OT Welder as power supply

small

comparison

I would check first that the inverter is continuously rated - welding is normally an intermittant process. BTW I think the arc voltage is nearer 20-25 when running.

AWEM

I'd have concerns with the duty cycle rating. Most welders are duty cycle rated for 1/2 hour, not hours and days on end.

As an example, my old 180 amp buzz box is rated at 100% duty cycle at

Any reas> I have an odd job at work that needs a BIG powersupply to run a small

I would like the small size and weight of the inverter TIGS, and DC reduces vibration in the elements we are using.

Would beefing up the cooling arrangements extend the duty cycle ? The unit we are using this inverter in is actually water cooled. We could modify the inverter to have water cooling

Steve

The two key areas that get hot are the semiconductor heat sinks and the transformer core. In theory, the heatsinks could be water cooled without too much trouble. In practice, they are usually insulated from ground so that the cases can 'float' independent of each other. Your coolant is a conductor.

Cooling the transformer core is not easy at all. High speed air is about it, still doesn't help move the heat from the center of the core to the surface.

I wandered around the Lincoln and Miller sites looking at the welders and duty cyle charts. Miller has the easist charts to get at, they are at the bottom of each of the spec sheets. Note that these are trasnformer units with AC/DC output. You would need to go to a 3 phase unit to get smooth DC.

snipped-for-privacy@ravenfield.com wrote:

Then there is this method......

Gunner

"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

- Proverbs 22:3

Then there is always "Fluorinert"....

Steve

Since the wound components are disproportionately expensive, I wonder how much the manufacturers economise by saying x % duty cycle.

Isolating the heatsinks wouldn't be too hard.

Theoretically, I could design a PSU to do it, but when what I want seems to be sitting in a little box waiting to be used, I'm really tempted by this approach !

Steve

Have you considered using high resistance furnace wire and a simple variac? That's all I have for my small foundry furnace and the temperatures get to just 2,500f...

Wayne

Can I get fries with that?

Sorry Wayne, my mistake in a unit conversion - we are running at 3200F,

Steve