Spot Welder Verstility similar to HF Model 45689 PAULEE

Spot Welder Verstility similar to HF Model 45689 PAULEE

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I thought I'd ask here in RCM, since it's likely that some of the HSM types have tried using their spot welders for other uses.

I've been wondering if I might be able to use a 120VAC 2KVA handheld tong-type auto body spot welder to do light duty tasks other than primarily steel or stainless steel sheet metal. The usual service for these types of spot welders is sheet metal up to about .125" total thickness. By using some short lengths of welding cable, custom welding tips and different fixtures, the resistance welding current might be valuable for other joining tasks.

Some tasks that it might possibly be useful for:

Spot welding rechargeable battery packs together (nickel 200/201 strap or copper strap). This would require a small fixture with isolated micro tips and a few other features for pressure and travel limit.

Thermocouple junctions

SS electrical terminals to nichrome wire

Copper to steel

Brass to brass or other metals

Some metals joined with a small pellet of silver solder between them.

I would assume that spot welding certain metals would be more difficult than others.

The type of spot welder I bought is a transformer style unit, so I assume light duty joints could be made by using a zero crossing SSR solid state relay/solid state switch with a very short duration timer circuit, maybe.

Battery pack building and various other commercial light duty applications are typically done with capacitor discharge type spot welders. The DC current energy "burst" with the CD welders is fairly instantaneous.

Transformer types of spot welders are resistance welders where the delivered energy is a timed sequence of 60 Hz cycles of AC current.

I recently purhased a spot welder of this type, and from searching for information, some helpful details have been found.

The typial welding output power for the 120VAC models is about 2KVA. The electrical requirements are a 30A 120V AC ciruit. Welding currents are in the 5000A range, at duty cycles of about 50%. Timing durations seem to vary widely, from milliseconds to 5 seconds.

The welder I bought is labeled (brand) PAULEE, Los Angeles CA. I'm not sure of the age, or whether the unit was manufactured by a recognized welder manufacturer. I suspect that the unit may have been made in the 1980s.

The weld duration timing control dial is labeled from .05 (50 mS) to 1.3 seconds.

The tong arms are straight sections of round copper bars about 3.5" long, and the tips are made from lengths of smaller round copper bar that pass thru the arms at 90 degrees. It would seem that for this design it would be easy to fabricate new replacement tips.

I don't expect to need arms to reach out onto car body panels, so the straight bars will probably suit my purposes. These types of units could be adapted to a bench-mounted fixture without too much effort. A foot switch would allow both hands to be used for positioning the workpiece.

I've used larger spot welders for autobody repair, the kind on wheels the size of a countertop refrigerator, and I wouldn't have a present need for one of those units.

PAULEE EQUIPMENT SALES INC.

1131 South La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles CA 90035

"universal" (on a globe symbol)

Auto Body Repair System

Class F Item 50xx Volt 110 Hz 60 No 82/07/13 KVA 2 at 50% Conventional Power KVA 11 max Welding Power Amps 7200 Short Ciruit Current Electrodes Force 120 daN L=120mm (120 dekanewtons = ~270 lbf pound-force)

This Appliance Must Be Grounded

Made in Italy

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Wild_Bill
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