Stronger overarm!

As noted yesterday, the "pin" supporting the overarm was a bit on the weak side. I'm limited to 20mm  dia if I am to make use of the Chinesium bearings. Really, I need to support the top of the pin. So time to have another go at the job.....

Chop off a couple of lengths of asymmetrical angle iron:

Turn down the pin to get rid of the shoulder. And reduce the threaded end to 16mm :

16mm hole in a 4" length of 4" x 1/2" bar to take the threaded end:

A length of 3" strip for the top - needs a 20mm hole so I can insert the new pin. Start with a pilot hole...

...bore out to 20mm clearance:

So it fits the pin. Here's the "cage" made from the 4"x4" plate and the strip:

Need to weld it up. As you can see, the pin drops in from the top, then is held onto the ram by the M12 bolt.

Sorted

The pin drops in through the bearings and the shoulder at the base of the pin locates on the floor of the box. Then the M12 bolt goes in from below the eye in the ram and holds it all together. I can report that it supported over 100kg of lard.....

Then with the help of a male offspring, I managed to get the damned thing onto the end of the arm. Getting it up into position is tough enough but you can't see and manipulate the pivot bolts without 3 or 4 hands and 4 eyes.

And there we have it. Although the motor encoder cables are not connected up, at least the controller still fires up - I haven't stuck a spanner through the display or ripped off the e-stop switch. Now that it's safely ensconced, I can get on with connecting up the peripherals....