"The Eagle has landed!"

[Screwdriver]

Zoiks! Another random eBay purchase...

At least it folds up.

But it is a bit flimsy and had picked up some damage especially to the top and bottom brackets. So they got straightened out and reinforced.

Bit of 8mm bar tack welded as a support.

Looks like it had been dropped on its head at some stage. I had to make up a little clamping bracket to stop the super strong coil spring from going bonkers.

It was so flimsy I am a bit shocked at the poor design tbh.

I actually FORGED the ends on this bracket and punched out the holes (before drilling slightly) <proud>

Have to say, it is starting to look a bit "trick".

 

[dobbslc]

What THE hell is that boy???
Said in a deep south accent....

 

[Wozzaaah]

Dunno either but it'll never fly.

 

[ronan]

Its a racing landrover defender chassis !

 

[Screwdriver]

No idea. Soon find out when I get it going.

 

[Chillitt]

No idea. Soon find out when I get it going.

Have you converted it to cut metal yet?

 

[Hopefuldave]

Optimus Prime's Zimmer frame?

Dave H. (the other one)

 

[Screwdriver]

Have you converted it to cut metal yet?

Only made a start on it today. I have converted it to objet d'art but most of the other folded panels are actually pretty stiff so I reckon it will fly.

Next on the list is the sliding carrier which had become jammed. If it cuts ply, it goes back to go_slow, then we'll see if I get the chance to convert it to grindr.

 

[Hopefuldave]

Folding portable panel saw?

Dave H. (the other one, guessing by the edge support rollers and the circ' saw slides)

 

[Chillitt]

Only made a start on it today. I have converted it to objet d'art but most of the other folded panels are actually pretty stiff so I reckon it will fly.

Next on the list is the sliding carrier which had become jammed. If it cuts ply, it goes back to go_slow, then we'll see if I get the chance to convert it to grindr.

Oh a sliding plasma cutter..

 

[Screwdriver]

Folding portable panel saw?

Dave H. (the other one, guessing by the edge support rollers and the circ' saw slides)

Yeah, it is really light! Too light really and folded out of 1mm (very) mild steel. Would have been awesome had it been stainless but for £11.50 (!) I'm not complaining. The included Bosch circular saw is virtually new and I can see why it's virtually unused!

I might have a crack at fitting a grinder to it and plasma is not a bad idea either. It will cut full 8x4 ply sheets. Might be a bit much to ask for it to cope with metal but worth a try for longer cuts.

 

[MattF]

...then we'll see if I get the chance to convert it to grindr.

A fold up metal frame, and mention of Grindr. I don't think I want to know any more.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Portable panel saw = tracksaw (plunge) in my book.
That looks quite scary tbh.

 

[Badger1bear]

I will wager it’s a jumble of tat, cobbled together as an art project which didn’t get a passing grade and was put on eBay as spares or repair tat for sale ?

Close ?

 

[Screwdriver]

I will wager it’s a jumble of tat, cobbled together as an art project which didn’t get a passing grade and was put on eBay as spares or repair tat for sale ?

Close ?

Jury is out. Wait until I get it going and see if it works. It is a very clever piece of engineering in some ways but some of the design features had me scratching my head and wondering "that can't be right".

Take the super strong spring counterbalance for the sled. It's exactly like a tape rule, precisely the sort of thing you really don't want to take apart. It doesn't align with the sled bracket which appears to have been designed to line up with the centre of the roll and not the edge where the coil should meet at a tangent. Means the bracket has to be bent to meet the coil end which also has to be angled weirdly as soon as it comes off the roll.

On the other hand if I can stick a full sheet of plywood on there and make straight accurate cuts without needing a car park sized workspace to do it, it will be a godsend. I am just about to recover another large batch of 25mm external grade marine ply I installed as a temporary platform for a neighbour. If I can make accurate repeatable cuts on full size sheets, the production engineering implications for that are awesome. I'll be able to knock up a dozen matching storage crates in minutes.

 

[Badger1bear]

So you have no idea what it is either

 

[GKQ]

It’s for cutting full size sheets of ply.

Graham

 

[Screwdriver]

The plot thickens!

Well, I suppose more accurate to suggest "weakens"...

I couldn't understand why anyone would make a CNC model, carefully water jet(?) cut out and fabricate such a thing in 1mm mild steel. Surely it would have to be stainless. There are some obvious problem areas with fixings and detail design issues. Clearly this is a pre-production unit designed to show up those faults.

Problem being, can I make it strong enough to be a useful tool?

Or should I try and find the manufacturer and ask if it is OK for me to reverse engineer it - since this one doesn't appear to have a copyright

 

[cardiffrob]

Aha! I knew I'd seen one just like it before.

 

[Screwdriver]

One of the (many) problems with this design was the sliding bushes. They were just a stack of plastic washers, looped around a non-uniform bend.

They would pile up at either end and avoid the peak of the triangulated U bend. Some hammer time in the forge sorted that out but I decided to space out the washers so whey wouldn't interfere with each other.

Bit of alloy welding rod.

Chopped up and fitted in between each washer.

Problem here in the next picture is that as the U bolt is tightened, it crushes the washer and jams the mechanism long before it stops the U bolt from deflecting as the carrier slides along. So (not shown) I replaced the bottom two washers with a nut so that two nuts would tighten down against each other without putting pressure on the bushing.

Anyway, it's done and it works. Actually it works pretty well.

It's not that good on 24mm ply, especially small distorted panels! It will zip through thinner sheets in a blink and the guide rollers at the bottom are surprisingly accurate. Slight tweak needed to get "perfect" 90 degree corners but it's within 1-2mm before I have even had a look at adjusting it.