Top ten gorilla welds I've seen

I seem to remember seeing them in circa. 1950 (mid years) Popular Mechanics for sale in the back. Reminded me of carbon arc lamps. Likely the idea source.

Mart> >

I recall a time when Dad used two carbon rods from "D" cells and a set of jumper cables (hooked to a car battery) to produce enough heat to re-solder a wire on a generator/starter commutator . Saved our weekend of skiing behind Uncle Bill's boat ...

In an auto rebuild shop during WW2 we used a single carbon with a handle. Connected the commutator to the battery with a strap and touched the carbon to the each bar near the wire to heat. The starter armatures were otherwise very hard to solder, because of the heavy conductors. I suspect that works better on 6V than on 12V as there was plenty of heat on 6V.

Don Young

My dad described a similar setup he used for rebuilding batteries in the starter and battery shop he worked in just out of high school, soldering the cell connecting straps. I suspect that if you tried it on anything modern-made, it'd fall apart, last starter I worked on looked like the commutator had an injection-molded insulator, not mica with chevron washers, and all the connections were crimped/punched, not soldered.

Stan

That makes the old 'Solid Ox' welds look good.