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I finally got my reworked TIG foot pedal together and it's an improvement over the hard to use pedal supplied with the welder. I grafted the modified welder control box onto a bass drum kick pedal from Craigslist using XL timing pulleys and a belt to couple the foot pedal's 90º travel to the control box's 30º travel and there is zero slop in the system.
The foot pedal has thumbscrew adjustable spring force for pedal resistance built in and the large pulley has a notch milled into the hub which provides a hard stop for the off position while the manual control on the box sets the max current at foot pedal fully down. For now I have a length of belt spliced together and though it might work for some time I can now measure for a single loop belt in the final configuration. The control box moves up and down on the vertical bar to set the belt tension and 4 clamps fasten it hard in position.
It's more robust, stable and heavier than the original control, the mechanical linkage provides finer control of the welding current and it looks like it can take the normal abuse in a welding shop.
I just wish that mechanical components from China weren't sent by rowboat because this project took two months mostly waiting for that large pulley.
ETA: If you decide to try using XL pulleys, be careful buying because the ones sold as XL for 3D printing have a non standard pitch and won't work with standard XL belts with 1/5" pitch. If the ad doesn't explicitly state that it has a 1/5" pitch then I pass on it.
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