Make your own ARC welder

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Looking through Junk in the basement I find an old Arc welderthat I purchased around 1965 from the Popular Science magazine.I open the case to find only Two coils. Nothing else...The coilslook like two slinkies in the slightly open position bolted side by sideto a flat piece of abestos.  Input is two wire 110 volt ac  with no ground.Output is two wires with the end of each wire attached to  onecarbon rod each....A handy clamp is provided to seperate the carbonrods from touching each other.....Close the clamp to touch the end ofeach carbon rod until the ARC is produced.....Talented people cankeep the arc going while watching the coils turn red hot.....One trip the the local hardware can find the components needed,minus the asbestos....One trip to a local welding supply can providethe carbon rods....My choice for the wire material to make the coilsis lacking, since when I built my circuit I could produce abouta 10 second arc, while the colis turned red hot and melted apart....Maybe I need an upgrade......
Reply:I'm working on finding all the stuff I need to convert an old Lincoln buzzbox into a tig machine.  Found some very interesting stuff on the hobart board.  Lots of good stuff on the web, just question the sanity of it sometimes.Patrick
Reply:as far as SANITY ??  i aint no shrink! but it can be done.  good luck   can i say,, more power to ya.     sounds like a fun project if the brakers hold out
Reply:Originally Posted by Short on ExpierienceLooking through Junk in the basement I find an old Arc welderthat I purchased around 1965 from the Popular Science magazine.I open the case to find only Two coils. Nothing else...The coilslook like two slinkies in the slightly open position bolted side by sideto a flat piece of abestos.  Input is two wire 110 volt ac  with no ground.Output is two wires with the end of each wire attached to  onecarbon rod each....A handy clamp is provided to seperate the carbonrods from touching each other.....Close the clamp to touch the end ofeach carbon rod until the ARC is produced.....Talented people cankeep the arc going while watching the coils turn red hot.....One trip the the local hardware can find the components needed,minus the asbestos....One trip to a local welding supply can providethe carbon rods....My choice for the wire material to make the coilsis lacking, since when I built my circuit I could produce abouta 10 second arc, while the colis turned red hot and melted apart....Maybe I need an upgrade......
Reply:Yes I agree...Why bother making my own Arc welder.....It qualifies only as a project of interest......I am amazed...by the fact of Simply coiling wires to dissipate some heat, and Two carbon rodscan actually produce an ARC....I own a cheap Arc welder, andit works much better.....than anything I can....or care to build....
Reply:The first welder I had I built myself. It was made from 4 modified microwave oven transformers. The little welder worked great, I think I spent $25.00 building it. It started out as a silly project for me, but it got me addicted. I've spent around $2500 since on welding equipment . I sold the little welder I built for $50 a few months ago.
Reply:Originally Posted by Patrick_76I'm working on finding all the stuff I need to convert an old Lincoln buzzbox into a tig machine.  Found some very interesting stuff on the hobart board.  Lots of good stuff on the web, just question the sanity of it sometimes.Patrick