Welding Tips and Tricks

I got this in the mail today.......Now what I need is the Choke thingy and the thingy to discharge the capacitor after the welder is turned off.............

That weld was made with inw3ld Fusion...............AZ

This weld was with the setting at MAX with .035 Blu3 D3mon wire. I can see what others talked about that wire, spatter is almost the same..............one of the conversion said he used 2 things only, the Bridge Rectifier and the capacitor, I guess he discharges the capacitor by touching the ground clamp with the electrode after turning welder off, is this a good idea? Or should I wait to find how to make a choke and find the proper resistors to drain the capacitor? Thanks..................AZ

Is that galvanized steel? If yes keep your head out of the smoke plume, the fumes are toxic.

Can you get a tighter weld shot, in focus? That would be helpful for troubleshooting.

Well, some weld got on both pieces of metal and some didn't.
Both pics look like typical welds from a low amp cheap flux cor welder.

Artie F. Emm wrote:Is that galvanized steel? If yes keep your head out of the smoke plume, the fumes are toxic.

Can you get a tighter weld shot, in focus? That would be helpful for troubleshooting.

I can try but photos are from my cellphone........the tubes are galvanized, I use a air filter mask............the first welds I tried were hudge pop corn, like the actual size of a pop corn lol, I haven't finished the fence, so I have more welding to do, I will weld after I finish the AC to DC conversion............thanks to you all for helping, got a few more photos to upload.............AZ

AZlink wrote:

Artie F. Emm wrote:Is that galvanized steel? If yes keep your head out of the smoke plume, the fumes are toxic.

........the tubes are galvanized, I use a air filter mask............

A filter isn't going to protect your lungs very well from galvanized fumes, a respirator is needed. OR, definitely grind all that galvanizing off, OR, weld in fresh air VERY CAREFULLY. Filter masks are for particulate, not fumes. The adverse effects are not pretty when someone ingests these fumes.

cj737 wrote:

AZlink wrote:

Artie F. Emm wrote:Is that galvanized steel? If yes keep your head out of the smoke plume, the fumes are toxic.

........the tubes are galvanized, I use a air filter mask............

A filter isn't going to protect your lungs very well from galvanized fumes, a respirator is needed. OR, definitely grind all that galvanizing off, OR, weld in fresh air VERY CAREFULLY. Filter masks are for particulate, not fumes. The adverse effects are not pretty when someone ingests these fumes.

Thanks for the warning, now thanks to you sir, I have learned that detail, again thanks......I am doing the welding outdoors pretty windy here where I live..............AZ
Check this photo, still from my cellphone but I tried my best to take non blurry hoto.

Hello gang, sorry it took long but as you know I am a cancer patient and took a few days vacation at the worst hotel, hospital, but I am back, this photos are not a finished job, I like to have everything hooked test and when all goes according to plan I connect everything the right and safety way, all now is well connected with heat shrink thingys, electrical tape as secondary cover, bolted, I still need the correct way to discharge the capacitor, I get the big spark when I touch the gun with clamp exactly like it was explained in the videos....but some said the X resistor will affect the soldering others said a different resistor value will do the job without affecting the soldering....any help from the experts is appreciated.......thanks AZ

That is the capacitor, But now I have to questions...
The right resistor to drain the capacitor.
The back of the Bridge Rectifier aluminum, some say it cannot touch the metal of the welder others say it can.....wish one is the correct answer? Thanks in advance again for your time nd help............AZ

AZlink wrote: The back of the Bridge Rectifier aluminum, some say it cannot touch the metal of the welder others say it can.....wish one is the correct answer? Thanks in advance again for your time nd help............AZ

depends.
need to test it with your meter to see if the back of the rectifier is live or not. some packages use the back as another terminal. i'm not familiar with those so can't say.

Walk in the park
Go on Miller or HoFartsa site & pull up the diagram & part list for a small machine.
See what size resistor they use
Get the same resistor & pit it across the cap.
Problem solved

Insulate the rectifier from the machine, and check the temperature of the aluminum back. It is probably a heat sink or a heat sink contact emitter to shed heat.

Chances are you need a big heat sink and some condictive grease to keep from cooking the rectifier.

Franz© wrote:Walk in the park
Go on Miller or HoFartsa site & pull up the diagram & part list for a small machine.
See what size resistor they use
Get the same resistor & pit it across the cap.
Problem solved

Insulate the rectifier from the machine, and check the temperature of the aluminum back. It is probably a heat sink or a heat sink contact emitter to shed heat.

Chances are you need a big heat sink and some condictive grease to keep from cooking the rectifier.

It is the heat sink, I will install a heat disipator from desktop Proccesor with fan, but the heat sink of the rectifier its the only thing that has 1 hole and 1 open hole for holding it with bolts, if it cannot touch the welder's metal I can install 2 bolts inside a hose and inside the welder I can use sch40 PVC so the bolt can connect with a nut inside the sch40 PVC having no contact at all between the aluminum and the Welder's metal.......be right back with a photo..........AZ

Hello gang, got this liquid cool system from a dead Tsunami Desktop with Fan.............

Hello, a Mod or Admin that can add this photo to my previous replay, the cellphone's internet doesn't allow me to upload 2 photos..........AZ

Sorry to dredge up an old thread. Just finished the conversion on my HF 90 A flux core with parts that I've had for over a year. 100amp 1000volt rectifier (I feel the 150 amp 3 phase probably are not fully 150 amp on one phase), 2 paralleled 33000 mfd 50 Volt caps. I used 4 AWG for hook up to/from rectifier and through the choke, which is only 12 turns through a ferrite ring. Used 6AWG to connect to the caps (flattened 1/4" copper tubing to join them) with the 50 ohm 10 watt ceramic resistor across them. Recitfier is mounted on ~2"x 6" x 1/2" aluminum plate with high-dollar heat paste that I had a bunch of left over. That is mounted under the mid-deck beside the xformer. The choke (on the +) is up with the wire feed and tapped into the electrode line there. Caps in front of the xformer on the bottom. A Folgers plastic coffee bucket was cut up and used as a fan shroud, and as extra insurance against undesired shorts.

Haven't tried it yet, maybe tomorrow if weather holds.

Nice job - always great to hear follow up on an idea or project -I hope it works well for you after the effort put in - I confess to some confusion as even the cheapest nastiest welder sold is DC & you can buy the 130 amp version of this under any number of brand names for about £79 new so it hardly seems worth the work - but I guess if you access to all the parts it's just your time & why not.

Tried it today. Much better than before, but found that I have to cut the wire right at the exit of the torch. This gives a short delay before the wire makes it to the workpiece, giving the cap time to charge. Otherwise, it just sticks to the workpiece and doesn't start arcing. Did a ~2.5" bead without hitting overload. A lot less sputter and better penetration.