Resistance-No Resistance wire welder

[gsa]

silver seems tough for sure...i wasnt able to get a good connection of 32 kanthal or nichrome to 30 or 28 .999 silver. i was able to connect kanthal to itself, but havent really played anymore. i have some 32 pure nickel on its way, ive heard thats easier.

What voltage were you using?

 

[dsy5]

Harbor Freight had a sale this past weekend and they had little cheap DMMs that run on a 9v bat for 2$ so I bought four of them I'm gona rip one down and mount in a box with the flash and posts so it will read volts out and have terminals for resistance checking as well.

Harbor Freight also had those multmeters a couple of months ago for free with a coupon - I really didn't need one at the time!

 

[mre777]

If anyone is having trouble getting free ones just say its for your kids science project for school. And if they still say no say "what about the children?!?"

 

[mre777]

Harbor Freight also had those multmeters a couple of months ago for free with a coupon - I really didn't need one at the time!

but free......
I am starting to rethink using this meter anyway because of the way its constructed. It is proving difficult to mount this in a box because the screen uses one of those rubber connector thingies that isn't really attached but has to be pinched between the board and screen I may just find a way to make the meter case big enough to fit the camera into.

 

[dsy5]

I finally got a couple of the spent cameras - have to put one in my case and wire it up. Going to add a discharge button and bleeder resistor inside the case - for the over-shoots.

 

[TBinAZ]

I got two of the Fujis with the AAA, and two others that didn't have a branding on the board and have AAs. I got an inline AA battery holder for my little box. Hot glue city. I'm having trouble with an intermittent open somewhere. Probably the charge switch. Grrrr.

 

[TBinAZ]

Alrighty then, got my little box dialed in now. Left some room for a voltage reducer button and an LED readout. Way too small though. Looks pretty "cavemanish" but oh well. Need to hunt down something slightly bigger. This one is about 2" x 4". Using some speaker banana connectors for leads. LOL

 

[dsy5]

I removed the flash and the charge and discharge buttons - more like pieces of copper than buttons. I'm going to solder the other buttons in their place on the board. The battery clips are somewhat like a holder, so I don't think I'm going to need a real battery holder - just a piece of plastic to keep it in place. It uses 1 AA battery.

I can tell it is already working good as I managed to shock myself a couple of times! Got it to charge to about 315 volts, should be more than enough for even the heavier wire.

 

[jmarkus]

What voltage were you using?

i tried like 50 times, all sorts of pulsing and voltages...anywhere from 100-300. the kanthal and nichrome burst before anything happened to the silver. maybe cuz its thicker?!

 

[jmarkus]

J, what size batteries and type of cameras did you come up with? Mine are Fuji with AAA batteries.

I'm wondering if all of them are the same, or if there is something we can look for that makes one type a little better than another....if that makes sense.

mine had an aa battery, i bought 2 cheap rite aid cameras and built miine this weekend. today they gave me a mix of fuji, kodak, and wallgreens brand...id imagine some have aaa and some aa

 

[dsy5]

Sounds like too much voltage... Are you keeping the Kanthal as short as possible, too?

 

[TBinAZ]

Like Breaktru mentioned, if you do a momentary switch, you can throttle the charge. Try that. I want to try and put some kind of custom regulation control in the mix, but didn't have anything laying about. We'll see how it goes.

Sounds like too much voltage... Are you keeping the Kanthal as short as possible, too?

 

[gsa]

i tried like 50 times, all sorts of pulsing and voltages...anywhere from 100-300. the kanthal and nichrome burst before anything happened to the silver. maybe cuz its thicker?!

50x sounds like the issue to me. The wire needs to be clean, every time you arc and it doesn't weld, the wire gets corroded and less likely to create a good weld. I meant to bring home a bit of 600 grit sand paper today to scuff the ends of the wire, but forgot.....

I would try adjusting the voltage and if it doesn't stick after 2 shots, snip the ends and try again until you find the right voltage.

 

[gsa]

Like Breaktru mentioned, if you do a momentary switch, you can throttle the charge. Try that. I want to try and put some kind of custom regulation control in the mix, but didn't have anything laying about. We'll see how it goes.

You can add a resistor before the cap and it will slow the charge down, that would probably be easier that trying to regulate the charge.

 

[dsy5]

You can add a resistor before the cap and it will slow the charge down, that would probably be easier that trying to regulate the charge.

Good point, gsa, increase the time constant some... One of my boards has a cap value and the other one doesn't - the labeled one is 80 µF @ 330 volts. Anyone else out there have values for their caps? To slow down an 80 µF cap you would need a fairly large value resistor - probably over 20kΩ.

 

[TBinAZ]

I really haven't had any trouble joining any of the R/NR wires I currently use, so as far as I'm concerned, this is a win. Not sure I want to get any more in-depth with this. It works for me so far. Cool stuff.

You can add a resistor before the cap and it will slow the charge down, that would probably be easier that trying to regulate the charge.

 

[gsa]

I'm pretty happy too although I see a pair of these glasses in my future.....next time the wife has her friends over, I am totally going to put these on, bring out all my gear and start welding wires at the dining room table. That will teach her to roll her eyes at my camera welder

 

[TBinAZ]

Dude, that is what I have to use most of the time. LOL. One of the best investments I have made recently, is one of those magnification visor things. Feel like a dork, but it works.

I'm pretty happy too although I see a pair of these glasses in my future.....next time the wife has her friends over, I am totally going to put these on, bring out all my gear and start welding wires at the dining room table. That will teach her to roll her eyes at my camera welder

 

[bapgood]

Nice!....go go gadget glasses : D

 

[jmarkus]

Sounds like too much voltage... Are you keeping the Kanthal as short as possible, too?

50x sounds like the issue to me. The wire needs to be clean, every time you arc and it doesn't weld, the wire gets corroded and less likely to create a good weld. I meant to bring home a bit of 600 grit sand paper today to scuff the ends of the wire, but forgot.....

I would try adjusting the voltage and if it doesn't stick after 2 shots, snip the ends and try again until you find the right voltage.

thanks guys...ill try all these amazing tips. i know ill get it. i finally put my set up in a box. i can easily control the output since i have my multimeter attached...ive been consistently around 165-170v's with the pulse method...super easy to control.