Resistance-No Resistance wire welder

[BorisTheSpider]

Maybe how I said it was confusing. The battery output is not adjustable. The boost converter adjust the voltage output to the welding cap. There is no regulation on the output of the cap, it is a dead short that creates the weld, it puts out pretty much exactly what is put into it, just a whole lot quicker.

Gotcha. That's what was throwing me off too. Not saying I know it all, but that seemed far-fetched to me. So rather, it's a method for controlling what goes into the capacitor, as there is no way to control what comes out.

When you put it that way, yeah, it seems pretty simple.

What would be pretty slick is just allowing the power supply to be a 510 connection. I mean, basically anyone on here has a handful of devices with a 510 connection. Then, all regulation could work with whatever power supply used. Also, the design wouldn't rely on a specific battery or type of battery. Of course, that can all be done without the 510 connection I suppose. Whatever, I still think it would be neat.

 

[gsa]

Gotcha. That's what was throwing me off too. Not saying I know it all, but that seemed far-fetched to me. So rather, it's a method for controlling what goes into the capacitor, as there is no way to control what comes out.

When you put it that way, yeah, it seems pretty simple.

What would be pretty slick is just allowing the power supply to be a 510 connection. I mean, basically anyone on here has a handful of devices with a 510 connection. Then, all regulation could work with whatever power supply used. Also, the design wouldn't rely on a specific battery or type of battery. Of course, that can all be done without the 510 connection I suppose. Whatever, I still think it would be neat.

I like it. It has a momentary button too. You would just need to sacrifice an old carto or atty and you would have your battery to booster connection. All my mods have a ggts connection though, so your on your own for that one

 

[dsy5]

I've got an 120V variac - just need to throw a diode and a resistor in there (and a switch, of course) to charge the cap and I can experiment with what voltage works the best on various wire gages. Hell, I might just use that as my setup - won't be making that many coils where it would need to be portable anyway.

 

[breaktru]

The Spark-O-Matic in the works. Thanks mre777. Great idea

 

[BorisTheSpider]

Wait...I'm not sure how breaktru wired it, but it did just occur to me...wouldn't it make sense to connect after the camera switch rather than right at the capacitor? I mean, couldn't you then have a built-in activation button. Rather than the arc occurring just when contact is made, you could control it a bit better. Like this video shows:



EDIT: Err, the video doesn't show up for me. Here's the url: http://youtu.be/wMoydTN8QAk

 

[breaktru]

I was able to tack 999 Silver 30ga non resistance wire to 28ga Kanthal A1 wire but it takes practice on how long to hold the charge button.

See more HERE!

 

[jmarkus]

I was able to tack 999 Silver 30ga non resistance wire to 28ga Kanthal A1 wire but it takes practice on how long to hold the charge button.

See more HERE!

awesome!!

the black button to charge, is the red button an on off? or vice versa? what about the 2 leds? looks like you have a ton of wires in there...

are you just using a 14500 for the battery?

so many questions...i gotta build one!!!

 

[breaktru]

awesome!!

the black button to charge, is the red button an on off? or vice versa? what about the 2 leds? looks like you have a ton of wires in there...

are you just using a 14500 for the battery?

so many questions...i gotta build one!!!

I used what I had on hand, except for the Disposable camera.
The left black button is a flash light ON/OFF switch. The red LED above it indicates the ON position. Had to pick thru dozens of LED's to find one that would work w/ a 1.5v battery.
The right pushbutton is a N.O. momentary which you hold to charge. When charged, the LED above the PB lights. I removed it off the board and placed it into the case.
I am using a 1.5v AA battery. The camera came w/ an AAA.

 

[jmarkus]

thank you, sir!

 

[BJ43]

Just ordered these cheap. Film is expired.

3 Pack Disposable Cameras 35mm Single Use Film Camera 35 Wedding Experment Art 074101095302 | eBay

 

[BJ43]

I used what I had on hand, except for the Disposable camera.
The left black button is a flash light ON/OFF switch. The red LED above it indicates the ON position. Had to pick thru dozens of LED's to find one that would work w/ a 1.5v battery.
The right pushbutton is a N.O. momentary which you hold to charge. When charged, the LED above the PB lights. I removed it off the board and placed it into the case.
I am using a 1.5v AA battery. The camera came w/ an AAA.

Did you leave the flash attached? Can't see on the video or pics on your site if you remove it.

 

[breaktru]

Did you leave the flash attached? Can't see on the video or pics on your site if you remove it.

Yes, I cut the fire contacts. The flash will not trigger without them but the cap will still charge.

 

[jmarkus]

thanks so much break!!! think i figured out how to build this bad boy. so about 10 bucks to build, super simple, and LOTS of sparks. how fun.

i had to lay it to grasp it, but heres what breaktru did (from what i can tell)

 

[gsa]

I was able to tack 999 Silver 30ga non resistance wire to 28ga Kanthal A1 wire but it takes practice on how long to hold the charge button.

See more HERE!

Nice!

I see you hooked the dmm to it while charging the cap. By measure this voltage you can probably fine tune your arc and come up with a chart for what voltage to use for what size wires. If we know the uf value of your capacitor we can calculate the total joules required to weld the wires. This could be helpful when looking at other ways to build the same thing. I think all you really need is a old dc power supply, a resistor, a switch and a cap, many modders have that stuff already so it could end up being a $2 mod for just the cap and resistor but need to refine the formula for sizing those.

30g silver to 28 Kanthal is probably the toughest test too, good job man.

 

[gsa]

I wanted to be able to go back and edit my first post in this thread so I could put in direct links to finished builds, but this forum won't let me do it, that stinks.

 

[mre777]

I was able to tack 999 Silver 30ga non resistance wire to 28ga Kanthal A1 wire but it takes practice on how long to hold the charge button.

See more HERE!

Awesome little unit you built there breaktru! I can't wait to box mine up. Ive just been busy moving so I haven't had any time. It does take some getting used but it is a cheap build and its fun sparking things together.

 

[TBinAZ]

Crap, I'm just going to mod a camera like you did, mre. How many times will you really need it if you build a coil correctly, ya know? Definitely will disable the bulb though... lol

 

[dsy5]

I rigged up my variac with a full wave bridge rectifier (couldn't find a good high amp diode lying around) and a series 20Ω resistor - works quite well, but as breaktru mentioned it takes some practice to get the charge button timing right. Welded some pure nickel 32 ga NR to Nichrome 80 34 ga - got a couple of good ones and a couple that the NR fell off when trying to wrap a coil. By varying the variac voltage and getting the charging time right, it should make some decent welds. Practice makes perfect...

One problem I noticed is that the small alligator clips I used don't close real well and that could be causing some of the bad welds - had 'em in my junk box; I guess I'm gonna have to spend some money on this thing now!

 

[TomCatt]

, yeah, cut the flash and run a couple of wires from the cap to the outside of the camera. On/off switch from the battery? Should be workable.

 

[par292]

i wished i had one of these, too bad im not a technical person, hope this idea catches on and i can buy one from somewhere without having to take a small loan out to pay for it... good job yall