|
|
So I'm researching how to anodize aluminum because I'm getting too many scratches on my finished work and therefore want to anodize it so it is more scratch resistant.everything is pretty cheap, excpet for the DC power supplies. a 70 amp one is around $400 and that will only allow me to do 5 sq feet at a time, which is about 5 pieces of 1x1" aluminum angle every hour.I read on some other forums that you can use a Tig welder as a power supply. Obviously the duty cycle would have to be 100% so it would need to be on a lower power level.Has anyone tried this. The general warning was that many welders operate at the wrong voltage. around 15 to 30v is ideal for anodizing Type II.I'm not even sure how one would hook up a tig welder to a anodizing tank. I'm assuming you would attach the ground wire to the sacrificial plate/cathode and the "tig wire" to the anode (aluminun to be anodized). I think my machine won't even arc though if there is no gas pressure. Maybe I have to use stick mode?My gut feeling is it's gonna blow up my tig welder and kill me. LOL. but I have an inexpensive longevity 160sx that is a back up for my PT 275 and it does not see much use and thought it might be better to use it than spend $400 on one anodizing power supply. Actually I'd ideally like two supplies for $800 total. Anodizing gets expensive!
Reply:Any welding is going to run at 100% duty cycle at low enough output current. A 200 amp inverter would probably run at 100 amps indefinitely.During tig welding the arc is around 15 volts and stick is around 30 volts. Open circuit voltage is higher, more like 80v.The conductivity of the solution is what's going to determine how much current can be drawn. Id run it in stick mode just so you have more voltage available. Both stick and tig mode are regulated on the actual weld current (voltage is varied in real time in order to hold the current flow steady).It sounds to me like it would work just fine. Make sure to turn the high freq start off.Welding/Fab Pics: www.UtahWeld.com
Reply:How much hydrogen gas will you produce with that much current?????You should have a good vent system or you could go bang.
Reply:Yes I will have a good vent system, it will be done outside beneath a covered metal roof.I still do not understand how to hook up the tig power to my aluminum to be anodized. I was thinking of welding on a small piece of aluminum welding rod to my anodizing rack and then just taking out the regular tungsten out of the torch and sticking the torch on the AL welding rod. then I would slowly lower the footpedal to start the process and leave a brick or something on it and buy a big noisy count down alarm so after an hour I could take a look at it. Does this sound like a good plan?
Reply:I forgot my 160x has high frequency start and it cant be disabled. I dont even know what high frequen y statlrt really does except make the arc startWod this make it unuseable?
Reply:Place I worked at 10-15 years ago used a battery charger as a power supply. I don't know much about it though, as it "wasn't my department"!Andrew
Reply:battery chargers can be used but they aren't constant current so results are not as consistent from what I have read.
Reply:Originally Posted by AluminumWelderI forgot my 160x has high frequency start and it cant be disabled. I dont even know what high frequen y statlrt really does except make the arc startWould this make it unuseable?
Reply:Originally Posted by AluminumWelderI forgot my 160x has high frequency start and it cant be disabled. I dont even know what high frequen y statlrt really does except make the arc startWod this make it unuseable?
Reply:Just go try it already and let us know lol. I'm sure it'll work just fine in stick mode.Welding/Fab Pics: www.UtahWeld.com |
|
发表于 2021-8-31 22:05:01