My homemade portable welder

[Rick V]

Hats off to you... planning, perseverance and alternative engineering.
You overcame a lot of real-world obstacles... tenacious!
Good to see it up and running... can't wait to see the welds!

[MilitiaMetals]

I will definately take some pictures, but only after the governor has been installed, I currently have just been revving the engine to 2500-3000 and whilst welding it drops to 1500-2000, it is a little erratic so the weld consistency is not the greatest as the RPM fluctuates a couple hundred thus allowing the amperage to fluctuate a little. I am actually getting used to it lol. I still think its a good welder, just needs the governor, and then it will be a "great" welder lol. I am glad I have been takin my time as I have re-engineered my origional desing quite a few times.

[MilitiaMetals]

The air compressor keeps up, but I am going to add another compressor to the set up so that one isn't working so hard, there is no real fins or fan to cool them so I figure If I cut the run time in half I will more than double their lifetime.

[anickode]

Instead of using a converted Air conditioning compressor, you should consider using a belt driven air brake compressor. They frequently use oil cooling, which could easily be tied into the engine's oil system, either by using a stack plate on the filter (used for a lot of cheap aftermarket oil coolers) or porting into the main oil gallery for the supply. They are designed for continuous high RPM operation at highway cruising speeds on air brake equipped vehicles and they put out a TON of volume to accomodate heavy stop and go driving.

[MilitiaMetals]

Thank you very much, never thought to use a semi compressor......I used the york because it has its own oil bath and was easy to modify, I think I will put another york on it for now as I can get them for free.

[Bandaid]

Do you get the york compressors from a car or truck? if so... what is the best model to pull them off of? I was thinking of installing a setup on my blazer so i could have onboard air.

Thanks!

[MilitiaMetals]

You will have the most luck finding them on cars as they were more likely to have them versus a truck having air. But they are the same either way, none is better than the other. Mine is off of a 79 and older Ford F100 truck as it does not have the threaded fittings for the lines to hook up, it just has the barbed nipples. You can find them on older Chrysler, Dodge, AMC, Ford, Lincoln trucks or cars and many others probably too.

I use this website for helpful info on modifying the pump and hookups.

http://www.jedi.com/obiwan/jeep/yorkair.html

I did not tap and thread a piece to block the oil port, I just drove a chunk of 1/8 welding rod about half inch long into the hole, with the end of it mushroomed, works great.

[Bandaid]

Thanks!

[MilitiaMetals]

Of course remember to knock the flux off and wire wheel it very well too lol

[MilitiaMetals]

You will still get a bit of oil in your air line, expect to top it up often if you use it lots. I have filled my 25 gallon tank ten or twelve times and it has used a third of the oil I put in. I just use 5w30 oil as its cheapest and lubes just as good as others.

[Alberta Farmer]

You can also find lots of york compressors on old farm tractors. Only problem I foresee from using a truck air compressor is how to drive it, since most have a stub or spline face that drives from the same gear that would otherwise drive the injection pump.

Bruce

[MilitiaMetals]

I agree with you Bruce, it would definitely be hard to drive. Plus they are ten times more expensive. I am sure the york will get the job done, I am mainly going to be using the compressor for my mobile tire service, and really only need large amounts of air when filling large tractor tires and it does the job fine now, I just don't want to be caught with my pants down ever and burn the compressor out. So I am definitely going to run 2 York 210's. Should be fun watching it build up air that fast lol.

[WeldorWes]

i would run the 2 but only have power to the compressor clutch for one so you can switch to number 2 when number one burns out if needed

[anickode]

MilitiaMetals, do you by any chance know of a source for these aircraft generators? I have been looking for one, and all I seem to find are a very few, very beat up ones for very high prices on Ebay.

[MilitiaMetals]

Sorry no I do not, I only know of the ones in my local town of 350 people. I have found 4 so far, I own 2 and of the othet 2 the one is wrecked and the other is not for sale yet, and if it is I will buy it for spare parts lol. I found some on ebay as well.

[MilitiaMetals]

Have not picked up another compressor yet but I did manage to get a deal on a 2000w Continous Inverter, now I will be able to run my grinders and other electrical equipment





. I have thought about mounting it on the welder somewhere then plugging 2 extensions cords in, cutting the female ends off and wiring them into a 2 plug socket, but I think I would rather have the inverter mounted in the cab out of the weather and from the major vibrations.

[superwelder]

having it in the cab would be a better idea. vibrations would not be good for it. do you have a tool box in your truck? if so, maybe you can mount it in there or some other enclosed location, that way you could avoid having to run long extensions from it.

[MilitiaMetals]

Well I was thinking I would mount it behind my seat and my welder will be on the deck right behind the cab so the cords should not be too long, what do you think? Or I could mount an outdoor weather proof plug socket on my headache rack when I build it.

[superwelder]

i would just mount it behind the seat. i don't think running a socket off of it would be worth the trouble. when you mount it you might want to mount it on isolators. i've never done this with my amps but you have a work truck and i'm sure it goes to much worse than my cars do

[anickode]

A 2000 watt inverter needs a lot of juice... Perhaps installing a 150+ amp alternator on the welder wouldn't be a bad idea.

[MilitiaMetals]

A 2000 watt inverter needs a lot of juice... Perhaps installing a 150+ amp alternator on the welder wouldn't be a bad idea.

Surpisingly the 75 amp one is keeping up great so far, I never really used the full 2000w and don't think I ever probably will, worst case I can fire up the truck aswell as they use the same battery.

[superwelder]

hmm might want to look into getting a secondary battery so you don't leave yourself stranded someday. if you do get another battery don't forget the isolator.

[Arjay]

Reviving an old thread because I'm curious to know how the welder is running. MilitiaMetals, is your induction coil still doing well? Does it run hot or need any special cooling?

MikeGyver made a comment on the first page, pointing out that the way the coil is mounted in the vintage plans essentially turns it into a transformer (because both ends of the steel core were touching the metal frame). Does anyone know if this would noticeably reduce the inductance of the coil? If so, could it be remedied by isolating one of the mount points?

[Bluewelders]

Inductors are also made with transformer type cores,.
If it would be better or worse would depend on several factors.

[Arjay]

Coils of all kinds can be made with ferrite cores, but what I'm wondering is if it matters how a steel-core induction coil is anchored to its frame. If you anchor one end of it with a steel bolt, you've grounded the coil to the frame. But if you anchor both ends of it, you've now made a loop instead of a straight core. I have no idea if that would really affect the coil's inductance, but it seems worth asking about. I saw MM's coil is mounted by one end, and he wrote earlier that it made a big difference just having the coil present in the circuit. I wonder if the arc would be more or less stable if the other end of his coil was also grounded to the frame.

Sorry if this seems like a tedious or stupid question. I'm asking because I'm trying to build a welder too, and I don't want to f*** it up.