Resistance-No Resistance wire welder

[TBinAZ]

Have u picked oult a new soldering iron? I need to look into getting a better one also

A Weller would be the one to buy, but this one gets some pretty stout reviews for the price point.

Soldering Station Features Continuously Variable Power Between 5-40W, a 1.5mm Pointed Tip: Amazon.com: Power & Hand Tools

ETA: In fact, I just ordered one, plus a quality tip set and quality tip cleaner for $40. My current iron is pretty worn out and a bit unreliable. We'll see.

 

[thatick]

That looks like it would be good for me, i wouldnt use it enough to justify any more $$. Need a good tip set also.

A Weller would be the one to buy, but this one gets some pretty stout reviews for the price point.

Soldering Station Features Continuously Variable Power Between 5-40W, a 1.5mm Pointed Tip: Amazon.com: Power & Hand Tools

ETA: In fact, I just ordered one, plus a quality tip set and quality tip cleaner for $40. My current iron is pretty worn out and a bit unreliable. We'll see.

 

[Kavik79]

lol yeah, that's the same one I ordered as well
same reason, I won't use it enough to justify a 'better' one. It'll be lucky if it sees more than a couple uses a year, I don't need anything more expensive or fancier

 

[dsy5]

Why buy any NR wire? Pull a strand of wire out of the wire you use for mods. It welds very well.
Silver is soft and bending it several times to wrap around the wick weakens it to the point of breaking. At least that's what I experienced.

Yeah, I use strands from appliance wire - they are tinned and work very well. I just finished making three coils using it and except for a couple of bad joins at first, all three coils are working well. When a good weld is made, it seems to be stronger than when using nickel wire.

 

[Dnerve]

So I followed gsaf's tuto to the letter. All I did was replace the board with this one instead to get a little bit more power.

It does not seem to work. The reading I have on my multimeter is around 2 Volts when I press the button and it slightlyvaries up or down depending on the direction I turn the screw. Battery is a 18650 and reads 3.9V.

I've triple-checked the connections and layout and everything is according to plan.

Any ideas? Bad board?

 

[TBinAZ]

So I followed gsaf's tuto to the letter. All I did was replace the board with this one instead to get a little bit more power.

It does not seem to work. The reading I have on my multimeter is around 2 Volts when I press the button and it slightlyvaries up or down depending on the direction I turn the screw. Battery is a 18650 and reads 3.9V.

I've triple-checked the connections and layout and everything is according to plan.

Any ideas? Bad board?

It appears to me that board requires at least a 4.5v input. My memory is getting pretty bad, but one solution I saw was to run a 24v power supply to the board. I guess you could try running 2 18650s in series to overcome the required input, or resort to switching to a 9v battery for input. The 9v is going to be in my plan once I get to adding one of my LM2577 boards to my current setup. Takes up less space in my current box. I'm no electronics wiz, but that is my initial observation.

 

[mre777]

So I followed gsaf's tuto to the letter. All I did was replace the board with this one instead to get a little bit more power.

It does not seem to work. The reading I have on my multimeter is around 2 Volts when I press the button and it slightlyvaries up or down depending on the direction I turn the screw. Battery is a 18650 and reads 3.9V.

I've triple-checked the connections and layout and everything is according to plan.

Any ideas? Bad board?

With that board your going to have to put two 18650 in series for it to function like TBinAZ says.

 

[Dnerve]

It appears to me that board requires at least a 4.5v input. My memory is getting pretty bad, but one solution I saw was to run a 24v power supply to the board. I guess you could try running 2 18650s in series to overcome the required input, or resort to switching to a 9v battery for input. The 9v is going to be in my plan once I get to adding one of my LM2577 boards to my current setup. Takes up less space in my current box. I'm no electronics wiz, but that is my initial observation.

Hm thanks for this, I thought it would work. So what kind of 9V battery? Any suggestions for a power supply?

 

[BJ43]

Hm thanks for this, I thought it would work. So what kind of 9V battery? Any suggestions for a power supply?

I am using a 2 cel lipo with a similar board...

 

[TBinAZ]

Hm thanks for this, I thought it would work. So what kind of 9V battery? Any suggestions for a power supply?

LiPo would be ideal, but I'm going to use just a conventional 9v to start with and see how it does.

 

[Dnerve]

Would something like this do the trick @9V or even 12V? It is rated 2500mAh...

Seems to be cheaper than a LiPo + charger, I don't mind having to plug it in...

 

[dsy5]

Would something like this do the trick @9V or even 12V? It is rated 2500mAh...

Seems to be cheaper than a LiPo + charger, I don't mind having to plug it in...

That would work.

 

[Dnerve]

Thanks guys! Seems to be running now, got a few spark but weak soldering spots with 32 A1 and 30 NR 999 silver at 35v. Still got to find the sweet spot.

Another thing: Any idea why the voltage starts dropping when I stop pressing the button?

 

[jmarkus]

breaktru found that the volt meter impedance makes the voltage drop slowly. if youre using a meter with low impedance itll drop the voltage...just try it without a volt meter attached.

 

[Kavik79]

man, that first shock will make you jump! LOL

Apparently I got it all wired up right though. Charging and holding steady at 35v
Just need to go through and solder up some of these twist connections.......then continue to wait for my kanthal to be delivered
It's been a week today and it hasn't even shipped yet. Why is it always the first part that you order is the last one to arrive? LOL

 

[Dnerve]

breaktru found that the volt meter impedance makes the voltage drop slowly. if youre using a meter with low impedance itll drop the voltage...just try it without a volt meter attached.

Right, got a couple of solid welds. Re the voltage drop. Seems to be happening anyway: I've memorized the last reading before removing the multimeter, then hooked it back 5-10 secs later and it was lower than the latest reading. I'm using gsaf's layout. is this normal? with those fluctations, I have to get my timing right otherwise voltage is too low....

 

[Dnerve]

Well, after almost 2 hours trying, it seems I cannot get the settings right for joining 2 AWG 32 wires. One Kanthal A1 and one .999 silver.

I've beens as far as coiling and the weld broke. Any attempts to re-weld at tha spot was failed. I get an arc allright. Tried from 30V up to 40 with various from weak solder point to silver wire melting but never a good, solid joint....

The only thing I am lacking is alcohol as I haven't been able to find any in Ireland....All they have are some lotions...:s

 

[dsy5]

Can't find alcohol in Ireland? That just doesn't seem possible... Seriously, quite a few of us have had problems with silver. Have you tried lightly sanding it (or using a scotchbrite pad) to remove some of the tarnishing? Nickel seems to work best, but as breaktru and I can attest, regular (tinned) stranded wire seems to work very well.

 

[xMackx]

Did a test, I made a solid weld of 33 awg kanthal to a 3mm thick stainless steel pin. Opens up applications for welding my coil into place onto my home built atomizer.

 

[TBinAZ]

Well, after almost 2 hours trying, it seems I cannot get the settings right for joining 2 AWG 32 wires. One Kanthal A1 and one .999 silver.

I've beens as far as coiling and the weld broke. Any attempts to re-weld at tha spot was failed. I get an arc allright. Tried from 30V up to 40 with various from weak solder point to silver wire melting but never a good, solid joint....

The only thing I am lacking is alcohol as I haven't been able to find any in Ireland....All they have are some lotions...:s

Yeah, really, no alcohol in Ireland?

Anyways, I found that any spark at all would cause a poor weld with any type of silver wire. Too soft. Not sure if you caught it, but Breaktru has a short video where he welds together two wires with no spark, I believe at 27v or the like. Can't remember the size of the cap, but it was large. Even if you do get silver to stick, it is usually too soft to take a lot of twisting or pulling and will eventually separate from the res wire because it's just melted onto it, and not melded together.