Help Identify Tool

part of a carbon arch lamp? or maybe a low voltage DC welder .

just a guess.

My guess is it is clamped onto a pipe (copper?) to electrically heat the pipe section between the clamps, probably with an arc welding set or similar supplying the current.

Why do you want to heat the pipe? Maybe it is two pipes and a sleeve or they have been formed to overlap or you are adding a tee and you are heating it to solder or braze the joint.

In some locations it would produce a lot less collateral damage than using a flame.

It's used to find short circuits on high voltage lines. They are always in good shape, because after one or two uses, they usually get passed along to relatives. ;-)

Steve

Its a carbon ark tool used for welding.

Carbon torch for use with a welder. You clamp the cable ends in the electrode holder and the ground (your choice which goes where) The rods get adjusted to angles The closer to straight across they are the shorter the "flame" angle them more and the "flame" will extend out.

You can use it just like you would any other torch.

To strike the ark and adjust the "flame" you slide one carbon in/out (usually the smaller tip section)

The one I have came with an oddball Wards welder. It actually works pretty well once you know how it operates.

"dan" wrote: That is a carbon arc torch. Two carbon electrodes would be brought

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ You are certainly correct, but the part I don't get is how you would strike the arc. Each carbon is held in a clamp, and the arc is adjusted by moving one of them. In most carbon arc equipment, such as movie projectors, searchlights, etc, there is a knob for moving one of the carbons. I see no way here to touch and pull back a carbon, or to feed the carbons as they are consumed.

What's that Lassie? You say that amdx fell down the old sci.engr.joining.welding mine and will die if we don't mount a rescue by Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:47:55 -0500:

That is a carbon arc torch. Two carbon electrodes would be brought close together, and an arc maintained between the two. The heat generated would be used like a flame torch. Good for brazing and soldering.

Thanks Steve, I did a search of carbon arc torch and found several similar units. Yes, the handle has a slider to move the position of one rod. What is it about carbon that causes it to get hot at the point of contact. I used a couple of carbon rods and a car battery to heat a coupler with at stuck set screw. The heat is generated right at the contact point. It makes it seem like you can't make a good connection to carbon. Mike

Car battery doesn't provide the correct current. That unit gets used on an AC welder. The AC switching breaks and reforms the arc.

If you connect it up, set the welder at about 150 amps, set a pair of the carbons at a V and bring them together it will strike an arc. Then you open the V to create a larger arc. As you use the torch the arc will consume the electrodes and you have to keep sliding the rods closer to compensate.

The big problem is that you still need to use a welding helmet while using it AND the RF they throw off while in use makes a nice BUZZ on the radio....

They can do a lot of the jobs an OXY/fuel torch can do BUT heat control is harder.

I'd say that the carbon has much less resistance than the steel. Heat is I^2*R. The I is the same through both, but higher R for steel means more heat. Same as spot welder - most of the heat is in the steel.

Bob

I don't expect to use it, just had it in the shed and wondered what it was. Plus it is missing one electrode. Mike

The electrodes are available at most welding shops. If you have an AC output welder they are not a bad item to have. You can braze, silver solder, and heat items with it without lighting a torch.

Steve W. wrote: ...

I have the Lincoln version:

Car - emergency carbon arc welder. Was he a camper or off roader ?

Truck or trailer type ? Handy man with fixing his stuff I bet.

I have a couple of sets of copper/carbon rods - can be used to burn - like a cutting torch.

Mart> Hi All,

The carbon burns in the process - forming CO2 and white hot arc. The carbon is a semi-conductor - just about like the IC's and transistors. It is used as a resistor for low power applications.

The copper conducts the high current and then the tip is all carbon - as it burns back, the copper is burnt off (ring at a time).

A lot of energy is given off in the process - making CO2 gas and a lot of heat and light.

Mart>> amdx wrote:

Does it also show the other sizes? Mine would run from tiny 1/4" up to

Mostly handyman, I'm not sure he used this item, he had a a torch and stick welder. Mike