After repairing a car, worn-out parts and assemblies remain, unsuitable for direct use, but which are of a certain value, both due to their material and residual functionality.
The ball joint for the front suspension of a passenger car, made of high-quality steel and retaining mobility in the joint, is no exception in this regard. If you can’t think of any ideas on how to use it in the future, then you can look at various sources and find a suitable and useful option for you.
Now we will consider the possibility of using an old worn out ball joint as a movable bracket with three degrees of freedom for attaching an angle grinder. What do we need to have available for this?
Required
We will need quite a few of the most common tools, materials and equipment:
- bench vice;
- welding machine;
- angle grinder;
- hammer;
- spanners;
- hex adapter with internal thread;
- bolt or stud, washers (flat and engraving) and nuts;
- drill with drill and cross-shaped bit;
- screws with wide washers.
Making a convenient bracket
1. We clamp the ball joint in a vice, screw the “original” nut onto the thread, if it remains intact, or select a similar one. We use a welding machine to weld the nut on the pin to form a strong, permanent connection. To do this, hammer the welding seam to remove scale, and, if necessary, re-weld the weakened areas.
2. Then we take a hex adapter with an internal thread, the outer size of which is comparable to the threaded hole in the nut. We weld it to the nut, holding it by the rod screwed into the adapter.
3. Next, we clamp the pin or bolt in a vice and shorten it from the side of the head using a grinder to the required length, leaving a section with a thread at one end that matches in size with the internal thread of the adapter.
4. We fix the modernized ball joint on the surface of the workbench in a place that will be convenient for future work with the angle grinder, taking into account the reach of the bracket and the weight of the angle grinder.
To do this, using the mounting holes of the ball joint as markings, we drill through the base using a drill and a drill of a suitable diameter and length.
Using the same drill and a cross-shaped bit, we screw screws with wide washers into the wooden base of the workbench, focusing on the previously drilled holes, and the corresponding location of the almost finished bracket.
We check the strength of fastening of the ball joint to the surface of the workbench and, if necessary, tighten the screws until the required result is achieved.
5.We screw a threaded rod into the adapter from above, on which two engraving washers and nuts are previously placed.
6. Now all that remains is to screw the rod into the threaded hole on the back of the angle grinder body, where the handle was previously, and securely tighten the nuts with the appropriate spanner.
This type of attachment of the grinder frees up your hands and allows you to place the tool in any position that will be most convenient for performing a particular operation when working with metal and other materials.
It may happen that the weight of the angle grinder will exceed the frictional force in the ball joint, especially if it is heavily worn. In this case, the expected result - fixing the tool in the required position - cannot be achieved.
But this fundamental problem can be easily eliminated. The simplest option: turn the ball joint over and purposefully hit the body with a hammer several times, causing it to deform. As a result, it will squeeze the ball of the finger more tightly and increase the friction force in the connection.
Another version of increasing the performance of our homemade bracket is technically more competent. It is necessary to drill the bottom of the ball joint housing, cut a thread in it and screw in a suitable bolt. With its help, you can adjust the friction force in the bracket and even fix it in the desired position.
