TIG Hand Control

B Myers wrote in news:44EED7FA.7090405 @adelphia.net:

Search the archives of sci.engr.joining.welding. I know there was a thread on a home made hand contol for a TIG.

Ken

Not yet, but the info is all there in sci.engr.joining.welding - just need to buy a few parts ($cheap) and assemble. The most expensive part will either be the connector or the cable, if you don't happen to have surplus cable that suits. Otherwise the remotes are a potentiometer (5Kohm or 10Kohm depending on brand and/or year) and a switch (perhaps optional, the switch allows switching the weld terminals on or off remotely).

The markup from the manufacturers is obscene (comparing parts cost to cost of an assembly).

I've not made one of these, but from my TIG experience, the torch is often in unsual positions and requires a very steady hand. The application of pressure or thumb sliding on the torch itself, would for me, add an additional level of dexeterity that would greatly complicate certain welds. However, there have been times while standing that I wished I had an alternative to a foot control. Maybe there's a solution for easy to use hand, torch control?

-Mike

I was welding on my hands and knees, so I couldn't use the pedal. I used a micro switch from radio shack taped on the hand torch for the contactor and put the foot pedal nearby with a c-clamp on it for control.

where are the archives?

SE

Here's my version: Some copper sheet cut and bent to make a housing large enough to hold a small slide switch. This little housing is then clamped to the TIG torch with a couple small hose clamps. It's just an on-off switch, I set the amperage at the machine. It works very well and is better for me than a momentary switch. This is partly due to nerve damage which makes my thumb and fingers twitch sometimes. I can't count how many times I've clicked on something with the mouse when I didn't want to. So a momentary switch for me isn't practical. ERS

Shabtai Evan wrote in news:ruWdnbba8OTj5nLZnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

You could do a search on Google Groups' archives for sci.engr.joining.welding...

Or I 'll just send you to:

Slide down the list to "tig remote" There's a text file and three jpg's of George Dubovsky's TIG hand control.

Enjoy!

Ken

Hi B

I made a "hand control" for my Miller Synchrowave 250. It was easy. It worked. It was sloppy craftmanship. It was cheap to build. It was a

1,000 ohm slider resister I bought from All Electronics. I am sure you could build a good hand control for a modern welding machine that uses solid state controls. You need to learn the resistance required for adjusting the current in the welder. Then it your decission 'how to configure the resistance adjuster'.

Jerry

>

There are pictures of one that someone made in the dropbox:

It looks like a nice job.

Bob

On Sat, 26 Aug 2006 00:54:39 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, Ken Moffett quickly quoth:

Pretty nice!

While I was there, I saw this and wondered how it could possibly be just 2.8 degrees of twist...

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The accompanying text file says 1.4 degrees of twist between "Adjacent beam lines", ie, 2.8 degrees per 10', so the total twist angle might be ~ 20 degrees. (Google groups thread "tilting roofline" in sci.engr.joining.welding on 9 Feb 2005 doesn't give overall size or angle.)

-jiw

On Sat, 26 Aug 2006 21:46:35 -0600, with neither quill nor qualm, James Waldby quickly quoth:

Thanks for reading what I quickly scanned (poorly), James. That'll teach me. ;)

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