New welder !

Anyone need a good 25 amp 120 volt or a 5 amp 240 Variac???

Only problem is they are up here in Kitchener Ontario

Reply to
Clare Snyder
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There's nothing much wrong with it. But the transformer inside mine is wired with aluminum, and the connection to the incoming copper wiring was rather wretched: they crimped a thin copper sleeve around the aluminum wire and soldered to that. Expect it to fail. It can be fixed with either a heavy crimped connection or aluminum-compatible solder and flux.

As for a timer, you don't need to make one; they're readily available as cheap circuit boards from China. But you will likely need to make an enclosure for it.

The wiring for the 240V version is thin enough to make it seem like the

120V version might be just as powerful (as their specs claim).
Reply to
Norman Yarvin

Oh no!!! How things are.

I've put out a feeder with just "vegetarian" bird seed to try to help the doves nesting on the side of my house, behind an old satellite dish. I love to see them, but as ever it could be shown that life is hard, seeing their travails really brings it home.

Reply to
Richard Smith

There's nothing much wrong with it. But the transformer inside mine is wired with aluminum, and the connection to the incoming copper wiring was rather wretched: they crimped a thin copper sleeve around the aluminum wire and soldered to that. Expect it to fail. It can be fixed with either a heavy crimped connection or aluminum-compatible solder and flux.

As for a timer, you don't need to make one; they're readily available as cheap circuit boards from China. But you will likely need to make an enclosure for it.

The wiring for the 240V version is thin enough to make it seem like the

120V version might be just as powerful (as their specs claim).

------------------- Thanks.

The HF website specs claim 1.5KVA, 1/8" steel for the 120V model and 2.5KVA,

3/16" for the 240V, though both weigh the same. The difference may be degrading the 120V model to fall within wall outlet and extension cord capacity. I'm equipped to machine custom electrical connectors and fabricate sheet metal housings.

I have a 20A, 120V Variac and large zero-crossing solid state relays to control power and duration, and for brief pulses the line current may fall within the overload curve (Figure A) for my 9A, 240V Powerstat.

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If the Variac brush wears or burns out replacements are scarce and expensive, or tricky to mill from larger brittle carbon brushes. They need to be a precise press fit into the brass holder, or can be glued with silver epoxy. I made the carbon for a replacement VBT-10 brush thicker and stronger than the original and filed the tip to the original's width. As it wears it will need filing again, so it doesn't short turns.

The Ox-Gard I use on my TV antenna keeps its aluminum electrical contacts good for several years outdoors. I notice the signal loss when the contact resistance rises to several tenths of an Ohm and bring it down (from 50') for cleaning, back to a few milliOhms. The original rivet joints are now all aluminum bolts so it comes completely apart. jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

I love to see them, but as ever it could be shown that life is hard, seeing their travails really brings it home.

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Subsistence was hard for humans until quite recently, my father was a barefoot Appalachian farm boy whose parents didn't have electricity or running water until he installed them in the 1970's. I've carried a kettle of hot water out to thaw and prime the water pump on a freezing morning. My mother told me how she hated having to pick the worst looking potatoes out of the barrel to eat, so the supply would last until the next crop. Now people have forgotten what the advances gave us and oppose them, for instance vaccines, electricity, fertilizer.

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

Hmm, maybe they corrected it or maybe I was misremembering.

At any rate, Dan Gelbart recommends 15 KVA "minimum":

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and says 15 KVA is good for welding 3mm to 3mm (or in gauges, 12 gauge or 10 gauge.) 3mm translates to about 1/8". Those HF specs are for "combined thickness", but still likely optimistic. (Or they just have you apply the power for longer than Gelbart finds appropriate, probably yielding an uglier weld and/or too much heat conducted into the electrodes.)

Gelbart's videos are pretty amazing, by the way; I'd thought I knew how people made things, but he has a whole 'nother set of tricks.

That's fine but there's not much point in making your own when the exact thing you need is available for near-nothing:

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That's a low-current application in which weather is a prime factor and so it helps a lot to exclude water from the joint. This is indoors but high current. It's like aluminum wires causing house fires, except in this case the connection is even wimpier than it is in an in an ordinary electrical outlet with a screwed-down aluminum wire. High current gives heating at poor contact points which leads to more oxidation which leads to more heating.

Reply to
Norman Yarvin

My wife remembers living without indoor plumbing and electricity . She lived in southwestern Kentucky as a small child . I agree with your last sentence except for vaccines . Only because all vaccines are not created equal , and some of these they're pushing now IMO cause more harm than good .

Reply to
Snag

While we have our fair share of feral cats we also still have plenty of wild predators to manage the cats and many climates that are hostile to such a narrowly evolved predators as the domestic house cat. Our feral cat population is not likely to wipe out any of our bird populations as has happened in the UK. If you like the birds in the UK, buy a pellet gun and hunt cats. Not kidding. (Close range head shots only at your power levels.)

As an aside I have wondered why your song bird population does not replenish regularly from nearby lands. There are plenty within the flying range of a determined sparrow, and the migratory birds could make the passages like a Sunday stroll. Are your feral cats really that dominating that they keep the song bird levels so low?

Morning and Whitewing dove populations in North America are strong (with a narrow hunting season). Now we have an invasive Eurasion dove (collared dove) that really needs to be wiped out on the continent. There is a 365 days season and no limit on those in my home state. At first it looked like they were going to overwhelm the morning and white wing populations. They are a larger dove, but the numbers seem to have stabilized. Still North American Wildlife managers are mixed with attitudes from eradication to heavy management. I have no idea if the Eurasion dove has impacted the smaller protected dove species like Inca dove and ground dove.

I used to hunt the Eurasion dove with a pellet gun much more powerful than any you are allowed to own in the UK without a gun permit, but I just don't have the time these days. The breasts are quite tasty when roasted in a jalapeno shell with a thin layer of cream cheese all wrapped in a strip of bacon. Sure a shot gun works, but pellets are so much cheaper than shotgun shells.

I know. I've exposed myself as one of those evil hunters. Now you won't like me any more. LOL. Like most people who hunt I try to stay in tune with the current management reasons for why things are regulated the way they are. I've never been a kill crazed blood luster, and neither is any other hunter I know. I actually started hunting seriously to supplement my grocery budget when I was saving for college. Everyday after work I would walk down the hill into the desert in search of cotton tails.

If it helps I do have a cat feeder... er I mean bird feeder... out front of the house.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

We have three seed and one suet feeder for the wild birds . And 5 feral cats - well , 3 of them are nearly-grown kittens . They focus more on the moles and other ground-dwellers , much easier hunting .

Reply to
Snag

Ahh, well, they are still available. Google for "photo enlarger exposure timer" (without the quotes).

Be sure the timer can handle the power draw of the spot welder. The good news being that the spot welder is resistive, and does not have an incandescent-lamp initial surge.

Joe Gwinn

Reply to
Joe Gwinn

Bob - I have been to Texas and am able to join in in their favourite relaxational activity. The only think I took note of was the cooking and serving suggestion with jalapeno shells and a strip of bacon.

Reply to
Richard Smith

If you have the opportunity just look for recipes for Jalapeno Dove Poppers. There are a number of variations of the recipe. My wife finds Jalapenos a little over powering of the other flavors, so we use a milder pepper. Of course adjust for allergies. Goat cheese if cows milk products are an issue. Beef bacon or duck bacon if pork is an issue. Its all good.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

My wife remembers living without indoor plumbing and electricity . She lived in southwestern Kentucky as a small child . I agree with your last sentence except for vaccines . Only because all vaccines are not created equal , and some of these they're pushing now IMO cause more harm than good . Snag

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Reply to
Jim Wilkins

hit a paywall and I ain't payin'

Reply to
Snag

If you delete NY Times cookies you'll likely find the paywall goes away, I don't see it and can read the article fine.

Reply to
David Billington

Bob - you asked about cats re. bird population. As far as I know the problem is domestic cats. You have a cat - you will not have birds in your garden, where they used to be your delightful companion before. That is compounded here because of the density of population, so density of presence of domestic cats.

I worked in Turkey, where they do not (?) have domestic pets but do do have a lot of dogs and cats. They consider that the cities would be / would have been awash with rats and vermin without the dogs and cats. To this day they provide food for the dogs and cats. There is a health system for them. Dogs which have been "looked at" are ringed. The cats are used to humans and will leave their kittens with human hosts - eg. they will leave them in a box in an office workplace. Someone showed me he could pick up a sleeping kitten's paw and it wouldn't wake up.

Reply to
Richard Smith

We've seen a marked decrease in rodents of all types since we were adopted by some semi-feral cats . That's why we feed them to keep them around .

Reply to
Snag

I don't have a cat here in the UK but plenty of my neighbours do and there are quite a lot of birds in my garden and other ones in the area even though the cats do come into my garden regularly. Maybe they prefer the rats, mice, and voles as easier pray.

Reply to
David Billington

hit a paywall and I ain't payin'

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RFK strongly opposes vaccines. I don't know enough about medicine to form a valid scientific opinion, I defer to a relative who was a senior researcher at CDC.

The politics of vaccine distrust are less one-sided than the media will admit:

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Reply to
Jim Wilkins

As far as the covid vaccine , I've seen too much evidence of people dying from stuff that was almost nonexistent in the recent past . Other vaccines , well I've seen evidence of problems such as autism that were a lot less prevalent before many of them were in common usage . Not any "scientific evidence" , just empirical evidence of a possible causal link .

Reply to
Snag

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