KaeptnBalu's instructables
Tell us about yourself!
Complete Your ProfileAchievements
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder6 months ago
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder9 months ago
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder9 months agoView Instructable »
This could have killed the 5V regulator on the Arduino Nano. It is a linear regulator, so it can not handle high voltages very well. The mosfet driver should be ok. It has a maximum input voltage of 18V according to the datasheet.
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Battery Powered Solder Fume Extractor10 months ago
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder10 months agoView Instructable »
Hi,I can remove the Arduino Nano. But this will only reduce the total price by 4 €. If you want to get a Spot Welder Kit without the Arduino please write to info@malectrics.eu
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Battery Powered Solder Fume Extractor11 months agoView Instructable »
You need the 1s version
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder11 months agoView Instructable »
Hi,this should be no problem. They have almost identical specs and the same pinout.
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder12 months agoView Instructable »
Sorry, i totaly forgot to upload the files. They are now on my Github: https://github.com/KaeptnBalu/Arduino_Spot_Welder_V3/tree/master/KiCad_PCB_Files/Gerber
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder1 year ago
Did you built it yourself ? Maybe something is connected wrong or you got a defective mosfet. I did several hundred welds back in the day with my V1 unit and had very consistent welding results.
If you want to use capacitors please read this article: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2588371The 8 power fets need quite some current to switch fast. The microcontroller can only provide about 10mA reliable at the I/O Ports. So it is best for reliability and function to use a dedicated mosfet driver IC like the MCP1407.
View Instructable »I also noticed that problem. The BOM and mouser shopping cart link of V3.2 has already been updated. Alternative Diode is this one: https://www.mouser.de/ProductDetail/Vishay/SMC5K13AHM3-H?qs=sGAEpiMZZMvxHShE6Whpu669Q5WayNPxggMm9nxlrLI=It is a Vishay SMC5K13AHM3/H
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder1 year agoView Instructable »
Should be no problem. Maybe you will get some sparks at the welding tips.
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder1 year ago
This will most likely be the 2 nickel strips not touching each other. Then the current goes completely through one single nickel strip and you burn a hole in it or get some big sparks at the welding tips.
View Instructable »This was because of the big shottky protection diode. After some time i found out that it has a leakage current highly depending on temperature. So in most cases it worked fine at room temperature (22° C) but when working at higher temperatures like 30°C the 620 ohm resistor was to big to clamp this leackage current to ground. With the 150 Ohm resistor it does work even at very high temperatures. But in the V3 you dont need the schottky diode for protection anymore, because the TVS diode mounted directly on the pcb is much more effective than connected with wires like on the previous versions. The TVS only is now enough to protect the mosfets. So the value of the 150 Ohm resistor could be higher with no problems. But i decided to leave it 150 Ohm so if someone decides to still u...
see more » - KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder1 year ago
M2.5 screws are fine. I will update this in the instructable.
View Instructable »The schottky diode is not that important. But i would recommend to at least install the TVS diode to protect the mosfets.
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder1 year ago
It also works with just the TVS.
View Instructable »There is no need for conductive grease. I already did several thousand welds with the aluminum parts directly bolted to the pcb.For the super capacitor solution check out this article on thingiverse. This guy put much effort into it and seems to work good.https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2588371As a Lipo battery i use this one: https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-battery-nano-t...It is about the same welding power as a 400CCA car battery. Has about 3000 welds (4 charges) on it now with no signs of degradation. But the ones you listed could also work.
- KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Battery Powered Solder Fume Extractor's weekly stats: 1 year ago
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder1 year agoView Instructable »
The 9V battery should work. Most of the current for the mosfet drivers is supplyed by the capacitors on the pcb, because they only need the high current for a very short time. The normal current draw of the Spot Welder is arround 100mA.
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder1 year agoView Instructable »
It will also work with the 3s 5000mAh Lipo. 4s is not good because the Welder is designed for 12V batteries. I also had the idea with a OLED display and little menu system. This way you can change settings directly on the Spot welder instead of changing it in the Arduino code. Already working on it. But this addon needs a complete new pcb layout and new Arduino program. So it will take some mor weeks till it is ready.
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder1 year agoView Instructable »
Both Mosfet types will work. The IRFB7437 can handle a little bit more current and have a better avalance current rating. So they should be more robust than the IRf1405. If you are using the recommended arround 400 CCA car battery type it doesnt matter which ones you use.
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder1 year agoView Instructable »
Dang it, the part number was wrong in all the BOMs. Sorry for that. I updated the BOMs so it is correct now.
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder1 year agoView Instructable »
The voltage drop of the car battery is not the problem. That should be compensated by the capacitors next to the mosfet driver.But at the end of the pulse there is a voltage spike that reaches about the voltage rating of the mosfets. So arround 50V for the IRF1405 mosfets. It is only few micro seconds short but could damage the components on the Arduino board. If you are using the 2 protection diodes the voltage spike is even shorter. So it may work then to power the Arduino Board from the car battery without blowing something up. Have not tested it.
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder1 year agoView Instructable »
Remove the AutoPulse Jumper and then put the Test Code on the Arduino.https://github.com/KaeptnBalu/Arduino_Spot_Welder_...Then you can measure all voltages with a normal multimeter. More detailed instruction is on Github: https://github.com/KaeptnBalu/Arduino_Spot_Welder_...
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder1 year agoView Instructable »
Resistor R13 does not need to be populated. It was meant as a pull down resistor, but after looking close to the schematic i realised R14 + R15 already do the pull down to GND. In the latest PCB files on Github i removed R13. So in the next batch of PCBs there will be no R13. I have not received the new PCBs yet, so pictures are not updated.
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder1 year agoView Instructable »
Hi, i updated the website. The Paypal problem should be fixed now. Thanks for the info.
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder1 year ago
Hi, The welder needs about 400A to function properly. But a normal fuse will not work in this application. If you use for example a battery that can deliver 440A, the welding current for the set pulse time will be close to 440A. So in case of a defective mosfet for example the current will still be 440A but for a longer time.
View Instructable »Just finished my new website. You can get pcbs there if you like.https://malectrics.eu
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder1 year ago
Since the new version only has one driver for all mosfets, each of the mosfets should have its own gate resistor. On the V1 each mosfet had its own driver output and therefore gate resistor were not as critical as on the new v2.
View Instructable »The cable for the diodes should be 10mm² ( 7 or 8 awg). For the tvs diode you can also use thinner cable if it is just a very short piece.
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder1 year agoView Instructable »
Matze, that is an awesome construction you made there. Love it.
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder1 year agoView Instructable »
Use IRF1405 https://www.reichelt.de/Transistors-IRC-IRF-/IRF-1...IRF3704 can not carry enough current.
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder1 year agoView Instructable »
M3 x 10mm fit perfect if your aluminium is 4mm thick
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder2 years agoView Instructable »
I did some measurements and with the shottky diode only there are crazy voltage oscillations which make the spot welder freak out. You can see it in the step i added to the instructable. With Shottky+ tTVS everything works fine.
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder2 years agoView Instructable »
I will do some oscilloscope tests soon. And if its good add the diodes to the future prebuilt kits. You can already get them on my tindie store f you want to upgrade your existing spot welder. I do also have a little wiring diagram there. https://www.tindie.com/products/KaeptnBalu/diy-arduino-battery-spot-welder-diode-set/
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder2 years agoView Instructable »
That was related to the old version of pcbs that had a little mistake in the solder stop. No need to pay attention to this with the newer boards.
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder2 years ago
You can use any non inverting dual drivers which can handle 12v supply voltage and ttl (5v) control signal.
View Instructable »And important: make sure they have the same pinout as the mcp14e10 drivers
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder2 years agoView Instructable »
If you plug in the Arduinos USB it powers the welder with 5v so you can test if the display and led works. But for welding you need to connect 7...12V to the 12V input pin and negative(GND) to the GND pin. Don't use the car battery to power it, use a seperate power supply or a little 2-3s lipo battery.
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder2 years ago
Do you have a link to the thread with the information so i can take a look ?I have done several hundres welds with the spot welder and there was no problem so far. Therefore i did not think about adding more parts to it.
View Instructable »Did you check the mosfet drivers ? If always a pair of mosfets blows up, maybe it is a bad driver because there are 2 mosfets conencted to each driver.
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder2 years agoView Instructable »
Better use a seperate power supply. 1A 12V should be enough. Or use a 2-3s Lipo battery.
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder2 years agoView Instructable »
Hi Seegers, The display changes between the two digits about every second if you are higher than 9 ms. For example if you adjust it to 14ms it shows 1 , 4, 1, 4, 1, 4, 1, 4 ....
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder2 years ago
Arranging and packing all the parts is allmost the same amount of work as soldering them to the pcb. So i decided to make some prebuild kits instead of part sets.
View Instructable »The IRF1404 also works. I used the IRF1405 because it is rated a little bit higher Amps but costs the same as the 1404 here in Germany.
- KaeptnBalu's instructable Wanhao Duplicator i3 Plus LED Light Upgrade's weekly stats: 2 years ago
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder2 years agoView Instructable »
Hey guys, I do currently have some PCB Sets an 3 prebuilt kits in stock. Take a look here:https://www.tindie.com/stores/KaeptnBalu/
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder2 years agoView Instructable »
The Arduino typically comes with pins and sockets. So you only need one 8 Pin header and socket and 2x 2 pins and sockets for the ground connection (JP1 and JP2) of the two pcbs.
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder2 years agoView Instructable »
Thank you for pointing out the problems. I updated step 3 of the instruction so hopefully its more clear now.Ps: the Arduinos i ordered came with the 6 Pin header pre installed. I was just to lazy to unsolder them.
- KaeptnBalu commented on KaeptnBalu's instructable DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder2 years agoView Instructable »
Typically, when you buy the Arduino it comes with pin headers. So you only need one extra 20 pin row for all the rest pins.
- KaeptnBalu favorited $5, No Tool, Bamboo Sunglasses by demseyk2 years ago
- KaeptnBalu favorited 2W Arduino Laser Engraver/Cutter by AlexP662 years ago
You could change the voltage regulator on the Arduino Nano, but a new Arduino Nano is only about 3$, so i would change the complete thing. The Arduino Nano can just be unplugged from the pin headers to put in a new one.