Resistance-No Resistance wire welder

[LucentShadow]

To be more clear, my previous suggestion was to increase the capacitance (uF) and lower the max voltage that the capacitors can be charged to. If the max voltage can't be adjusted from the power supply, this could be achieved using a simple voltage divider, though it would waste significant power. It might be easier to use a different power source.

Interesting links, Aflatoxin. I'm glad you got it working, too.

 

[Aflatoxin]

Just built my 1st one / three today lol, I had the second try up and running, but fried it due to user error..... lesson learned. Now im on the third one, but this board is giving me hell. Can anyone tell me how to stop it from auto charging. I'll weld a wire together then it will automatically start recharging itself again.
And on another note of my learning the hard way as im sure many of you have that these lil suckers pack a punch lol zapped myself by accident

Hi. Are you using the LM board or a camera flash? I'm thinking the latter. Lets go in baby steps.
You need a voltage meter. You need a way to apply battery power to your project in small increments (if its a camera flash). You do not want to bring your capacitor to full capacity every time. What I did is this. - I wrapped the two AA batteries in tape, and bridged one end with the metal piece from the camera battery door. This makes a nice little package that you can briefly touch to the existing (+/-) terminals (little coils that batteries touch) on your flash's circuit board.

You simply want to charge your cap for a second, then remove your power source, and check the cap's voltage with a multimeter. (preferably without shorting the cap!)


Knowing the size of you capacitor will help us help you too! Pictures of your project couldn't hurt either.
Be safe.

 

[Covert]

Aflatoxin Thanks for the tip that was the info I was looking for : ) Yeah it's a camera board and I thought that it might also be a problem that I was overcharging. I have my Fluke hooked up to the cap until I can get a display. I try and be safe I have seen caps go and it put a healthy fear into me lol. Plus I always follow my dads #1 rule "Electricity is not your friend " lol

 

[dsy5]

To be more clear, my previous suggestion was to increase the capacitance (uF) and lower the max voltage that the capacitors can be charged to. If the max voltage can't be adjusted from the power supply, this could be achieved using a simple voltage divider, though it would waste significant power. It might be easier to use a different power source.

Interesting links, Aflatoxin. I'm glad you got it working, too.

If you include a resistor to the charging circuit, you can adjust the rate at which the cap charges - then the voltage is easier to control with the charging button.
There is really no need for a voltage divider, since the cap will charge to whatever voltage you want.

Have a look at this calculator Charging a Capacitor.

 

[turnforward]

My Hot Shoe camera strobe is pretty complicated with a lot of extra electronics. It has a light sensor in the front, an adjustment panel in the front for F-Stop settings, behind the strobe is a position sensor for when the strobe is set to bounce the light on the ceiling it can adjust the flash.

All I have done with it; is expose the strobe bulb, cut the trip switch wire on the bulb, take alligator clipped test/jumper cables from R-Shack and attach them to the solder points of the bulb, turned it on and off for one second and it just flashes and melts the wire between the alligator clips into thin air instantly when I connect them.

I put my M-Meter in the clips, and it went from 0 to 200 volts in one second of turning it on. Unless there is an easy way to slow down the charge of the capacitor by changing the 4X AA battery connector and/or putting something between the bat terminal and the unit itself, I can't see myself messing with all the internals of this thing.

I have found the video of modding the Fuji cam, but I can't find any Fuji cameras anywhere but I found Kodak cams at Target for 2@ $13. Are the flash boards the same as on the Fuji's?

Is it better to start from scratch and put together a project box? If you have done-so and it works great, could you Re-Post the schematics and parts list for us? I have seen them posted here before, but it seems everyone has tweaked them to make them better, and If you have made one that works great, Please post the details here.

If I can't buy one, I will make one. Because I love my Penelope clones (Euphoria), but I HATE twisting wire and trying to position the knots of the wire around the coils, even though they work well.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Innocuous]

It's trying to work the knots/twists into the coil that irks, (other than the time spent making them).. I hate one knot where it belongs and the other some 90 degrees from where I wanted it to end up ;-)

 

[Firestorm]

If you have done-so and it works great, could you Re-Post the schematics and parts list for us?

Read the very first post - there's a link to online instructions that includes the Digikey part numbers. I guess that some people really enjoy hacking old cameras. I found the posted instructions to be exactly what I needed.

 

[dsy5]

I put my M-Meter in the clips, and it went from 0 to 200 volts in one second of turning it on. Unless there is an easy way to slow down the charge of the capacitor by changing the 4X AA battery connector and/or putting something between the bat terminal and the unit itself, I can't see myself messing with all the internals of this thing.

I have found the video of modding the Fuji cam, but I can't find any Fuji cameras anywhere but I found Kodak cams at Target for 2@ $13. Are the flash boards the same as on the Fuji's?

Is it better to start from scratch and put together a project box? If you have done-so and it works great, could you Re-Post the schematics and parts list for us? I have seen them posted here before, but it seems everyone has tweaked them to make them better, and If you have made one that works great, Please post the details here.

If I can't buy one, I will make one. Because I love my Penelope clones (Euphoria), but I HATE twisting wire and trying to position the knots of the wire around the coils, even though they work well.

Thank you for your help.

You would need to remove the positive leg on the cap and put a resistor and a N.O. switch in series between it and the point on the board where you removed it. You really should get yourself a disposible camera or an LM board if you really want to make one that you can control. The Fuji's work good - I believe that is what I used in mine, but any camera board should work.
I'll have to pull mine apart to what parts I used and how I connected them - I made it a few months ago or more and just did it on the fly. Unless someone else posts theirs...

 

[Aflatoxin]

My Hot Shoe camera strobe is pretty complicated with a lot of extra electronics. It has a light sensor in the front, an adjustment panel in the front for F-Stop settings, behind the strobe is a position sensor for when the strobe is set to bounce the light on the ceiling it can adjust the flash.

All I have done with it; is expose the strobe bulb, cut the trip switch wire on the bulb, take alligator clipped test/jumper cables from R-Shack and attach them to the solder points of the bulb, turned it on and off for one second and it just flashes and melts the wire between the alligator clips into thin air instantly when I connect them.

I put my M-Meter in the clips, and it went from 0 to 200 volts in one second of turning it on. Unless there is an easy way to slow down the charge of the capacitor by changing the 4X AA battery connector and/or putting something between the bat terminal and the unit itself, I can't see myself messing with all the internals of this thing.

I have found the video of modding the Fuji cam, but I can't find any Fuji cameras anywhere but I found Kodak cams at Target for 2@ $13. Are the flash boards the same as on the Fuji's?

Is it better to start from scratch and put together a project box? If you have done-so and it works great, could you Re-Post the schematics and parts list for us? I have seen them posted here before, but it seems everyone has tweaked them to make them better, and If you have made one that works great, Please post the details here.

If I can't buy one, I will make one. Because I love my Penelope clones (Euphoria), but I HATE twisting wire and trying to position the knots of the wire around the coils, even though they work well.

Thank you for your help.

Looks like others have givin some good advice. All I can say is DANG! You must have on of them fancy fast charging professional flash's.

The only thing I could say to try (that is easy) is to try using just 1 or two AA batteries. It could slow the charging of your capacitor down to a controllable level. But your flash would have to be pretty old for that trick to work.

Also, you can't rely on the power switch to cut all power from the board. On mine, it seemed that with the batteries connected, it kept some stop-gap power on the the cap, preventing it from trickling down, even with the switch in the off position. So who knows what other parasitic power is flowing around the board. ???

Sorry I can't help you more, my experience is limited.

Good luck.

 

[turnforward]

Read the very first post - there's a link to online instructions that includes the Digikey part numbers. I guess that some people really enjoy hacking old cameras. I found the posted instructions to be exactly what I needed.

Thanks, I checked it out, and did just that. I ordered all the parts from Digikey and I already had an account with Amazon so I ordered the LM2577 from them. They only had one good one that was fulfilled by Amazon for just under $10. I like the alligator clips with the flat mouth, I guess I can use the clip insulators from the standard alligator clips I already have.

After this, I won't have to buy any hardware for years. I have my two Penelope clones, Steam Machine, RSST, AGA-T, 2 ProVeri (standard, Mini), Mech-Mod and maybe a lifetime worth of wick, Kanthal, no-rez, steel rope. After 3 years, I have finally found Vaping Nirvana. No need to try anything new again.

 

[Firestorm]

I'm so glad that it all worked out for you. I cannot praise mine enough. I know exactly what you mean - I really only need to buy juice and wick and I think I've settled on 2mm Ekowool for my Killer, Terminator, and Divers.

 

[turnforward]

My Cry For HELP!



I put this thing together last night, it kept me up till 1:30am. I tested it with my multimeter on the clips, and it was set on auto. The numbers did go up, and did drop to zero when the clips touched, but the meter was only reading it in Milli-volts. I held the switch down for a while and it got up to 35. MV (I didn't want to hold it down long because I didn't want to fry something). There was NO-SPARK or anything when I shorted the clips.

I just checked it out now and took a few measurements and double checked my connections with the instructions from the first post here. I believe I hooked it up right.

The battery measured 4.2 volts.
In the box from one of the grounds on the LMBoard and just after the fuse: 4.18 volts.
On the LMBoard from the Pos where the resistor is attached to the corresponding Neg pad: 3.73 volts
On the opposite side of the LMBoard between the Pos Diode pad and its Neg pad: 358. M volts
At the alligator clamps: It gets up to 57.6 M volts after about 10 seconds. It will go higher.
It has the same readings if I measure it on the welds at the capacitor (about 60.0 Milli-volts in 10 seconds).
I tried turning the screw several times in both directions, but I didn't notice and differences in the charging.

I hope someone can help me out. I would like to have the sparks fly!

 

[Firestorm]

Have you tried turning the potentiometer? You need to turn it clockwise to increase the voltage and it takes a LOT of turns to make it go higher (very fine tuning). If this is your problem, you're not the first to ask about it.

 

[turnforward]

Have you tried turning the potentiometer? You need to turn it clockwise to increase the voltage and it takes a LOT of turns to make it go higher (very fine tuning). If this is your problem, you're not the first to ask about it.

I'll try, but 60 mv after ten seconds if a very long distance from 1 volt, then again to get to 35 v. I'll try a few dozen turns and let you know.

 

[turnforward]

I could tell when I got to the end of the pot's range (I could hear a click on every turn). But i turned it quite a lot, and held the button for a long time, and it kept rising until it got to 0.12 Volt then stopped rising.

 

[dsy5]

Disconnect the cap from the board and make sure you are getting ~35V from the LM board
BTW, what is the value of that resistor, and how is it connected?

 

[turnforward]

Disconnect the cap from the board and make sure you are getting ~35V from the LM board
BTW, what is the value of that resistor, and how is it connected?

I disconnected it all from the Cap. and took the following measurements:

On the input side of the LMBoard: 3.714 steady VOLTS (same as when the Cap. was connected)
The output side of the board before the Diode: 380.0 MILLIvolts (same as when the Cap. was connected)
The output side after the diode: It would work its way up to 400.0 MILLIvolts, then reset and do the same thing.

The resistor I ordered from Digi-Key as it was laid out in the Instructables website. The receipt says 3.6ohm 10w 5%, on the resistor it says YAGEO 1315 10W 3R6 J. It is connected through: Battery pos through switch to fuse to resistor to pos input on LMBoard, I don't believe there is any polarity with resistors.

I guess I have a faulty LMBoard. I went to two top electronic suppliers in San Diego and they didn't have any LMBoards. I don't how to easily take the glued LMBoard out.

Is there anything that I am missing?

 

[dsy5]

I disconnected it all from the Cap. and took the following measurements:

On the input side of the LMBoard: 3.714 steady VOLTS (same as when the Cap. was connected)
The output side of the board before the Diode: 380.0 MILLIvolts (same as when the Cap. was connected)
The output side after the diode: It would work its way up to 400.0 MILLIvolts, then reset and do the same thing.

The resistor I ordered from Digi-Key as it was laid out in the Instructables website. The receipt says 3.6ohm 10w 5%, on the resistor it says YAGEO 1315 10W 3R6 J. It is connected through: Battery pos through switch to fuse to resistor to pos input on LMBoard, I don't believe there is any polarity with resistors.

I guess I have a faulty LMBoard. I went to two top electronic suppliers in San Diego and they didn't have any LMBoards. I don't how to easily take the glued LMBoard out.

Is there anything that I am missing?

I would concur that you have a bad LM board. I assume you already tried adjusting the pot on the board...

 

[turnforward]

I would concur that you have a bad LM board. I assume you already tried adjusting the pot on the board...

I guess I'll try to remove the board from the box with some nail-polish remover. I hope it comes off clean so I can send it back for another one.
Next time I'll test it before gluing!

Which LMBoard maker is the best?

 

[turnforward]

I got a new LMBoard and tested it before I fully installed it, and this one was working. SO I put it back together, set it to charge to 35.6 volts and started practicing my welds. I got one wire welded (30 Nic - 32 Kant - 30 Nic) I wrapped my wick for the Steam Machine. While putting the ceramic in the base I noticed it fit tighter because I always used 30 silver in previous builds. I forgot to put the grounding ring on the base and while removing the ceramic to install the ground-ring, I broke the ceramic and the wick. So I gave up.

Now today, I was trying to make the same wire except with the silver wire this time. It wasn't holding this time, and with some attempts - it wouldn't even spark. So I attached my M-Meter to bumped up or down the voltage a little and see what would work better. And I noticed the voltage would drop quicker after the cap charged and the button was released. The night before it was discharging 1/10th of a volt a full second with the meter attached, this night it would drop from 35 volts into the 20's within a few seconds of the button release.

I checked all the connections in the box, and they were all secure.
What is going on now? Is the Diode not blocking the charge from back-washing? Is the Cap failing?
I was so excited, I am so close to a "hassle free", Vaping nirvana.
PLEASE HELP!