Arc welding pedal

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When Im arc welding I see it easy to use the pedal to control the pudle during arc welding. My question is I have a old craftsman arc welder and I want to know if there is a way to put a pedal control on it. Thanks
Reply:While im not familiar with the control circuitry of the craftsman box... I built one ( from a design I got off another welding forum ) for use on my Hobart TR250.  It worked till I got my new TIG machine.Was basically a light dimmer circuit on steroids.  Two back to back and parallel SCR's to 'dim' the power to the welder.My machine used a saturable core reactor to control welding current... nothing solidstate anywhere to be found.How does yours control current?  There might be a way to remotely control that circuit and accomplish the same goal.
Reply:Yea it dosen't have any elctronic controls on it. There is a slide bar that is on top of the transformer and two outputs for the electrode holder. A high and low side.There is no elctronic control for the voltage.
Reply:If I did it right, I should have uploaded a schematic...  I found this while trying to control my welder, I did NOT come up with it.  A guy named Mike W did...(just paying credit where credit is due)Is your machine a ac/dc machine?  If it's ac, you could make it a DC machine, with a variable rectifier.How adventurous (?) are you with electronics?It's addicting... add control here, add control there... next step is more power.I used this control on my welder till I got my Dynasty200dx...  It seemed to work fine.  Welder made some unusual noises, but worked fine.  Got the arc to turn down to a point my autodarken helmet wouldn't stay shut.Good luck. Attached Images
Reply:I made a pedal using the same schematics, works very well if you know how to do anything with electronics i suggest building it. Also if you need the scr for the circuit i can sell you one.
Reply:Yea its a ac only arc welder. Im going to take the scamatic to school and build it.(I love high school) Thanks
Reply:another variation of the schematic, was able to use readily available parts ( aside from the SCR's.  revamp the control circuit with a $4.99 (or cheaper) light dimmer switch from your favorite hardware store.You'll need the diodes, but the dimmer switch has the diac built in ( part of the internal triac).  I'll post a modified schematic... next post.
Reply:then never fails... I have two schematics on my computer, but not the circuit here to look at... but, if I remember correctly, this is what it should look like... If anyone spots my error... feel free to correct it.basically, the SCR's are the same, but the control cirutry has been replaced with the dimmer. Attached Images
Reply:Is that just a normal dimmer swith? ThanksDo you fly the American flag?Then Drive a American car!
Reply:are you talking about a stick welder, if so , i would like to know if you could just use a dimmer switch by itself and just run it in line with the + cable leading to the stinger?
Reply:Actually it is not on the output of the welder it would be setup on the input where the 110 or 220 is input I might take my extra scrs and make this project with a dimmer, if it works i will sell it for cost if anyopne wants it.
Reply:Using the dimmer ( just plain old dimmer from favorite hardware store ) seemed to be a better idea, than dinking with diacs, caps, stuff like that.  Was a brain fart that started out as "ya know, diacs aren't carried at radioshack, can we do away with it?"  I didn't give a second thought to the fact that the SCR's arent' carried at 'shack either, lol.But yes, it controls the voltage going IN to the welder.
Reply:huh, thats pretty intresting, i always thought that if you lowered the amps/ watts going into the welder it would fry it, i just figured you had to use it on the + cable. i kinda want to get a small welder and experiment with that, dont wanna use any of my every day welders for the fear of destroying one of them in the process of experimentation.