[7.06.19]We Don't Need no Stinking Batteries: Wiring up a battery powered MITERS Saw
Description of Project
When working on another project I came across an issue with the tooling at MITERS. Our only MITERS saw was battery powered... but in the last year we threw away all our old tool batteries and standardized. So none of the batteries fit the MITERS Saw. That's when I decided to shift gears and focus on making the MITERS saw run off any of our D.C. Power supplies, since it will never need to leave MITERS or be used on a work site.
Processes Applied:
Summary:
So, the battery doesn't exist anymore for this tool and I want it to run off any standard D.C. power supply. Simple enough.
So first, I connected some banana clips to the leads and connected them to a power supply. I carefully brought up the voltage while actuating the saw to determine which lead was positive and which was negative. Once determined, I measured out a rough length of cable for both leads so that the saw could be used on the floor if need be. After this step, there are two main ways to keep two wire cables organized when you are using two independent wires: (1) wind them together using a drill and a vice, (2) heat shrink them together at roughly even spacing down the cable. The first is simple and quick, but it has one downside - your overall length gets reduced. The tighter the twist or the thicker the gauge, the more length you lose. Since I didn't want to use up a bunch of my own nice flexible 14 gauge wire for a communal project, I decided to go with the heat shrink method.
Once done, I carefully soldered one end to the leads in the drill handle, then attached banana jack connectors to the other end. Simple enough, but to really make this MITERS Miters Saw, and also durable... I decided to pot the old battery terminal area with hot glue. But it had a sizable volume! One trick I have found is that you can cut up unmelted sticks of hot glue to fill in the volume before extruding a layer of hot glue into the gaps and the top of the cut-up sticks. That way you get a hot-glue 'epoxied' cable/attachment that should strain-relieve that game for years to come.
So a pretty simple afternoon project; I ended up throwing a few labels on: (Run @ 24 volts with battery or power supply) and of course (MITERS - Miters Saw). I couldn't help myself :)
