CNC-ish metal bending for the DIY Spot Welder

[@fredgeitner713]

Absolutely beautiful workmanship on the spot welder. I also really like that lathe toolholder.

[@Preso58]

Thanks for that. I always say "If something's worth doing it's worth overdoing". As much as I liked that QCTP and all the tool holders I just recently upgraded to a BXA wedge type toolpost. I expect it will be a lot more rigid. The old one served me well though. I made it because I had very little spare cash for a long time.

[@chrisjh777]

Hi Mark, I enjoyed you Spot Welder project from start to finish. In particular, the precision bending of the "joggled" electrode. I'm not into casting, rather I carve what I need from solid in my mills, one of them I think is the same as your CNC Sieg I saw in the background.

[@Preso58]

Well, thanks for the feedback. My first comment that wasn't spam! Mind you, that young lady who wanted me to follow her instagram account did look kinda hot. I wonder what that was all about? Yes, I do have a CNC'd Sieg and it does come in handy although I badly want to have a Tormach.

[@redelala7652]

Very nice and brief explanation

[@mystified4074]

Thanks so much for sharing this project with us Mark. It was a pleasure to watch, so nice to see someone on KZbin make a really nice job of a spot welder. Just wondering how the solid state relay you used is going? They don't like inductive loads much (they are primarily intented for resistive loads), and will fail eventually from being belted with the transient voltage present when it goes open circuit after each weld. When they fail they generally go short circuit, so you may get a very long unintended weld at some point! I've protected mine with a MOV (across the relay contacts) from Jaycar and a potted snubber circuit across the transformer primary. Happy to share details with you and the community. Thanks again, you're a gentleman.

[@Preso58]

Thanks. I don't use the welder every day but it has functioned perfectly since I built it. I did do a large number of welds on stainless steel to make a barbecue burner for a friend and some filter boxes for three rainwater tanks. I am actually surprised it works as well as it does. I have had a couple of those solid state relays fail but they were being used in a modified domestic oven for powdercoating. I think it was the heat that killed them though. When they failed they did go short circuit and the oven heater element did not switch off as it should when the thermocouple sensed the overtemp. If I do get a failure I will make some mods as you have suggested. Regards, Mark

[@mystified4074]

@@Preso58 Thanks Mark, BTW - I come from an electronics engineering background so have a very clear understanding of why your upgrade 'went sideways'. Let me know if you'd like sort out the underpowered issue. I've done one for myself and it works a treat. Cheers, Craig.

[@advancednutritioninc908]

Great Workmanship! Creative! Liked !

[@projecttrap1775]

Fantastic video! Keep it up!

[@classicstuart317]

Hi Mark,I've watched and enjoyed your series on both this and the pull gear. I particularly like your design process to get the castings using CAD and 3d printed patterns.I also noticed your Denbigh model C - the first one I've seen in the wild except for mine. Similar issue with yours havng the milling head very low, and I like your solution to that problem.If you don't mind, I have 2 questionsabout the Denbigh, hopefully you can share an answer with:1) Mine didn't come with the steady and horizontal arbor. I'm looking to fabricate new of each, and if yours did come with the steady and arbor, could you share some pictures and dimensions?2) My DRO is on its way, and I would be very interested to see how you mounted your readers, if you wouldn't mind sharing a picture or two of the mounts?Once again thank you for the videos you've posted.Kind regards,Stuart

[@Preso58]

Hi, I would be happy to help you with your mill upgrade. I do have the steady and the horizontal arbor and I can supply you with the photos that you need. I have added my email address to my "about" page so if you send me a private email I can reply with what you need. Regards, Mark

[@garyskowbo3564]

Hey Mark just finished the spot welder series. You could have machined a set of swage blocks so that you would not have had to aneal the copper. Also just wondering are you back from holiday?

[@Preso58]

Gary, we just returned last night. Economy long haul is the pits! I have used those swan neck copper electrodes a fair bit and they seem to have age hardened quite well. The stresses put on the copper when you clamp the work also help to harden the copper but they did distort a bit the first few times I used them. I guess I was just experimenting to see how close I could get them to being identical by using the set up in the mill. I still have to make a jig so I can machine the points in the lathe easily but they are nice and compact for getting a weld in close to a vertical edge. A purpose made swage block would be good especially if you wanted to make lots of identical sets too. Regards, Mark

[@garyskowbo3564]

Thanks for the reply. And glad to hear that you are home safe. Looking forward to seeing more of your projects/ videos. Just wondering (and May have missed it somewhere ) what equipment you have for making your videos? And again thanks for sharing your videos.

[@bobvines00]

Mark, When you use new electrodes (that were annealed), does the heat from welding harden the tips? Great series!

[@Preso58]

Hi Bob, annealed copper will work harden and age harden. The work hardening is caused by compression at the electrode tips and from flexing cycles as the electrodes are clamped to the work. I remember being told that copper electrodes will pick up zinc from galvanised steel which will create a thin layer of brass (copper+zinc) at the face of the electrode. This will eventually have to be removed since it creates more resistance across the weld area. The heat cycles from the welding generally don't harden the copper but the work hardening will. I used that set of electrodes shown in the video to weld some stainless steel and they did around 100 welds without deteriorating at all. I suspect that the bending process would have helped to harden the bends sufficiently to stop them "un-bending".

[@cormacjames5579]

Could you not throw the tips in a tumbler to work harden them? Just a thought :)

[@Preso58]

Copper does age harden so I am finding that the annealing process that I used has been reversed by natural ageing. Tumbling would help as it work hardens the surface. Regards, Preso

[@joell439]

👍👍😎👍👍

[@amigaamiga7671]

Without bending just make a point offset out of the middle

[@tituiana]

Durch schnell abkühlen der Kupfer wird wech. Umgekehrt wie beim Stahl-