Anything new on foot pedal designs???

[jtybt]

My welding table is just always cluttered so I made a roll around table that slides under the other table and I use that 90% of the time. Since sitting at a 31" high table makes the foot pedal really awkward to use, I was wondering if you guys ever made a nice small, compact foot pedal. I always like the size of the foot pedals of some of the sewing machines since sewing machine tables (29")
are close to the height of my rolling table.

[performance]

We have had the new style for a few months now.

[jtybt]

Mark,

I see that in the 'Accessories' section, the foot pedal still uses the toothed thingy that turns the rheostat. That in itself requires a design with a high profile. The sewing machine design has a lever that turns downward pressure to horizontal rotating section of a 'wheel' that can easily incorporate either a tooth design on the outer ring or turn a different type of rheostat. It all can be incorporated in a 3" by 6" by 2" high base with a pedal that is only 2-3 inches high.


I think you could do wonders (and sell tons) with a design like that.

[performance]

As it says, some items may vary in appearance, or something like that. Some of our product pages have been updated...but its the same one Canada has been using for a year now.

[jtybt]

Do you have the particular values of the rheostat. Maybe I can modify one of my older sewing machine foot pedals to work on the TIG.

[performance]

47k for the panel controlled units

[parkour]

A quick eBay search turned up this pedal, which may be a good, but expensive starting point. I have no affiliation what so ever with this seller, I just searched and found a nice looking pedal.

[Timberwolf]

radio shack sells 50K pots for a few bucks. Then just need a microswitch. I've thought about making my own low profile one but instead I'm going to try to rig up a new torch style one that allows you to easily adjust the amps from the torch. There's a few companies with designs out now but they all seem to make it rather hard to adjust the amps and keep the torch steady.

but anyways long story short, just a 50K pot and microswitch and you can make your own...just need to get a hold of a connector

[parkour]

Everlast sells the connector separately.

[worntorn]

If I get time this month I might make a new foot pedal for the Everlast.

I made one for a bead roller project and I'm pretty sure something similar could be done for the Everlast, although the function is a bit different.

Will post it as a project if it happens soon enough.

Glen

[jtybt]

I'd like to know how it's done. Is there a wiring schematic that shows what wires to connect to what terminals on what switch/terminals or pot terminals etc???

[Timberwolf]

take a look at your pedal and pin it out. There's a microswitch to activate the arc and the POT to vary the amps.

[worntorn]

my hope is to use the same pot and micro switch but come up with a different pedal to house them in and a different operating mechanism.

The object would be to get a pedal that is closer to the ground, maybe made of a bit heavier steel or aluminum and also to move the pivot point closer to the rear or at the rear of the pedal so the pedal is less of a rocker style.

Glen

[jtybt]

This is a pic of the sewing machine foot pedal



This is a pix of the actuator lever at rest. Notice the short green, forked lever that swings the rheostat lever. This changed vertical pedal movement to the horizontal.



This is a pic of the rheostat lever when the pedal is depressed.



You can see, with relatively little pedal movement, quite a large sweep of the rheostat lever is made.


Anybody got an ideas how to convert this to a TIG pedal? I got no idea what the rating of the rheostat is. It's the movement that may be of interest.

I hope someone at Everlast can come up with an adaption that will make such a small pedal design available.

[performance]

You'd need to pretty much trash the pedal and use a 47 k pot and create a cradle that would slide onto the shaft for the arm to rid in. It looks as this is a multiple step, not a continously variable pedal.

[jtybt]

Yup, stepped design. Is there some kind of rheostat that can be placed in the position of the existing rheostat with the required rating?

If Everlast were to design a new pedal, a broader base would allow more movement and raising the base from 1 1/4" to 2" or more would still give you a very low profile. I bet you could sell thousands of these alone.

[worntorn]

the everlast pot on my PU205 turns a bit more than a 180 stop to stop. Haven't checked yet to see how much of this movement is necessary to go zero to full power. This is a lot of motion to contend with.

The ideal thing might be to get a POT that goes zero to full in about 15 degrees of rotation, then run it directly off the pivot.
That still leaves the micro switch to be dealt with. It could be done the same way as the original, just placed enough behind the pivot so that it switches as soon as there is a little down pedal motion, or up motion at the micro switch.

[jtybt]

A pie shaped geared wheel in place of the rheostat lever and a small toothed gear on the shaft of the POT (is that Potentiometer). That would turn the POT in excess of 180*...depending on the two diameters or circumferences.

[jtybt]

And making a base that's 6"x8" and 2" high would make it very stable and allow for quite a large gear to turn the POT's gear.

[performance]

SSC controls does this if this is an option people want. Any thing we do further with the foot pedal will have a significant price tag attached to it, equaling their price.