Welder Experiments! DIY Upgrades for Cheap Stick Welders!

[@ThePostApocalypticInventor]

Hey guys, if you want to make a donation, you can find me on Patreon, or make a donation via paypal. If you want to donate by other means, you can contact me under that same email address. patreon.com/tpai paypal-donations: [e-mail] Older episode about welding transformers: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWaZaWejhq-EiLc Video about my DIY Exercise Machine: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nmO8hoJqlLRnrpo

[@freedom_aint_free]

Another marvelous video! Please put your PGP Public key, so that people can e-mail you privately, Gmail is unsecure as f*** also, consider using the Signal app.

[@victoryfirst2878]

@Martin Luther This is a fact Martin.

[@kevinsteegmann6539]

I like your videos and have supported KZbinrs in the past but KZbin has become SpamTube by placing a large amount of ads (6 interrupted this video alone) within posted videos. That makes it very difficult to follow and is worse than TV.

[@victoryfirst2878]

@@kevinsteegmann6539 Just us any ad blocker to keep that stuff at bay. V

[@freedom_aint_free]

@john croation Search for the channel of a dude called "Rob Braxman" he deals in network privacy/security you will find all information that you need there, thanks for your time.

[@gutsngorrrr]

I love this sort of video. Having a mixture of videos is good, otherwise things can become boring.

[@dimitar4y]

I love the insight the step-by-step overview of the entire process is giving. I can't put to words how educational it is to just show the entire tinkering process.

[@pdavio]

thank you so much for using the German vocab along-side the English for so many of the technical points here. What now feels like a thousand years ago, I was a reasonably competent German technical linguist now 30 years out of practice. Your videos like this a refresher on both my technical German, and Electrical Engineering courses from the 80's. So much appreciated

[@handmaderestor]

*I love the shot of filing the screw head. From start to finish in one stroke*

[@Dustin_the_wind]

One of these days, hopefully.. this will sink in for me; I still watch in that hope, and to support in the little that I can. Thank you.

[@shamrock1961]

Please don't assume the length of your videos are boring!!! I could watch you all day for that matter. I don't think a whole lot of people are going to get upset if you produced a video that was an hour or longer. You have this "knack" for making time go quickly with all the videos I have watched by you. You're a breath of fresh air and a great educational source for some of us old farts! Keep up the excellent work! I eagerly await your next video. BIG FAN of your scrapyard finds! Thank you for making COVID quarantine go by a little bit quicker too! You make learning fun!!! TY

[@paulvale2985]

@shamrock1961 your comment deserves more thumbs-up.

[@shamrock1961]

Thanks Paul

[@milenko1965]

I added three server fans to my old stick welder twenty years ago to prevent overheating. The fans have prevented it overheating ever since. The fans operate before the on off switch so they function as soon as the welder is plugged in. This has worked well.

[@krseiler51]

Definitely keep theory in some of your videos. Your hand drawn graphics are refreshing and add unique style to your channel. Personally, the part where you went "live" and explained the wave forms was best for me.

[@HootMaRoot]

On these older welders in the UK, we are advised to upgrade the fuse to a 32amp fuse/trip switch. Many workshops I have seen have had 32amp socket circuit specifically for welders and compressors

[@francisrampen9099]

This kind of video is unbelievably valuable - I watched it with my 14 year old niece who is getting interested in electrical design and it was a really great way of explaining how circuits work. Thanks again.

[@w.rustylane5650]

My dad taught me how to stick weld years ago. And I must say, I've gotten pretty good at it. Setting the duty cycle depends on the thickness of the work you're going to do. We converted my dad's old AC welder into a DC welder using some huge diodes my dad got from where he worked. Now it welds great without so much sputtering. W Rusty Lane K9POW in eastern Tennessee

[@fredrickrari9338]

Its 2pm in Nairobi n i couldn't wait any longer to watch your new video

[@fardreaming]

Really enjoyed this combination of big power electrical equipment and low power electronics and control circuitry.

[@lorisorzan1450]

Pleeease continue just like that. I think it is very interesting

[@roseknows702]

Thank you for this video, I am a hairstylist/engineer and have been looking to customize a hair dryer. Basically I will try and use these same circuits!

[@yvesrochet3288]

Hello friend , for your fan, why not use an old PC Power Supply ? Too Easy to Find. Your communications are very interesting. Thank's.

[@domainmojo2162]

Listening to a German guy narrating this, makes me feel smart! 😀 "Streuhfeld Transformator" sounds just so cool!

[@demastust.2277]

Thank you ver much for teaching little tid bits of German while you do these videos.

[@moweber]

Still my favorite channel on KZbin. The world keeps changing, but TPAI guy stays resolute!

[@noyb72]

This should be shown in every High School General Science class on the planet. Very well done.

[@joelkton1]

I can understand adding the fan. I have no hope of understanding the circuit. Thanks for a nice mix of information.

[@mib5116]

More of these videos please!!!!!!! Awesome content

[@mcmxi6982]

Thanks a lot for sharing your knoledge with us. Greetings from Brazil.

[@bigguy8586]

The more videos like this that I watch, the more I realize that I'm a big dummy. You're brilliant!

[@l3p3]

Would have been fun to implement the controller analog without μc. A 555 and an opamp should have been enough. Edit: I see you implementing an analog circuit later and the μc implementation is surely a valuable education! No criticizing here!

[@bbrand6755]

Yes, I was also wondering about that. A standard dimmer circuit as was used for incandescent light bulbs consisting just of an RC network and a diac would have achieved the same result. But it seems that today even the most trivial circuits need to use a microcontroller :-) Nevertheless, great video!

[@solkompleksowa444]

I tried designing one with a 555 and LM339 that would switch a 2 thyrystors + 2 diodes bridge rectifier, well it worked in LTspice but never got around building a real one. making it work on both halfwaves is truly a hassle

[@trevorhaddox6884]

There should be a general rule that if your firmware is below a certain number of lines...you don't need firmware.

[@l3p3]

@@trevorhaddox6884 well, microcontrollers have the upside that you can upgrade the firmware after you shipped a product. But it depends on the kind of product.

[@matthiash.4670]

As mentioned theres a very simple DIAC application, used in nearly all vacuum cleaner and so on and theres a lot of integrated Triac controllers. Thyristors/Triacs are complicated to handle. They sometimes might not fire (especially if nearly 100% duty and while used on brushed motors) so you need to re-fire them. This integrated controllers do this very well. Here theres no software required at all.

[@liamharrison3]

It's my favourite internet German. Might be one of your best videos. Brilliant experiment. Thanks for making great vids!

[@lrdisco2005]

Takes me back to the time when I could still claim to be an Engineer.

[@vvvvvvvvvwvvvvw]

What happened? Took an arrow to the knee?

[@padraicmcguire108]

What happened? You became a manager, or worse, a marketer?

[@HenkChinaski]

I so know what you mean ; ). Things happen. Now the magic is pasting VBA code from the internet into beutiful Excel tables.

[@lrdisco2005]

Worse than that teaching

[@wrex7044]

Very interesting type of video can’t have enough of those. I also love your junkyard videos!

[@thejackofalltravels8267]

So very interesting going to have to watch this a few times glad you’re feeling better.

[@Reman1975]

Personally, I really enjoy the practical (Mechanical and restoration) projects you do, But I often become lost when you jump into the circuit descriptions and theory. I think it's important that you still include them though, because it's going to be useful for people who want to understand exactly WHY something works, rather than just copying a circuit that you've already thought out without them understanding how it does what it does. I remember watching your video about how a magnetic shunt works in a welding transformer, and dispite not understanding everything you talked about, I still think I now have a much better understanding of the principles behind it than I had before watching that. So thanks for making me ever so slightly less of an idiot. :D

[@Sixta16]

I also like his mechanical stuff and it was why I originally subscribed to this channel, but his electronics builds are cringe to watch for an actual electronics engineer. Even though he obviously has some electronics engineering background, some of his explanations and thought processes are wrong and downright misleading.

[@tzarcoal1018]

@@Sixta16 i am not sure, but i think he has no EE Background, in older videos i remember him talking about that he wants to expand his knowledge there and things like that, i believe he is just a self-taught layman.

[@alexrXX]

I wish my brain worked like yours. I can't even remember my phone number. I love your channel

[@kevinfealy4769]

Ding and done, I love finding "broken" things to furbish or repurpose, thank you for your videos!

[@eeplaylist2093]

No one can explain and draw beautiful schematics better than you! My God i learned more stuff here than my 5 years degree. You took me back to the time of Faraday and Maxwell :)

[@yanfishtwig2356]

PURE GOLD i for one would love to see more follow up work on these welders thanks tpa!!

[@zomgbot314]

Fantastic followup with great insights, thanks very much for your comments on this patient.

[@christer8964]

This episode is amazing! So few practical videos out there dealing with the household AC.

[@iainwade]

Interesting welder experimentation, looking forward to the next part. Pretty wild seeing all the sparks in the shop, bet you appreciated the bigger grinder when cutting that pipe. All those scrapyard repairs paying off ;)

[@iainwade]

Oh, and happy Christmas Gerolf, hope you’re feeling better and best wishes from Australia!

[@shamrock1961]

Yes...Merry Christmas from America my son from this old fart🎅

[@CajunGreenMan]

I'm a 3G vertical certified welder in the US. Your welds actually look good for someone who probably doesn't have any formal training. Most of these modifications are over my head, but I think this info is perfect for the coming apocalypse. Keep up the great work!

[@flyback_driver]

16:38 a nice cap bank after that rectifier should help a lot because as you noticed your getting the positive pulses of the ac.

[@ratbagley]

19:00. I like the way you don't just throw up a schematic and expect me to understand it all. I add sub-components and explain along the way. Good job.

[@sjamesparsonsjr]

I thoroughly enjoy your videos, but I like the layout of this one especially; show the tool, show the problems, add the fix, walk us through the fix, and make us smarter! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@vijayantgovender2045]

Thank you for sharing your wonderful videos I am from South Africa

[@danielepatane3841]

Congratulation from an Italian neighbour. Your youtube channel is very interesting and your ideas are perfectly explained through the video. Merry Christmas

[@volkhen0]

Great “episode”. What I would like to see in future is more renewable power DIY stuff. Like grid-tied exercise bike.

[@court2379]

A person isn't capable of putting out all the much power, so it is usually not practical to create one. There would need to be other reasons than getting power to justify it in most cases. I have seen practical uses in developing countries for charging cell phones, and tiny battery powered lights. A single solar panel would cost about the same and provide much more output though. If you like I can get you an equation for human output over time. Obviously it varies from person to person, but studies have been done to get an average.

[@thunderstruck1078]

Check out James Biggar: kzbin.info/door/trf6ZiE6hw3k77hGpnuQWg

[@volkhen0]

@@court2379 I know but I would have much more motivation to exercise if I knew that energy is not wasted ;)

[@BrokeWrench]

One of his first videos is right along those lines

[@volkhen0]

@@BrokeWrench it wasn’t grid tied.

[@ucrash2]

I found a discarded treadmill. Scavenging the motor and speed controls while watching this vid. Now I want that orange welder in the video too.

[@Saskajohn]

I like the boldness of releasing a deep dive that is definitely not a repairathon. I love the repairathon but I support the multifacetedness of your channel. It reflects you as an individual :)

[@pistonsjem]

While this type of videoa might not get as much views as the scrapyard find series, i very much appreciate and am a big fan of this types of videos.

[@jtig75]

Love this stuff. I won't lie a little over my head with all the electronics but still I tried to learn a little something.

[@IamEqualtoall]

Awesome video! I am happy the audio is in English for the for the fact that growing up in the states, it wasn't a priority for me to learn a second language. Thank you for the great content!

[@thewhitefalcon8539]

I believe English is the most universal language in Europe, which is not to say that everyone speaks English, but that everyone who needs to speak to people in other countries speaks English (or that country's language). Very convenient for citizens of other British colonies, for sure...

[@SeanBZA]

Same Einhell welder, just added a 120mm mains fan to the rear, using the existing 4 holes and grille there already, but not installed by the manufacturer. Blows across the transformer, and with the duty cycle now being weld a rod, wait a minute, then weld another rod, perfect for my use. Only drawback is that when welding the extra stray magnetic field tends to stall the fan at high current, but it will carry on again when unloaded, or at low current. Never bothered to put in any power factor correction, but did add a single diode on a heatsink , connected to a 40A thermal breaker added to the front panel, and a 4mm output, so that I can use it as a battery booster, being able to get a car battery from flat to able to start a vehicle in under 1 minute.

[@mikethelegendarygamer4581]

I am an inventor myself and watching your videos brings joy getting into tinkering. Keep up the good work!

[@zaphodtrenchcoat]

You have put so much work into this video. I am not a welder but appreciate the skill. I had to watch to the end because you deserved this. Thank you.

[@Tore_Lund]

Mounted a full diode bridge 90A in my old transformer AC flux core welder. Made the welding much less sputtering and capable of welding thinner gauge. Recently got a Lidl 100 EUR flux core welder and it is so much better. No wire speed adjustment because it does it itself based on current draw and it looks like tig welds, welded a thin gauge tube on the side of an oil barrel and it holds water and that was on 0,6 mm gauge soft steel.

[@Draylath]

Excellent vid. As a domestic electrician I often don't get to use my knowledge of electronics and your stuff acts as a fascinating refresher especially as you put it to really cool use

[@scotmetcalf2745]

Love this stuff! But Littlebit over my head! Back in the day I had an old 220volt stick welder AC only and DC is a much better arc control for the rods I was wanting to use,my Dad work in electronics his whole life with patents in Japan and he sent me a huge diode to hook up with change the alternating current to direct! It was pretty sweet. Great video,very well done! Be safe and happy holidays to everyone

[@christoffermedc]

I think this is your finest instructional video so far regarding the wiring, thank you!

[@flyback_driver]

Its cool (no pun intended) how that fan changed the saw tooth profile of the temperature into a triangle wave. Increasing the heating time. Then pulses used to describe dutt cycle. It all makes sense its just interesting seeint this outside of electronics.

[@dimitar4y]

arduino is all cool and good until the RF spikes from the welder starts reseting it LOL Implement a grounded shielding can for the arduino, even a little wrap of copper or aluminum tape (grounded) is a good idea

[@boharihamen]

You have some serious skills. Respect

[@RandomHacks]

Altough the circuit with the potentiometer seems a lot more practical than turning the original current control knob a million times, isn't it a lot harsher to the mains network as you are enabling the triac mid wave resulting in a big spike of current? I did actually use a similar circuit before with the zero cross detection and time delay for a heater but I rapidly changed it as soon as I noticed the flicker it was causing to the lights, in my case since it was a heater it was easy to solve, I just used an opto triac with internal zero cross detection and used time proportional PID (which results in like a slow PWM with 200ms period) to control the temperature but this of course wouldn't really work for a welder or atleast it would result in terrible welds I think. Keep up with your videos I really enjoy them!

[@mechanoid5739]

I think you have the mix of practical and instructional about right. Love your videos!

[@youngn9na92]

Waited so long for this! So happy.

[@watchman0311]

Can you do a video on how to produce calcium carbide from a mixture of minerals, with electricity not chemicals, or just catalysts not consumable mixtures or chemicals?

[@bogarleffe]

Great video! I want to give you a tip about pressing a high-current cable connector as you use in the rectifier. Use a bench vise with an aluminum vise jaw protector with a V-shaped groove in it. Put the connector in the V-groove with the top part facing into the groove. Press with a 5-8 mm Hex bit until the cable sits well enough. It is a bit tricky to set it up with one hand but you can arrange it so the connector is put in the vise first wit the bit pressed loosely so that it all hold together, and then you put the stripped cable in the connector. This way almost mimics the ready-made tooling for this purpose.

[@TheOnedeadguy]

I'm honestly really surprised those units didn't have a fan to begin with... it's such a cheap thing to add and improves the duty cycle so much, it just seems like a no brainer you know?

[@MultiArrie]

Thank you Gerolf, for your journey thrue the technical basics of diffrent types of welders. I am electrician that likes to work on and with welders. What I missed about the tig welder build is chokecoil Drosselspule and elco's like I have in my cheap mig welders.

[@alangreen5858]

To maximise the transformer cooling, immerse it in oil. Though the class and type of insulation used on the transformer may preclude this.

[@davidquirk8097]

This was a really great video, probably one of your best so far. The right level of basic explanation at the start, practical demonstration and data analysis then baked up with the detailed analysis of the circuits and controls which you used. As an Engineer I have come away from this video having learned a lot. Thank you so much.

[@vincei4252]

Excellent content. Thanks for posting!

[@zoidberg444]

HIGH IQ mate. Didn't follow every aspect of some of the power electronics as its a little out of my wheel house but I understood a lot of it. I have followed you since the early days - no one else on KZbin has the same calibre of power electronics content of experimentation and modification that you have. One of these videos every now and again is critical to the channel in my opinion. You remind me a lot of my grandfather. He was a VERY clever electronics engineer mostly self taught.

[@Jwil3743]

YESSS! I've hardly started the video and can't help but share my excitement to see you jumping back to welding. I love all of your content, but I've got a particular interest and welding topologies and think you do excellent work describing the composition of a lot of these machines and the corresponding electromagnetic fundamentals (this is the heart of the concept and my particular interest). Your perspective when analyzing, deconstructing, and teaching the concepts stand in their own category and are unlike anything else on KZbin. I love watching such influential content, thank you for sharing!

[@spandandutta2485]

Such a great, wonderful and skilled man 🙏

[@johnconrad5487]

very good video! plenty of info. 36 minutes well spent!

[@huevacho97]

This video inspired me to modify a beefy 50 Hz welder I have. I'll use an Arduino and phase angle control, y want to add a starting arc feature. If everything works as planned (rarely does lol) I'll have a display, a rotary encoder and the ability to choose de duration of the starting arc, its open circuit voltage, and of course the final welding current. The thing will be closed loop with a simple Proportional control loop using a current transformer to read the current

[@victoryfirst2878]

I have to tell you Sir that your channel has taught me so much about all sort of things that I am just amazed they all make sense. Please keep going in the direction you are going with this channel. Just have to tell you that you are the one who has gotten me to make things in my shop that I normally would never do. When I get more funds I will join the cause and send you funds to keep things moving along in your endeavors for us all to see on KZbin. Thanks a bunch too. Victory First to us all !!!!!

[@SaiKiran208]

I am commenting before watching your video. Coz i just let out a big breath out after seeing your upload. It means to me alot.idk why though!

[@julias-shed]

Good to see you are back. Hope you are feeling better now. Loved this video and look forward to the next. 😃

[@boltonky]

Great video and interesting topic, we could all do with some extra knowledge drops. Also like i said to someone today sometimes to learn you have to spend more time and materials than you could buy it for but no part of living is free

[@doscucharas]

Absolutely fantastic video

[@bparker86]

you sir are a legend. love the power control circuit and even more so i love the detailed explanation. much respect my friend

[@ifell3]

You done a better job on this than I did, might post a link of your explanation video to my "old smaw refurb" video aha

[@mateoboschify]

Do you think there would be a way to increase the surface area of the transformer by adding cooling fins to disperse the heat even more efficiently?

[@anton2699]

Love these Videos about the explanation of the electronics and the theory behind it and also the programming even. You explain well and clear and are easy to follow. Your Scrap yard videos are also stunning. I esp love videos where you use tools you repaired to fix other tools. Both video formats has value and both are nice. Keep up the good work

[@n3r0z3r0]

@21:20 on circuit you could simply add one more additional diode in series after bridge rectifier and then connect to a capacitor, so you could get phase pulse directly from single winding transformer without adding second rectifier.

[@m3chanist]

A superb video, one of the best of its kind.

[@pnwRC.]

FANTASTIC video!

[@Cadissio]

You make a super content, thank you! I'm looking forward to get to know the new updates of this project.

[@grahamspinks4801]

A very interesting project. Looking forward to an update.

[@handyhippie6548]

i just did a dcen upgrade to a cheap 90a flux core wire feed welder using an 100a bridge rectifier and a couple of smoothing capacitors. i added more air flow with a couple of large muffin fans recovered from old computers and added an atx psu from one of them to provide the 12v power. it only has two power settings, so i might try your arduino control to have a better range of welding amps. thanks for the idea, and the tutorial.

[@anthonyburning8603]

What a work ! respect

[@ianstar7]

Love your video... but my head hurts now... 😂🤣 Keep doing what you do. ❤😎👍

[@sandipsengupta1832]

Very nice work plus very patient and detailed explanations!

[@pbartmess]

I really appreciate all the work you put into making this video. The details about breaking the circuits and programming the arduino are fascinating and important to me. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and discoveries.

[@LariFariYoutube]

Oh yeah...this was the first thing i did with this cheap Einhell welder... Right out of the box, even without trying it as it is, i added a fan at the back (from an microwave oven...230 volts) and changed the welding leads for longer once with higher cross section... Now it is nearly impossible to trigger the overheat fuse in practical use. (unless you are a professional pipe welder or so.... xD) I did the same on my cheap flux core welder. There i also added a extra power supply for the feed mechanism to make the welding performance smoother. All in all, very cheap and easy to make upgrades on such low budget machines.... Thumbs up...good and informative video. Greets from Bavaria.

[@WAVETUBE84]

Yeah, make a enclosure out of really thick steel. And some interesting shape...art deco. Because you have to look cool. Them server fans can move some air, servers get really hot.

[@henryrossouw930]

Crazy to say the least.I can just watch with a dropped jaw how you go about improving and sdding new features.BRILLIANT.

[@davidbeer]

Very enlightening step by step intro intro practical electronics.

[@excitedbox5705]

One of the best videos yet. The circuit diagrams really help to understand what is going on.

[@gordo4055]

I love this style of video. Thanks for making this!