[deadbodyman]

Heres what I need to do.I want to be able to cut off the welding current while not stopping the wire feed...Mabee a foot control or something...what I want it to do is weld the wire to the metal then cut off the current while still feeding the wire out so the wire is welded to the metal then I can cut off the wire from the torch and use the wire to pull dents out...thereby eliminating the need for a stud welder...I need to know if a foot switch is what I want and if so where do I connect it..Is it even possible????
Any thoughts???

[MARTINSR]

Wow, that's pretty creative. I am curious to see what can come of this.

Brian

[BigEsGarage]

Do you have a Arc Welder? I've done this type of thing clamping onto a gas torch type welding rod at a low amp setting and after the rod was fused to the work just let go. Never tried it on sheet metal but hey.

[41'srfun]

Originally Posted by deadbodyman

Heres what I need to do.I want to be able to cut off the welding current while not stopping the wire feed...Mabee a foot control or something...what I want it to do is weld the wire to the metal then cut off the current while still feeding the wire out so the wire is welded to the metal then I can cut off the wire from the torch and use the wire to pull dents out...thereby eliminating the need for a stud welder...I need to know if a foot switch is what I want and if so where do I connect it..Is it even possible????
Any thoughts???

How about using something like a battery kill switch on the ground cable, just before the ground clamp? It would kill the current flow of the arc and still let the wire keep feeding. That way you wouldn't have to mess with the inner workings of the welder itself.

[dstinch]

real simple. Get one of those dent pullers that screw into the sheet metal and weld on the end of it a 2 inch piece of 3 3/2- 1/8 inch stick rod. Then with your mig tack it on the dent and when you hit it it will pull the dent then break off. Repeat the process till your happy. Simple and fast once you do it a few times.

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by 41'srfun

How about using something like a battery kill switch on the ground cable, just before the ground clamp? It would kill the current flow of the arc and still let the wire keep feeding. That way you wouldn't have to mess with the inner workings of the welder itself.

BRILLIANT!
Use a momentary normally open switch. Step on it to make the circuit, lift your foot when you want the arc killed, brilliant I tell you!

Brian

[tech69]

now the next question...what size wire? Seems like it would have to be pretty big.

[carolinacustoms]

Originally Posted by tech69

now the next question...what size wire? Seems like it would have to be pretty big.

Agreed I dont think the wire would be strong enough, but I could be wrong. If you don't own a stud gun, why not just use the old screw in type puller and weld the holes shut when done. Or weld several tabs of metal and pull with a jaw type puller then grind off?

[timothale]

My old Airco tig has a hand crank amp controll and HI freq switch. It would want to keep welding after I turned of the HF switch. I never changed it but I have a couple of Motor starters like used on commercial equipment, They are made work on 3 phase but you just hook up the 2 wires for single phase, they have the actuating coil that can be interchanged for different controll voltages, I was going to use a 110 v coil and a $ 20 foot pedal from graingers. But I bought a Newer Lincoln Sq wave 255 Tig. I still like the old Airco to stick weld with since I can use HF stick when welding on painted dirty farm equipment. The Lincoln HF only works on Tig. you would use the foot pedal on the weld power supply circuit.

[deadbodyman]

Originally Posted by 41'srfun

How about using something like a battery kill switch on the ground cable, just before the ground clamp? It would kill the current flow of the arc and still let the wire keep feeding. That way you wouldn't have to mess with the inner workings of the welder itself.

I was thinking about the ground but theres a lot of current going through there ...I think I'll have someone pull the clamp while I weld and see what happens...

[deadbodyman]

Originally Posted by dstinch

real simple. Get one of those dent pullers that screw into the sheet metal and weld on the end of it a 2 inch piece of 3 3/2- 1/8 inch stick rod. Then with your mig tack it on the dent and when you hit it it will pull the dent then break off. Repeat the process till your happy. Simple and fast once you do it a few times.

sure for big dents that require lots of pulling that 'll work,.. even connecting 4-5 studs together and pulling them all at the same time.this would be more for golf ball size dents and dings...One quick zap with the welder then pull the wire with a pair of vice grips or vice grips welded to a puller. The thing is a welder is a neccesity and almost everyone has one but a stud welder ,Thats a luxury that;ll be used very little so most DIY's wont have one ..converting a mig to do this would be pretty handy...

[deadbodyman]

Originally Posted by tech69

now the next question...what size wire? Seems like it would have to be pretty big.

I'm using the thinnest wire you can get, 020 mabee but its pretty strong and should be able to pull small dents and dings I would think...

[deadbodyman]

Originally Posted by timothale

My old Airco tig has a hand crank amp controll and HI freq switch. It would want to keep welding after I turned of the HF switch. I never changed it but I have a couple of Motor starters like used on commercial equipment, They are made work on 3 phase but you just hook up the 2 wires for single phase, they have the actuating coil that can be interchanged for different controll voltages, I was going to use a 110 v coil and a $ 20 foot pedal from graingers. But I bought a Newer Lincoln Sq wave 255 Tig. I still like the old Airco to stick weld with since I can use HF stick when welding on painted dirty farm equipment. The Lincoln HF only works on Tig. you would use the foot pedal on the weld power supply circuit.

would that be on the primary side of the transformer alowing current to the rest of the machine ? You wouldn't want to switch the secondary side, would you???

[deadbodyman]

Originally Posted by carolinacustoms

Agreed I dont think the wire would be strong enough, but I could be wrong. If you don't own a stud gun, why not just use the old screw in type puller and weld the holes shut when done. Or weld several tabs of metal and pull with a jaw type puller then grind off?

I do have a stud welder but the main problem is you have to grind no less than a quarter size area for the gun to work also if a ding is in the middle of a hood the amount of pressure it takes to make an electrical connection makes the ding worst when it gets hot...
If we can get this to work all it would take is a tiny little hit with a grinder just enough for the wire to make a connection and a quick zap with the welder and you can pull the exact amount as needed by leaving enough paint so you can see when its right...Thats the one advantage a screw type dent puller has over a stud puller ,you can see what your doing by looking in the paint

[timothale]

I haven't looked at a wining diagram to see how one is wired, but if the welding circuit is separate from the feed roller motor and gas solenoid . then the foot pedal could be uset to cut off the weld like on my lincoln tig that continues gas flow when I stop welding.