I wouldn't think so, no. No more so than someone running mig all day would need.
Those who keep a strangle-hold on their torches will tire quickly and make mistakes. Keep a looser grip, stay as comfortable as possible, and let your mind relax as your skills, not your physical strength, earn your paycheck.
I First learned to weld in 1984 at Indiana Voc. Tech. Coll. (IVTech), in Lafayette, IN. My instructor had a stick electrode in the corner of his office. It stood 6 feet tall and was 1 inch diameter. He said it came from a plate mill in Mississippi, where it was run in an automated plate welding machine that ran at around 800 amps.
The kind of machine that Submerged Arc Welding killed off.
Yes.
Plasma can indeed be used to backgouge, but often it is simpler to use CAC.
We have about 400+ welders in our shipyard, but only a seeming handful of plasma cutters. We're all trained in their use, but practiced? Not so much. I know a handful of people whose plasma cuts are pretty darn nice. Mine? So-so at best. We have so many full-penny welds that it would not be economical to give every welder a machine that's only good for one purpose. Makes more sense to give each one a carbon-gun and make carbon rods readily available. Then we can use one set of leads and power sources to weld, backgouge, and weld. All we have to do is carry a carbon gun (maybe 10 lbs) and change our amperage between operations.
******************* In my trade for some reason we called it 'air-arc'. Loud, hot, noisy, and very sparky. We used to keep at least 50 psi on the hose and full amps on any machine we were running. Once one got on to it, one could flush and gouge with a very smooth remaining surface. I would imagine since one is applying carbon to the base metal, one would have a heck of a time passing a bend test.
Carbon arc gouging was invented where Tin Lizzie works. A couple of welders started a company called Arcair. The company was sold and I believe the same welders started a company that sells a metalizing system that uses two wire feeders.
Dan
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CAC is also handy when making (quick and dirty) full pen butt welds in thick material with poor fitup when both sides are accessible. Heavy beams can be quickly and easily sliced this way, (as always) it is easiest if weld can be positioned to make all welding slightly uphill so slag will run away from weld pool.
Just plain or J bevel (one or both sides) with CAC (or OA torch) and remove slag with quick grind, then use thin (~1/8") bar stock for backing. High amps and big rods will usually fully penetrate the backing plate and fill the grove quickly with few passes and no need for root pass or root cleanup. Functional as is, but when required for appearance, backing bar can be quickly removed and root gouged with CAC then one weld pass finishes the job.
Good luck, YMMV
should be 'spliced'
Shaun expounded in news:OlF7p.44630$y snipped-for-privacy@newsfe10.iad:
I still have my Model-T 6V Ford ignition coil, that I bought on ebay (I was hoping then to interest my son in electronics). I haven't operated it in a little while ;-)
When I was young, I had made an HF coil using a paper towel cardboard roll form, and an outer coil of a dozen turns or so. There was a HV cap involved to cause it to resonate.
I'm not sure what the output freq was, but it was fun drawing sparks to your hands. Being HF, it would only tickle slightly.
I'd love to know what the lowest minimum frequency for human tolerance of HF HV arcs is.
I once knew a guy that claimed that he'd test TV HV power supplies by arcing the transformer +HV lead to his fingers (approx 15.7 kHz). I've never had the guts to try it.
Warren
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