Arc Welding Safety First :)

[Hank Fletcher]

The whole thing would make a excellent final year project

If you mean "final" as in possibly the last project you'll ever make, I'd say you're right.

Seriously, though, all respect to this guy and billions of others like him who by necessity must resign themselves to life- or at least health- threatening working conditions, knowing full well that conditions are and ought to be better elsewhere. Rise up, people.

 

[Krumlink]

The transformer looks like cake at first...

 

[phobos]

i think he is one of my in-laws

 

[RODALCO]

Thanks for that second picture, it makes it a bit clearer to me now.
At least it shows the mains lead.
The secondary windings have a lot of insulation on them so they probably last ok.
Both of the terminals from the secondary to the welding rod show signs of heat stress where the blue and grey wires are twisted together. ( a bit of voltage drop there)

The duty cycle of the welder welding will probably ok, so the transformer will survive for some time in the near future.

Good to put the photo's to the server, Nigel so we don't end up with empty boxes with a red x in them.

 

[things]

so that's what the red X es mean, the picture is moved/deleted?

 

[Hero999]

The duty cycle of the welder welding will probably ok, so the transformer will survive for some time in the near future.

That's true, it'll probably survive for longer than the operator at least which won't be that long.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Just found this on Dansdata, a video of a homemade Arc Welder, much nicer than the one posted in message #1
https://www.afrigadget.com/2007/06/03/home-made-welding-machine/
**broken link removed**

And a helicopter!
**broken link removed**

 

[theinfamousbob]

And a helicopter!
**broken link removed**

Helicopter looks like it's based on a van body...the seats and muffler are clearly visible...

I'm impressed. Wouldn't want to ride in it, though...

EDIT: I was close...full article:
https://www.afrigadget.com/2007/10/

 

[blueroomelectronics]

And a crashed Boeing 747!

scrap aluminum and parts from a Honda Civic, an old Toyota and from the remains of a crashed Boeing 747.

 

[Andy1845c]

I saw the helicopter somplace a while back. I actually thought it was pretty cool, but i'm with Bob on not riding in it

 

[theinfamousbob]

And a crashed Boeing 747!

...because they're just freely available?!

Seriously though, thumbs-up to that guy. He's done more with a pile of stuff then I've ever.

Speaking of stuff, just bought a micro helicopter from https://www.woot.com today for $14.99 with shipping. Have some accelerometer chips that I'm going to wire up (probably with a pic) and some IR sensors...will be fun to see, if I ever get around to it that is.

(EDIT: If it's after 12AM CST then click the "Community" tab, it's listed there.)

 

[RODALCO]

Those welder transformators look a lot better than the original one.
Wiring is tidy and end insulation is in place.

The brown supply leads look dodgy to me. At least there is an earth wire visible, with the correct colour. Not sure if it is connected to an earth terminal though.

I wouldn't trust the helicopter, the tail rotor is visible but doesn't look complete, perhaps a toy for the kids.

 

[Overclocked]

Necessity is the Mother of Invention.

 

[crusty]

dude, it's totally OSHA approved!

 

[mramos1]

Think I will build that welder so I can make me a cool helicopter.

I do not like to ride in new ones, I am out on that ride as well.

And the paint on it was from an old school bus factory maybe?

 

[Speakerguy]

My dad has traveled extensively in poor rural areas of a lot of countries as an agricultural economist at our state's public university. He was not surprised by the picture at all. The main place he goes is Brazil, but he's also been to Vietnam and others. Fortunately he got to go to Vietnam a few years ago, and not when he was drafted back during the war...

 

[Hero999]

The middle transformer actually looks safe and providing all the outputs are earthed and the primaries are fused, even a short from the primary to secondary shouldn't kill.