This is my new build. I’m in welder hell. Two that aren’t working now and I guess I’ll have to dig out my old Hobart buzz box to finish this thing. That’s a PITA. Plus it’s just AC. I hate welding AC.
The video is barely coherent but basically it’s just an updraft charcoal with a nozzle within a piece of square tube that’s a quarter inch thick wall. I think people that have tried to just slot the nozzle have had poor luck but I did a flute nozzle on a different project and didn’t get as good a result as others here have. If the slit doesn’t work I’ll just weld it back up and drill holes. I have an air hose fitting that feeds water into the square tubing and plan to drill a couple of small holes in that and expand them if necessary. Hoping that the water in the tube can be moderated so that it just builds steam and feeds the reaction rather than jets out as a liquid. I’m watching how Matt is working around that so I don’t have to go down too many dead ends.
For stick welding I definitely prefer DC. I’ve run 1000’s of pounds of 7018, 9018, 11018, stainless, monel, nickel, hard facing and probably others.
I’ve made converter rectifiers for welders before. Mine were full wave using 4 rectifier diodes. I was stunned to find that Miller only used a single stud mount rectifier in their Thunderbolt welders from 30+ years ago. The difference between half wave DC and full wave DC is noticeable but not horrible.
If the current taps on your welder don’t go low enough for small electrodes such as 1/16 inch - I used the open nichrome wire heating element from a clothes drier as a resistor. Automotive booster cables work to connect from the coils to the part. Just watch for the clip getting hot from the heating element/resistor over time.
Hobart markets a grade of 7018 that is rated for AC and actually works similar to a DC grade of 7018. I discovered it a few years ago at a Tractor Supply. I’d lost my inverter DC stick welders in the plant fire and needed to install a thumb on my excavator so was intrigued enough to buy some. It worked well with 3 different A/C welders I used.
Good quality 7014 works OK with AC once you get used to operating with a longer arc.
edit - do not buy welding rod based on price. In reality - the cost of the electrode is a small portion of the total cost for performing the weld when you factor in the preparation, set up, performing the weld and post weld finishing. I read this decades ago in a welding publication. I was reminded of this via the school of hard knocks when I bought some 7018 at Harbor Freight. It was horrible to use. So much so that I gave it away. Electrode is rated by the metallurgical properties of it’s deposit - not what it is like to use. Just because the weld deposit meets the requirements of 7018 doesn’t mean it is a good product to use. This is one product that brand really can make a very large difference on what the product is like to use.
Totally agree about the HF rods and their flux core. Just miserable to try and work with. I usually buy Hobart because it’s at Tractor Supply and that’s convenient for me. I have E-7018 rod and it does work fine but I don’t like the sound of it or any AC. Kind of crackles instead of hums. You probably understand that but most people think your crazy. Over many years I can hear a weld just like musicians can hear a slightly off tone. Anyway I’ll be finishing this project with 3/32 6011, but I won’t enjoy it.
Yes, I know what you mean by welding by sound - even though my hearing loss exceeds 70% now.
I don’t use 6010 or 6011. Not for anything. You won’t find those grades in my shop. Dad had some back in the 60’s when he made a welder out of a large battery charger that had bad selenium rectifiers. He struggled with the low voltage from the charger and the rods. Then got some 7014. Never used up the 6010. I had to use 6010 when in high school shop class. grrrr. I never bought any myself.
Just got reminded of something. decades ago I had a farm client who had me do some mobile welding for him. He muddled with simple repairs but knew when to say a repair was outside his skill level. He had me come in to repair a machine so he could use it one more season and then sell it. He was retiring so thus I knew any work from him would wain. He asked to try my welder to get an idea of the difference with DC over AC. Whew - I warned him that one or 2 rods was not going to give him a realistic idea of the differences. I told him the rods had to be kept in sealed containers - not in a coffee can hanging on the back of the welder. He didn’t have much money to buy another welder but wanted to play with DC more. I asked if he had a large battery charger. Sure! Then he showed me a 200 amp wheel mounted charger that he used for starting equipment. I said he could use the rectifier in it to make DC with his welder by opening the case and making a connection. I told him to just make sure the cooling fan would be working. He brought in some practice welds he had made. He was pretty happy with having something to play with. I didn’t know it at the time but I was not to see him again. The reason he was retiring was that he had terminal cancer.
I know that you can easily upgrade those Hobart and Lincoln buzz boxes. I’m pretty electronically inept. Did just order a new welder off Amazon. I’ll post it in tools and tips. 'Won’t get here for a week though so I just keep struggling with what I have. Only ever ran 7014 for flat welds. Only rod I’ve ever run in 5/32 because it fills fast after a root pass with 7018. Very seldom use 60 anything rods but the tank on the gasifier is pretty thin and I don’t have good enough amperage control on the buzz box to run the 1/8 7018 I have. Good point about keeping the rods dry. Makes a lot of difference especially for the flux on 70 series rods. I always worked in the field. We used to put light bulbs in an empty 50 lb rod can for a rod heater. I have worked around a lot of pipe fitters. They always used 6010. Of course that was many many years ago. Probably all use MIG now.
The inverter based machines are nice if you get a decent one. I got spoiled and started out with Thermal-arc. - a 150s and a 250GTSW with water cooler and foot pedal. Sadly - the fire consumed them along with my Hobart 120 MIG and a host of other machines.
I knew I wanted an inverter stick and TIG capable machine again and an inverter MIG. I wanted 110/220v capable. I bought a Yes welder 205DS which is a 110/220v machine. It’s been ok for the 3 1/2 years I’ve used it. I’d highly prefer knobs for current and wire speed rather than having to modifying the “synergistic” settings. They offer other machines now with those types of controls. Lots more money though. I figured that I could risk the lower cost & quality concerns I had by how much money I was saving over some of the big name companies. I hope your choice turns out to be good.
Before I bought the 150s TIG welder I was welding 18 and 20gauge stainless steel countertops and installing fittings and garbage disposal bowls with just an AC welder and the clothes drier heating element. The smallest stainless I could get was 1/16 inch. The Westinghouse welder had a tap at about 18 amps but it was still too much so used the heating element to reduce current. Stainless is kind of different to work with. I still use some for fussy odd jobs that don’t call for stainless but benefit from how it works to weld with…
I’ve been puttering around with this build and hour or two a day. Finished the nozzle, glued the stainless pot hopper to the base with red RTV. Stitched the tank sections together but I"ll wait for the new welder to final weld everything. Made brackets to weld it and the 5 gallon pail filter to the sawmill and stuck them on to measure for piping.
Nozzle.
I cut a four inch slit in the 3/4 pipe a 1/16 of an inch wide and drilled two holes in the water reservoir also 1/16. Location is shown in picture with welding rod sticking out. Processing: 20240717_144326.jpg… Pictures are not loading. Probably something I screwed up.
I am using a 5 gallon shop vac for a filter container and start up blower.
It is rated at 85 CFM but seems to move a lot more air than the 130 CFM bilge blowers I have been using on other units. Maybe because it’s pushing through inch and a quarter ports rather than the three inch bilge blowers. I guess I’ll have to try it out to see how it goes but if it’s too strong I’m wondering if a speed control rheostat would damage that motor. I think I heard you can only use them on brush type motors. Any body know if that right?
I thought shop vac motors were brush type. That is why the bypass motors are needed if you want to suck gas through it so the brushes don’t ignite the gas.
I wasn’t sure, but assumed brushless since they are claiming 4 HP out of a small motor. I know those HP rating are all smoke and mirrors. I know some guys are using Kirby Vac motors. They must be at least as strong as a small shop vac.
The Kirbys use a snail blower like a turbocharger, not sure what kind of design most shop vacs use, can’t be too different unless it’s an inline blower. The ametek lamb blowers like what Matt uses on his units are just about the same as a Kirby as well. Motor is external for those, though.
I’ve seen vacuum blowers like the (old) Kirby’s that have a separate blower for motor cooling and no connection between the main air flow and the motor. Some suck air through the motor and into the vacuum’s flow. This would dilute the gas, but maybe not ignite it (at least until you stop and re-start it ). I think I have seen vacuums where the motor cooling air flows into the vacuum flow, but as a part of the external housing, not the blower itself. Again, probably okay if you don’t stop and re-start. Do you feel lucky?
On the other hand, the bilge blowers look like they put the motor in the middle of everything, and there are lots of non-deceased users, so maybe a sleeve or ball bearing is sufficiently explosion-proof. Of course, if you sold non-explosion-proof bilge blowers, you would seriously lack repeat customers.
Tom, for what is worth. Bilge are axial and vacuüm cleaners have radial pumps. Bilge does a lot CFM and no pressure, vacuum cleaners a lot of pressure and little CFM.
Not devoting a lot of time to this project because summer, but it’s just about ready for finishing touches. Right now the air/fuel valve is just a PVC 1 1/4 ball valve but that’s not real good for fine tuning. I’m wondering if just the choke plate for the carb would be good enough to control A/F mixture. 6:20 AM and it’s just getting light out. I see summer slipping away and there’s already not enough hours in the day to get everything done.
If you could plumb in between the throttle and choke it could work. Unless you mean using the choke plate on some pipe. You got some allthread or an old bolt and some washers? Could always make a WK flap.
Thanks Cody. That was helpful. I’m sure the existing carb is toast because it has had E-10 sitting in it for a year and a half so I have no qualms about messing with it. What I mainly want is to not have to make an adapter plate to the head so even if the everything was routed out of the venturi and only the choke plate remained, that would be OK. Had not thought about piping the gas in from the float bowl cover. I’ll have to look at mine and see what that would take.
Just make sure you don’t tear up the Venturi threads where the float bowl is screwed into, he also drilled some holes around the Venturi area that was still inside the float bowl. Flow would be pretty limited but it’s an idea.
What engine are you using? Is it one of those Honda 13hp or a 198cc Honda clone?
). I think I have seen vacuums where the motor cooling air flows into the vacuum flow, but as a part of the external housing, not the blower itself. Again, probably okay if you don’t stop and re-start. Do you feel lucky?