found I was dead wrong.

Say Clinton,could you explain how your die holder works?Do you plan to have the stock move thru the die or the holder move down the beam and how do you plan to keep the dies in place while twisting?

[clinton]

Ok guys here are some pictures of what I did, the die holder slides up and down the beam I just took a piece of 1/2'' plate for the base the i sandwiched in a piece of 3/8'' and placed another piece of 3/8'' plate on the bottom to form a channel. Now that assembly has another channel to accept a piece of 1/4'' x 6'' flat bar which is what the die will be welded to with a hole to allow a piece to pass through.
And yes a four jaw chuck would work great and if I had an extra one laying around that is what I would use, but for now I will try this and see what happens I don't know if there is enough contact area in the die to keep from getting too much distortion in the bar, I think this will work for smaller size stock (3/4'' and under) but larger stock may create a problem. I will be watching the flea market and estate sales for a chuck but it may take a while for one to show up that way