I welcome everyone to the channel for self-taught garage workers in welding and locksmiths. The screw holder is a pretty handy tool. Many have one, or they are eyeing it.
Like any mechanism, it wears out over time and starts to compress the electrode poorly. The situation is unpleasant, I want to throw it away and buy a new one! Do not rush, I will give a couple of tips, if such a problem has begun, how to easily fix everything.
The electrode can normally be held in one position - for example, at 45 degrees. But we rearrange it at 90 degrees, or insert an electrode of a different diameter, it starts to dangle, it is impossible to cook. First of all, we will do this operation.
We unscrew the movable head of the holder. The thread is long here, but turns pretty fast. We are interested in the end face of the conductive rod. He, as it were, with chamfers at 45 degrees, whoever has one, they know.
We take a small grinder and carefully make risks on the surface of this chamfer and on the surface of the very end of the rod.
We will solve half of the problem in such a simple way. The electrode will no longer pop out, insert at 45 or 90 degrees. But there is one more trick you need to know.
The movable ceramic head has a skirt like this at the bottom. It is about 15 mm wide, approximately, did not measure exactly. See what's next.
This skirt, when we clamp the electrode, should rest and press against the inner plane of the rubber handle. When this happens, the effect of an engraver in a threaded connection is obtained.
The spring-loaded effect prevents the movable head from unscrewing. But with worn out holders, when changing from one electrode diameter to another, or when changing the electrode attachment angle, the skirt may not reach the rubber plane. The solution is very simple.
Unscrew the movable head a little so that there is a gap with the rubber grip of about 10 mm. And with a little effort, we will move the rubber handle itself to the head. Now everything will tighten up as it should.
Friends, this advice is needed when your grip is clearly worn out. These 2 tips will help you significantly extend the life of your tool.