double sided fsw and isf

[freddi]

Thank you guys. I appreciate the time and effort you have put into this very useful reply.

Thanks Nick for the video, very useful. And yes, I understand that a real machine that was capable of that would have a value of at least 200 grand or so, we just want to create a prototype to prove that it is possible, it will obviously most likely not work and we don't have that kind of budget or resources.

The material that we are friction stir welding is a 6mm thick lead sheet as our customer has put this as a requirement but as it is proof of concept he is also happy for us to use plastics but he should prefer Lead sheets to be stirred.

One current design issue we are having is that we are struggling to create a good axis design to deal with the high radial and axial loads, we were thinking of using hardened steel rollers with large leadscrews, we want to do it as cheaply as possible but still be able to meet the high force requirement, any ideas on this considering there is the 2 z axis (up and down) and then other separate motors to power the machine?

We have an idea of the rigid frame, it has already been modelled and we know roughly the motors/spindle we will use.

I appreciate your time reading this message. Thank you.