Converting ac welder to dc

need plans to convert ac welder to dc thanks andries

Reply to
A.J. Venter
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I did just that with my Lincoln crackerbox. I found four gigantic diodes, from a surplus military aux. gen set. They were rated at 400 amps each. I created a full wave rectifier and located it in the top of the crackerbox where there was space. Rerouted the output from the transformer to feed the bridge. Placed plug ins for both AC and DC, and put plugs on the cables. Now I can use AC or fully rectifiec DC and can burn some very big electrodes easily. I burn 3/16 7018 with out any effort, something I could not do easily before on AC. And on DC the weld is very smooth.

Good luck.

George Vigneron

Reply to
George

Check the back issues of Home Shop Machinist or Machinists Workbench. They had a good article with part numbers/sources on this.

GmcD

Reply to
F. George McDuffee

since we are on this topic, I have a box full of suitable diodes and can easily make a diode bridge. I do a fair amount of welding (for a home owner) almost all of it at about 180 amps, making welded faceplates for wood lathes. So my question to the group - will I see some benefit from making my AC welder into DC? I get good welds now, but faster, better, easier is always good, and I've never used DC.

bill n

Reply to
william_b_noble

Reply to
A.J. Venter

See if there is a golf cart in the junk yard - maybe forklift... The electric chargers are built in. That would give you a good set of high current diodes.

Martin Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH, NRA Life NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

william_b_noble wrote:

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

If you have a weld schedule that works for your application using an AC rod, you won't see much of any real benefit. On the other hand, if you need a higher strength weld, less spatter, or are dealing with an alloy, then DC may be helpful.

DC will give the same weld rate as AC so it is not faster. AC has more spatter but if you mach> since we are on this topic, I have a box full of suitable diodes and can

Reply to
RoyJ

Question: I vaguely recall reading that DC welding could cause hassles with magnetic fields deflecting the electrons in the arc. Is that valid? Is it limited to ferrous materials? Maybe it was just somebody trying to sell an AC welder :)

Bill

Reply to
Bill Schwab

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