[DJDAudio]

Here is my Mig welder I built because I could not afford one.

Here is the gun a 600amp Tweco gun I got of eBay for $24




Here is the main unit




The Feeder is a Lincoln LN-9 Wire feeder ( or so I was told) bought it for scrap on eBay for $20
Here are the specs on it

Feeds up to 3/32" ( 2.4mm ) solid and .120" ( 3.0mm ) flux-cored wires, from 50 - 600 inches per minute ( 1.27 - 12.7m/min ) wire feed speed.

Had to make a variable speed 90VDC motor driver for it. But works great.
Also made the spool holder for 10lbs spools but have a small one on it now to test.

The bungee is my tension system for now haha.

Oh and I have in it 0.035 flux wire now.

The transformer is from an industrial UPS system it is 1’square and about 80lbs and can produce almost 500amp at 40VAC

Right now it is running at 50amp 220V and is about 180amp output DC or AC. Back of pic are the 600amp SCR rectifier bridge I got for $15 lol

[powerrodsmike]

AWESOME job how 'bout some pics of welds you made with it

With 180 amps you can weld just about anything on a car.

Start looking for a gas solenoid and regulator and a gas bottle.
Wire it in to the gun trigger and you can ditch that flux core wire.

I would want to cover it with a peice of lexan or something to keep metal chips and stuff out of the electricity

There is a thread right HERE from not too long ago where a guy made his own TIG welder out of an alternator and a bunch of scrounged parts. That thread got really popular.

This is what hotrodding is all about Building stuff!
later, mikey

[Henry Highrise]

Good Job......You do need to build a ventilated cabinet for it though because they tend not to feed good when the wire gets dirty and dusty etc.

[DJDAudio]

Originally Posted by powerrodsmike

AWESOME job how 'bout some pics of welds you made with it

With 180 amps you can weld just about anything on a car.

Start looking for a gas solenoid and regulator and a gas bottle.
Wire it in to the gun trigger and you can ditch that flux core wire.

I would want to cover it with a peice of lexan or something to keep metal chips and stuff out of the electricity

There is a thread right HERE from not too long ago where a guy made his own TIG welder out of an alternator and a bunch of scrounged parts. That thread got really popular.

This is what hotrodding is all about Building stuff!
later, mikey

Thanks for the kind words!!

I have a cover in the works alrady I have a 1/2" thick 4X8 sheet of plexy I need to work into a nice cover. I plan to clean up all the wires make it look real nice. I am getting a gas bottle here in a few weeks and will be sure to try that out.

I have different attachments I made for it.

I have a Tig tip a Stick tip and the Mig gun.

So I guess this is a Stick mig tig welder ha ha.

I need to work on the Tig part to make the arc more stable.

When I got the feeder it looked like this,



That took some time to bring it back to life.

[DJDAudio]

Would any of you guys know what the volt ouput of a normal welder is?

[58Chev]

Originally Posted by DJDAudio

Thanks for the kind words!!

I have a cover in the works alrady I have a 1/2" thick 4X8 sheet of plexy I need to work into a nice cover. I plan to clean up all the wires make it look real nice. I am getting a gas bottle here in a few weeks and will be sure to try that out.

Great project you got going there.

Don't forget to add a decent 4" or 6" fan to keep things cool. I have a no-name MIG and I added a 4" 120V fan from a server rack and I can double my duty cycle before the MIG shuts off to cool down.

Also,
It looks like you need to lower the spool so the wire feeds in as straight as possible. It looks like the wire feeds in at least a 45* angle.

[DJDAudio]

Originally Posted by 58Chev

Great project you got going there.

Don't forget to add a decent 4" or 6" fan to keep things cool. I have a no-name MIG and I added a 4" 120V fan from a server rack and I can double my duty cycle before the MIG shuts off to cool down.

Also,
It looks like you need to lower the spool so the wire feeds in as straight as possible. It looks like the wire feeds in at least a 45* angle.

The funny part nothing gets ever warm let alone HOT ha ha. IT must have damn close to 100% duty all components are ratted at close to 600amps. so no fan is needed as of now.

I plan to use a 50lbs spool Hence the large frame and height.
I have a small 5 lbs spool for testing still untill I get solid core and gas.

[farna]

Well, watts = volts x amps. The voltage will vary with the load on the welder in order to keep the amps steady. Amps is the volume of electricity used, voltage the "pressure" pushing it. Think of it as a bucket of water being filled. Amps is the amount of water going into the bucket, volts is the pressure of the water coming from the spigot. One of them has to be variable to keep the other steady.

[powerrodsmike]

Here is a link that may help a little.
http://www.key-to-steel.com/default....Article&NM=167

Some welding processes are constant voltage, some are constant current.
Later, mikey

[donsrods]

Really very impressive that someone could build one of these. My hat is off to you.

Don

[powerrodsmike]

Originally Posted by DJDAudio

Would any of you guys know what the volt ouput of a normal welder is?

I took a look at my 160 amp mig. the max open circuit voltage is 30 and the rated volts is 21 at full output.

My 300 amp hobart TIG has a ratings plate that says max OCV is 75 and 32 at full output.

my lincoln sp100 says 88 amps /18 volts There is also a "CSA" DC output rating of 62 amps/20 volts
later, mikey

[leblanc49]

Hi good job with the mig welder, I'm new in this forum, do you have more precise information about the transformer, I'm trying to build one but I need information about the primary/secondary windings and the wire size for these wirings. I also saw your schematic, have you done aother one with part list and component value. Again a very nice project

[Rodbuilder]

Not to be a killjoy for the kiddys, but isn't this nothing more than a huge waste of time? You can get on the Net and BUY a REAL 185 amp Clarke mig for less than $400........................ so why screw around making up this conglomeration that looks like something Rube Goldberg came up with??? Oh, I know - to show yourself it could be done - right???

[powerrodsmike]

T.L.B.

later, mikey

[Classix_Lover]

Originally Posted by Rodbuilder

Not to be a killjoy for the kiddys, but isn't this nothing more than a huge waste of time? You can get on the Net and BUY a REAL 185 amp Clarke mig for less than $400........................ so why screw around making up this conglomeration that looks like something Rube Goldberg came up with??? Oh, I know - to show yourself it could be done - right???

LOL!!!!!!!! What an ignorant statement and I'm not gonna sugar coat it, you're a complete and total moron for criticizing this guy for the amazing job he did at building his own welder for much cheaper because I dunno... maybe because not alot of people can actually shell out 400 bucks for a new welder. Maybe that's why he can't buy a REAL welder, next time you have a thought, let it go... and yes I quoted Ron White for that since it seemed to be the perfect time to say it. If I'm not mistaken, it sounds like you're jealous because you couldn't do something like this and instead do what everyone else does and buys a welder. Next thing you know, you're gonna start criticizing cboy for building his own rod because he didn't go out and buy the real thing!!