Build Your Own Arc Welder Pdf
Welders – build your own. I wanted to point out a couple of links for building your own welder. This gentleman sells plans for an arc welder made from used.
How to convert scavenged microwave parts into a useful arc welding machine. This is part 1 of 2, and focuses on the modification of the transformers. Endcard Links: Arc Welder Pt. 2: Stick Welder: The Metal Melter: Make The Melter: See What Else I’m Up To: Instagram: Facebook: Pinterest: Business Inquiries: For business and sponsorship inquiries please contact us directly: WARNING: I run the system on 240 VAC, which is metered by a power controller I built called the 'Scariac'. It's similar to the idea of a Variac (variable auto-controller), with a few more hazards to be aware of. The Micro-Welder itself does not have an on-off switch, and can pose a fire hazard if plugged directly into a mains power socket.
I made this to be used exclusively with the Scariac. (Look for how to build that in another project.) Stick welding, and/or the modification of a Microwave Oven Transformer (M.O.T), can be very dangerous and presents risk of UV radiation, shock hazards, burns, fires, fumes and a multitude of other risks.
This project should not be attempted without adult supervision and adequate training. Misuse, or careless use, of tools or projects may result in serious injury. Use of this video content is at your own risk. Music By: Music by Jason Shaw (TU-FeelsGood2B) Project Inspired By: MattsAwesomeStuff Project History & More Info: Did you know you can make an AC arc welder using parts from your microwave? I used 2 transformers from 2 different microwaves, and about 50' of 8 AWG stranded copper cable from a local hardware store.
You could probably save some money by scavenging for free wire, but I decided to look at the 'end of coil' section at the hardware store, and was able to negotiate a deal for half price on the cable, so the 50' only cost me about $17. The modified MOTs will have a new secondary that is 18 turns of the 8 AWG cable, and both MOTs are tied together in series. I also found I needed to run the system on 240 volts AC to get the power output for good welding. My goal was 30+ volts AC with a variable amperage from 0-120+ Amps. There are a few videos on the internet that show various people who have tried making a stick welder from a Microwave Oven Transformer.
There are even a couple of tutorials suggesting how to do it. However, in my experience of trying to duplicate these projects, my MOT welder either got so hot that the insulation on the wires melted and shorted it out, and/or it didn't provide enough power to strike and maintain an arc. The idea of the Microwave Welder isn't new, but to date, I personally haven't come across a video or project where anyone actually welded anything with one of these 'so-called' microwave welders. The most that's been shown is to lay a bead on a piece of metal, which I didn't feel was very credible because this doesn't prove it can weld. My earlier experiments with 1 MOT could also lay a bead, but it didn't have enough heat or penetration to make anything stick. A welder also needs a way to reliably control the amperage (which no other project does).
I saw one project where dimmer switches were used on the primary coils, however dimmer switches are only able to handle around 600 watts, and these stick welders require upwards of 2,000-3,000 watts. In my experience, the dimmer switches fail very quickly and within a couple minutes of trying to weld. I'm happy to say that the welder in my project does work for me.
It welds 1/16' AC rods very well, and I believe the transformer temperatures are very reasonable and sustainable for the amount of welding I plan to do as a simple hobbiest welder.
I had no idea making a DIY welder would be so easy to do. And, it's pretty much FREE! Additionally, the stick welder you get is definitely better than anycheap commercial welder you can buy.
Why is this homemade thing better than something you can buy? Because when you factor in shipping and labor and the little bit of retail markup - the companies that make typical cheap buzz boxes will skimp on copper as much as possible. Whereas you can use enough copper in this to make something really juicy, and still spend less, to nothing, compared to a store-bought arc welder. So here's what you need to build a welder: - Two beat up old microwaves - Some 10 gauge wire - Wire nuts People throw out microwaves all the time, if you keep your eyes on the curbs. Or, you can get microwaves at the local thrift store for $10 each. Try the warehouse that processes donations - they have to pay to get rid of tons of broken ones. Stuff you need for welding: - ($16 and up) - ($6) - Vice grip or ($6 for either) - C clamp for grounding clamp -Thick nonflammable (leather) clothing that will cover your arms Disclaimer: High Voltage ELECTRICITY and lots of CURRENT!
Heat, electrocution, and DANGER! You could die and you could go blind. That said, try this at home!
See this for a lot of Here are the really good how-tos that this project is informed by: (via afrigadget) Dan Hartman's is good for reference, too. And here's the quickest way to with a bunch of 12 volt batteries.
Invite your non-hardware oriented pals over to help help dissect your donor appliances. They'll love it. David Grosof donated one of these microwaves under the condition that we take it apart together. Good safety tip: You'll find a gigantic capacitor inside the microwave. It looks like a metal can with two tabs on top.
Short it out to make sure it doesn't have any leftover charge on it, before you poke your hands anywhere near. Just put a screwdriver or something metal you aren't connected to, across the two metal terminals shown here. We wound 20 turns of 10-guage wire on each transformer.
That's just about how much wire would fit into the available space. It took a little over 20 feet of wire each. Tip: draw tally marks on your table to keep track of the number of windings. How does a transformer work? The primary winding is an electromagnet connected to alternating current.
The humming magnetic field of the primary induces a current to flow in the secondary winding. If both windings have the same number of turns, the output voltage is the same as the input.
(minus a smidgin due to eddy currents, resistance, etc.) If the secondary has more turns than the input, its output voltage is higher. That's the type of transformer you started out with. OUTPUT VOLTAGE = INPUT VOLTAGE.
(NUMBER OF SECONDARY TURNS) / (NUMBER OF PRIMARY TURNS) Our primary has 100 turns and gets connected to 100 volts AC. We're winding 20 turns on the secondary, so we'll get about 20 volts out. The available POWER STAYS THE SAME regardless of what the output VOLTAGE is. POWER (WATTS) = AMPS. VOLTS If the primary is made take 1000 watts (100 volts. 10 amps) out of the wall, we'll be able to take 1000 watts out of the secondary.
With 1/5 of the windings, we can draw 50 amps out of the secondary. That's the cartoon version with play numbers anyway.
Over here in our shed full of reality we've got two of these beasts in series and plan to short the outputs through a welding rod like Jennifer Beals. Let's just say we're going to pull a whole lot of amps, which is why we need to wind our secondary with such thick wire. The copper conductor in ten-guage wire happens to be 1/10' (0.1') in diameter. Here's a table of. Get out yer voltmeter: Here's the test to make sure the secondaries are both pushing the same direction. Our two secondaries in series produce 38volts AC with no load.
Showbox
That seems about right. If they'd phased wrong it could have been fixed by reversing the wiring to any winding.
Where Tim says 'out of phase' in the video, he means 'in phase'. That is, the center tap should be less than the outer two leads, and if things weren't that way, the transformers would be fighting each other, or phased wrong. Those skinny 1/16' electrodes cost about twice as much as thicker ones. We wanted to see how our welder works with thicker electrodes. The next size up is 3/32', but we got a box of 1/8' 6011 electrodes.
Build Your Own Arc Welder
When we pulled one out of the box we both said 'wow, that's thick'. We fired up our welder and I welded this bead across the diamond plate with 1/8' rod. The arc was pretty short but it burned in well and felt pretty good once I got used to it. I had to shove it in a bit more than I'm used to to keep the arc going, but sticking wasn't a problem. I welded a long bead and used up more than half the rod without stopping. That's the long weld in this photo. Then I set the 'torch' in this plastic tub so it wouldn't short out to anything.
I checked the transformers, and they didn't even get warm! 3/32' rods are less likeley than 1/8' to blow a circuitbreaker though. For your first welds get 3/32' 6013 rods. 6011 rods have thinner flux and make it easier to see what the metal of your weld is doing, but tend to spatter a bit more.
The next picture is for reference, from Udate 4/16/2008: This is now my favorite welder. I made new leads for it from a pair of jumper cables. I left one alligator clamp on for a ground clamp, and added a I've taught a bunch of people to weld using it. The next photo is That project was welded with this welder by total beginners using 3/32' 6013 rods. As you can see we have every other kind of welder, but the homemade ones are more fun. We needed some brackets for mizzen mast. So we went to the welding store and bought some 3/32' 'Hobart Smootharc+ 316L - 16' stainless welding rods.
They're only 12' long because stainless has high electrical resistance and they get really hot. After much designing and sketching Victor, Kenny, and I cut, drilled, bent and welded these brackets.
When it cooled the flux went 'tik' and fell off the weld. The dark area around the weld is soot from the flux.The welder could have handled much thicker rods due to stainless' high resistance and low thermal conductivity. Important: Use a fresh grinding wheel on stainless, or one that you only use on stainless. You'll get rust if you use any abrasives that have been used on non-stainless steel.
Same for the wrong wire brush. It will smear rustable iron on the stainless, and due to galvanic effects it'll rust quick if it gets damp. Where did I get the idea you needed TIG for stainless? Stick welds on stainless are just great! The welder was too hot for thin-walled tubing frames, I kept melting holes even with the 1/16' 6013 rods. So I plugged the welder into a variac dimmer and turned the power down about 30%. That gave me very fine control over power.
Marc Lander and I did some very nice welds as seen here. After a few we got good enough to do the same welds with 3/32' 6013 rods and no dimmer and not burn holes.
More tricks - I used my left hand to feed a piece of mig welding wire into the weld to add more metal in and soak up the heat. Here's Marc doing that. Any wire is fine for this, coathangers are traditional for muffler work.
Sand off the paint first if you don't like fumes. Stopping to eat lunch helped a lot also. Your welds won't be good when you're shaky and tired. I got my variac for free, don't buy one for this, they cost as much as a welder.
A solid-state dimmer that's rated for inductive loads does the same thing and costs a lot less. If you're feeling particularly fancy, you can add in your own scr-based switching circuitry to vary the power, like. ' said: Hey there, here's my welder based on your instructabletion. It outputs 35.5v, because the transformers were a little smaller than yours I think (couldn't wind a single more turn). So far I have managed to lay down gobs of metal on various steel objects in my garage, but I still suckat welding. Luckily I rented a nice welding video from Smartflix that had good reviews, hopefully that'll give me some insight into the process.
I did manage to lay down a 1' bead though! The whole thing is going into a tacklebox housing.Props for a great instructable. Thanks for it! Followed with: Heres another one, same basic welder, but its housed in a.50 cal ammo can. Looks pretty sweet.
Its relay controlled ( two 15 amp HVAC control board relays wired in parallel), I measured 24 volts ac across the output wires.its also sorta heavy, 30 pounds. Ahsan.sorry that you ran into so much trouble.I wish they were as wasteful over there as they are here (I have 8 transformers that I pulled from microwaves thrown to the garbage.free.hahasad but true. Anyhow you have to limit the current.a 5 pound transformer can only handle about 5 amps for a minute or so before the wire insulating the loops in the coil melts and shorts out. Good thinking.oil is used as a coolant.but it might be harder to get then water and also the fact that oil has higher viscosity (oil is more has more stickiness than say, 'water', it doesn't transport the heat away as well as something that is 'less viscous' (like water).so it will end up cooling it.but won't dump the heat as easily as something that is thin like water.still you could use it if you had it.(more is better (MOST OF THE TIME).overdesigned things NEVER BREAK.anyone who tells you different is a moron;) good luck man.