TIG hand control...Homebrew?

I haven't built mine, but that's only due to other things to do, and not having managed to order connectors yet. All the information has been posted here, and it is, in fact just an overpriced plug, wire, potentiometer and switch. Depending on era and brand, 1K (old something), 5K (most Miller) or 10K (most Lincoln) pot - again, all posted here in the past.

After reading Ernie's posts about pulsers / sequencers I've been thinking about building one to use with my pre-DX Syncrowave 250. It sounds on the surface at least, like a fairly simple project with a little microcontroller. Just controlling the contactor signal and a variable resistance.

Would be nice to not be tied to the foot pedal all the time.

Pete C.

My homebrew sequencer switches are more like $20 for the switch and $15 for the connector.

Where did you get $159 - $179?

That is what Miller charges.

No none of them return to zero on their own.

Ernie Leimkuhler wrote in news:040420052344419062% snipped-for-privacy@stagesmith.com:

Yup! That's what's being charged for the Miller torch mounted control. The $179 was from Miller. The $159, and up, where for the Miller from other vendors. I didn't see any price on the CK controls. I have a 180SD, and the connector for that is pricey. I bought one while building a pulser. Still working on that. Works perfectly off the machine, but the stray RF drives it crazy. Time to get back to it for a lot of RF suppression rework.

Ken,

I built a little rotary control that is held on to the torch with velcro straps. It has a large wheel that can be operated with my index finger, and the pushbutton is separate and on the side. where it is operated by my thumb. I initially tried making a linear pot work, but the "throw" was too great, and I couldn't get used to moving my finger all that far. The advantage of having the switch function separate from the pot is that you don't have to fiddle with it for most of the welding cycle, just for minor adjustments. Plus, my Hobart Tigwave (and probably the Synchros) has a trigger latch function and an end-of-weld crater-fill function. So, for most welds, it's tap on, weld (with minor current adjustment as necessary), and tap off.

The entire body of the control, and the rotary wheel, were made of aluminum, and required the use of a mill and lathe. The pot and switch were junk box items here, and I think I paid 25-30 bux to Newark or Digikey for the correct connector. Even buying everything new, it's probably a $50 out of pocket project. Now, factor in design and fab time, I'm guessing you'd be up around $5000 ;-)

If anyone wants a pix of the thing, I'll take a few, and either send them directly or try to figure out how to get them in the dropbox. And that fellow that has built the pulser - he needs to publish also!

geo

"George Dubovsky" wrote in news:IGx4e.44818$ snipped-for-privacy@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net:

Great info! I'll look forward to seeing the pictures.

--Heyyy this would be a good article to write up for HSM or ME. Anyone who knows how want to take the plunge??

Pictures of my torch-mounted tig remote are in the dropbox now as "tig_remote.txt, etc".

Ken, an e-mail to you bounced, but if you have built a pulser, I'd love to hear the details. Tnx...