Learning to Weld

Step 19: Make your own stick welder?

A wire feed welder would be too complicated to make at home, but, over the years people have published articles on how you can build your own stick arc welder. A very popular Instructable tells how to make a 120 volt AC arc welder from two microwave transformers. See also my previous Instructable for links to three sets of plans for building an electric arc welder. Here are some instructions on how to use an automobile's alternator to weld for emergency repairs. Another link there has an additional scheme for using your vehicle's alternator for welding. And, if you scroll down, that link also includes some brief instructions for linking multiple car batteries together to weld. This 1980 article from Mother Earth News tells how to make a very portable DC arc welder from an alternator, a deep cycle battery, resistors, and an old lawnmower. This unit produces about 50 amps, and will be limited in what it can weld. There was a time when I was so eager to build one of these, but I never did. Here is a video of a more refined welder built on a lawnmower frame. Despite the 50 amp. output of the Mother Earth News welder, a welder similar to the one in the last link handled 3/32 inch rod fairly well. 

A used welder can be a good buy. Watch estate sales and other auctions, as well as Craigslist for your area. I bought my 230 volt Miller Thunderbolt stick welder on eBay. The photo was muddy-looking and no one else bid on it. The very good auction price became a quite reasonable price after shipping costs were added. It has been a great welder. I bought my Hobart flux core wire feed welder as a factory refurbished unit. No one has much good to say about cheap import welders. Owners are usually soon disappointed.

(The photo is from Google Images.)

Comments

[kretzlord]

excellent instructable. This gives me the confidence to try it out for myself. Thank you!!!!

[Phil B]

The little 120 volt Century arc welder I bought before I bought the Miller Thunderbolt came with a really nice little instruction booklet that encouraged home DIY types to try welding themselves. It had the usual things about safety and welding current. It also encouraged practicing the hand movements needed to develop a muscle memory, and encouraged doing it for a few minutes followed by rest so you can come back to it and try again in shorter repeated sessions for the best learning. I have not welded anything on which someone's life would depend. There are many things that just need to stick together. Over time you learn more about what a good weld is and how to make it work for you. It is a very satisfying feeling to have done it yourself.

[karlpinturr]

Nice, reasoned, clea and logical 'ible. Just one question - what (if any) is the correlation between electrode diameter and the thickness of the metal you're welding?

[Phil B]

Here is a discussion of that. It depends on several factors, as you can see from the discussion. I use 3/32 inch rod for many, many situations and simply adjust the amperage. But, where there is more of a gap or thicker metal, I use 1/8 inch. For anything thin I use 1/16 inch.

[karlpinturr]

Thanks for that.

[spiritwalker6153]

This is probably the best how to article on welding I have seen. Very well thought out. Good of you to add the safety pieces as well since many others including some of those on national television seem to forget it. Thanks for a well done article.

[Phil B]

Thank you very much.