I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

One of the many steps in my project to turbocharge my 1989 Honda Accord is to get an turbo exhaust manifold. The problem is no one makes exhaust manifolds for the 3rd generation Accord anymore.

I like to do things myself, so I have decided to make my own exhaust manifold.

First, I need to build myself a TIG welder.

Following the directions here:
http://classicbroncos.com/homemade-welder.shtml
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Welding_Projects/

I built the following DC Stick welder (to be turned into a DC TIG welder):
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/386...arge6di.th.jpg

http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/2...arge2nv.th.jpg

http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/3...arge3wn.th.jpg

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/420...arge9bd.th.jpg

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/527...arge1qr.th.jpg
My dad’s weld's are on the left block, mine on the right. He has been welding for at least 40 years, this picture shows the result of my 3rd stick ever.

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/348...arge5tw.th.jpg
3 10 gauge wires in parallel should be close enough to welder cable.

http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/6...arge3dw.th.jpg
Our old buzzbox

Most of the welder is temporarily hooked up for testing. I plan on getting rid of the hose clamps as soon as I get some female welder plugs.

So far it has cost me about $30 for the alternator (junkyard), and $20 for the pulleys (Fleet Farm). The motor and other parts we had sitting around the farm. I used an old computer power supply to provide 12v to the motor's stator, but I really need to make a dedicated variable power supply. Right now we estimate it is putting out 120-140 amps.

You can also do this with a gas engine, but I guess you need at least a 7HP gas engine (versus the 5HP electric motor I am running).

Not shown in the pictures is my second pulley. My setup works with one, but during testing I have heard the belt slip a few times. Going dual pulley should fix that.

Right now it’s just for stick welding, but if I add on an arc starter ($20 in parts, using an old car ignition coil and some other stuff), pick up a TIG torch ($50 or so), and rent some tanks I should be ready to go. I will post more pictures when I get that far.

Anyone else here have a home made welder, or want to build one?

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

that's f'ing cool.

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

Wow :o There is DIY but this takes it to another level.That is just awesome keep the updates coming on how this turns out.

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

------- SWEET dude

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

That's an awesome diy, i want to build one right now!

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

that is pretty cool man..but that much electricity kinda scares me haha..i dont trust myself enough to build something like that ;D

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

make a DIY collector for your DIY ramhorn on a HMT kit with the DIY welder.... you will become HMT's new hero.

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

nice, i've been wanting to build my own welder for a while, i weld for part of my liveing so i can usaly do small stuff at work but nothin too in-depth, deffinitely cool

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

there's a diy out there to make a plasma cutter out of a microwave transformer too >:D do it

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

badassm up the ying yang!!!! :o

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

you would definitely be my hero :y

and by the way, that is ------- sweet

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

wheres that link at?

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

Sick ;D

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

thats pretty cool...

I also need to find out where to make a plasma cutter

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

i like using car parts, to build a machine, to make car parts. thats awesome

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

can anyone provide the DIY Plasma Cutter link?!

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

Wow thats cool. Can someone sticky this please.

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

holly crap man! :o :o good stuff!

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

Pimp ---- guy. I saw that idea on a bronco webste and wanted to build it, but I don't have 240 in my garage, which is holding me back on getting any kind of welder.

Good setup and good idea on the ATX power supply for the alternator windings. Beats using a battery.

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

Here is the plasma cutter schematic from the yahoo welding projects group:

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/9...inal2bw.th.jpg

The most expensive part is the plasma torch, the cheapest I have found them is $100 or so on ebay.

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

No ------- way im building tha thing, a ------- stun gun and running wires into a bucket of water, Sounds like like a death trap. I'd definitely do the welder though

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

Electronics own me, but I've been wanting to try and build one of those to run on my trail rig.

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

swap i didnt know you were on here? Youve got a Turbo A20 project too? Your homemade welder is freaking cool... i never thought of that. Not sure how long that alternator is gonna last with that kind of a load on it, itll prolly depend on duty cycle.

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

damn, 3geez.com is really repping over here huh. anyways, i just happen to have an old gm 1 wire altinator in my basement. sounds like i got a new weekend project. we must have like 10 different a20a turbo projects right now

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

That's a great thing about alternators, is that they can run on 100% duty cycle.

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

Heres some of the links I've stashed away for stuff like this
tig welder
http://members.thegeekgroup.org/~js530/tig.html
DIY welder forums
http://forums.diywelder.com/forum/index.php

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

how would you go bout making it a tig?
i do heating and airconditioning so we have tons of motors in the where house, i have argon tanks in the garage too, i guess i can go to hf to get a tig gun but how would i wire it all up? can you make a schematic of how it would all be hooked up with a coil
also how many rpm does your motor do?

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

for someone with a bit more experiance in the electronic field http://www3.telus.net/public/a5a26316/TIG_Welder.html

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

Yeah, I have been on HMT for a while, but I have mostly been lurking. Right now I am thinking about building a manifold similar to the Mosselman log. That way I can keep my AC and power steering, and I shouldn’t have to mess around with push fans or anything. I should have a prototype made out PVC done soon, but I still have to finish my manual swap, and OBD-1 swap before I can work on getting the turbo in. It will probably happen this summer when I am home from college.

While people do say that these alternators are 100% duty cycle, I know they are not made to take this kind of a beating. I got a cheap $5 digital thermometer, and put the sensor on the alternator. When it gets too hot I can just stop for a while and let it cool down. I also will be putting a fan on it.

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

If you have a DC stick welder (either like the one I built above, or store purchased), just go to www.weldingdepot.com and get a TIG torch and accessory kit. Something like the WP9 is cheap and should work. Then just hook it up to the DC stick welder in place of the normal "stick holder", and then hook your argon up to the torch, and you are done. If you want you can hook up some solenoids to turn the gas on and off with a switch, otherwise just use the knobs on the tank. You just can't weld Aluminum with it, because that needs AC. If you want to do AC TIG you need to make one of those complex controller boards that others have posted links to. Eventually I may build one of them, but I wanted to start simple.

My motor does about 3450 RPM , and then it is stepped up to about 6000 RPM at the alternator.

Edit:
Accessory kit: http://store.weldingdepot.com/cgi/we...epot/AK-x.html
Torch: http://store.weldingdepot.com/cgi/we...pot/WP9-x.html
These torches have either 12 or 24 foot long cables. Torches have either have two cables (one for power, and one for gas), or a combined cable. Units with combined cables are supposedly more rugged. If you get a combined cable unit you need a power cable adapter:
Power Adapter: http://store.weldingdepot.com/cgi/we...ot/105Z57.html

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

actually you could proboably make it ac simpiler than your thinking, you see alternaters start out by putting out ac current but cars cant use ac current so they go through a rectifier bridge on the back of the alternater tahts just a set of diodes to control the direction of current, i think if you took the rectifier bridge off you would have yourself an ac welder.

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

this ----------er is the hmt mcgiver

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

The problem is for AC TIG you need to be able to control the duty cycle and offset of the wave. You can't just run normal AC through it, thats why they have all those control circuits.

This guy has some cool information: http://thompdale.home.comcast.net/tig.htm

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

i see oh well thats cool though i didnt know that. but i still say my idea was pretty smart considering the limited knowledege of tig machines that i have.

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

I love this. ;)

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

The main problem in using an alternator for AC output is that the frquency is dependant on the shaft speed.

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

looks nice gilligan!

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

I want one

Re: I built my own welder, and you can too.
 

Nice kick without any use ::)