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"Pulling pins beats pulling Grandpa's finger "

With a Nomad Portable Welding Table and a DIY Slide Hammer Puller, you can remove pins lickedy split

One of the most useful tools you can ever make is a slide hammer puller welded to pair of locking pliers.

Modifying A pair of locking pliers with a groove cut in the jaws and welding a slide hammer in perfect alignment with the direction of pulling makes for a tool that can help you remove any pressed in pin or stud.

I needed to remove a pressed in alignment pin from a thick aluminum block the other day and here is how I did it.

The pin had been drilled out to the point where it was about 3/8" deep before the drill bit quit working.

Thats when the machinist called me to see if I could get it out.

Removing a pressed in pin is a pretty common need so if you are interested in starting a welding business, or just want to pick up some money on the side doing small welding jobs, being able to remove a pressed in pin is a good thing to know.

First, I needed to extend the tungsten electrode out far enough to reach the bottom of the pin where it had been drilled.

In order to extend the electrode that much, I used a gas lens style tig cup and gas lens collet body.

Next, I needed to make sure my tungsten was good and sharp so I could get a good crisp start without any misfires around the edges of the hole.

I used a cordless drill motor and belt sander to sharpen my 2% lanthanated 3/32" tungsten. There are lots of ways to sharpen tungsten and there is a lot of discussion on the different ways to sharpen tungsten electrodes, but for this job, I knew the belt sander would be fine.

Next, I knew the dowel pin was hardened A2 tool steel material so I selected er70s2 for the filler metal I used to build up a head suitable for grabbing with vise grips on the slide hammer puller.

I soaked the puddle with heat for a few seconds before adding rod so that the dowel pin would heat up and then shrink.

then I built up the head of the pin enough to grab it with the vise grips and slide hammer puller....It came out easy as pie.

The Nomad Portable welding table I was using had slots in the table top that made for a very easy way to position the part while welding as well as a way to clamp the part while I removed the pin using the slide hammer puller

All in all, the whole operation took about 10 minutes.

And that included setting up the portable welding table and folding it back up when I was done.

I highly recommend a portable welding table from Stronghand Tools for your garage or shop. I have 2 of them in my garage along with an extension leaf for bigger jobs.

Like a lot of folks, I am cramped for space and being able to fold up the table and hang it on the wall lets me park my car in the garage during the cold months.

You can buy a slide hammer puller kit at Northern Tool, Harbor Freight, or practically any auto parts store and then weld a pair of locking pliers from Stronghand tools, Vise grip brand, or any other brand to it to make the handiest slide hammer puller ever for pulling out pressed in pins.

A tip for making the groove slot in the locking pliers is to use a carbide burr.

A nice big groove cut in the jaws of a pair of locking pliers really helps in getting grip on the head of a pin. You will contour the head of the pin by adding weld metal to it but you need a good way to grab it once its welded.

Just hold the vise grips or other brand of locking pliers in a vise. Then put a 1/4" carbide burr in a grinder and gradually twist the tension knob on the pliers as the carbide burr removes metal from the jaws.

this only takes a few minutes and by having a symmetrical groove on your vise grips, you are less likely to break the pin before it pulls....its work the few minutes it takes in order to be able to easily remove pressed in pins.

There are a few tricks in creating the head on the pin in such a way that it is easy to grip with the slide hammer tool...the video above is pretty thorough in how to weld a pin in a way that makes it easy to remove.
exit slide hammer page and see welding dvd page

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