welding question

[fuzzybear]

   I have made a welder out of a ford 100amp alternator. It works very well. 1/4 steel with 1/8 rods no problem.  It runs of the engine on my skid truck.
  Now the situation has come up that I need to weld the boom set up on my skid truck. And it need to be done in the middle of the bush.
   My question is am I going to fry the distributor if I start welding on the truck.  I've welded on skid plates to the Hobart its self and never fried the electronics on that engine.  But I'm not sure about the truck.  There is no computer just HEI ingnition

FB

[CX3]

FB, I was always told to place the ground clamp as close as possible to the welding area.  And always make sure no electronics were in the path of the electricity.  If this is done properly the electricity should just go from point a to point b and not interfere with anything else.  Please double check me before you go buzzing away though. 

Also, in high school we made a welder out of 6 big semi batteries.  We wired them in series with each other and it would really burn a rod. 

[sandhills]

The only thing I'd ad to CX3's statement is I would grind off (or file) the area where you are clamping the ground, make it as clean and shiny as possible.  I've welded a lot on things that weren't computerized and a few that were and never had any trouble with it.  Just my .02 listen to someone here who knows more about it than me.

[H60 Hawk Pilot]

I agree with the two reply's above ad see No problem without a Computer or the like in your vehicle. 

If you do have a computer in a vehicle you are welding on and connected to.. un-plug it completely.  I say this because I had a new Peterbuilt welding and service body truck. It was brand new and just before I welded the 1st piece of steel in the vise on the bed... I thought about the computer. I called the body company that made up the truck and asked about welding back feed damage. I was told that I needed to disconnect the computer on the CAT engine or damage would occur.

What a pain thay was, always welded off the truck bed and hated it.  I thought about running a copper ground in the ground and all that but never did.  I have seen other guys welding on their service trucks with computers and No damage.. so go figure. This Pete. truck was over 175 K with tools on board and I never took the chance.

Avery   

[Ironmower]

Never hurts to atleast unhook the battery.

[isawlogs]

He needs the batery to run the truck  ;)   Grind where the ground will be , put it as close to the welding area as possible as was said , you will be ok.

   Hope it don't take too long to fix up .

[fuzzybear]

   Thanks for the replies. I kind of thought I could with no problem.  I have a spare distributor I'm taking just in case.    I've burned through many tubes of rod with this welder, but I never welded on the truck before.  I thought I would ask first .
   I have to weld the engine hoist together due to the fact that I keep stretching and loosening the bolts holding it all together.  I also need to add supports for the main boom to stop flex and sheer force on the sides.  Those 100' spruce really put alot of force and strain on the hoist. It should have been welded earlier but I was experimenting with this idea and It seems to be working good.
   Thanks again guys, I'm headed out in a few days again and will try it out. 


fb

[Qweaver]

I've been a welder for more years than I care to admit and I have never heard of anyone making a welder out of an alternator.  :D  I'd sure like to see a drawing of the wiring to do that.  Is it AC or DC? 

[Reddog]

I've been a welder for more years than I care to admit and I have never heard of anyone making a welder out of an alternator.  :D  I'd sure like to see a drawing of the wiring to do that.  Is it AC or DC? 

DC, borrowed from a 4x4 site below

Basically the alternator is an externally regulated alternator from a Ford. You need to put one wire to the "field" tab on the alternator and wire this to positive / fused source. This "energizes" the alternator. The switch is there so there is not a constant power source going to the alternator. Flip the switch, attach the cables and weld.

[fuzzybear]

   When you disconect the voltage regulator on any alternator and run a 12 v line directly to the field side you have an instant welder and 110v dc power.  
  Most alternators require only .5 volt to produce 12v.  add more power and more speed and you have LOTS of power coming out. the faster you spin the more the  power.
  I run a seperate 12v battery with a dimmer switch to control the voltage into the alternator, that combined with engine speed is how you control the power out.  on the back of the alt you connect the ground to the - post and the stinger to + post.
  For 1/4" I run a full 12v in and engine speed around 2000 rpm.  this is a 100% duty cycle welder. the out put is around 130 amp. I can run about 4 rods before I have to let it cool off for about 10 min.
  I have a household socket and volt meter wired in the same way, just turn the dimmer switch until it reads 110v dc and you can run any brushed motor, ie grinder, saw, even runs a 100w light bulb.  The motor has to be an on/off type, it will not run a variable speed motor like a hand drill.  But I run a 600w power inverter off the battery for this.
  I have a friend whom is an electrical engineer, he also goes way out in the middle of nowhere with his custom built jeep.  After breaking the frame and spending a lot of money to get it out of the bush, he started building one.  His rig is equipped with a 250amp airplane alternator. It is a massive frame that runs enough power to run cutting rods through 1/2" plate.  
  There are some articles on the web. Just type in alternator welder or on board welder. Most of what you find is how to convert a GM alt.  But a Ford is much easier. You can plug the regulator back in and charge you battery, unplug the regulator, plug in the welder line and away you go.  There are welding forums where I have found the diagrams to make a control panel to make it into a mig welder as well. Just a bit to advanced for me.
  The nice thing is the cost. There are 100s of 100amp ford alt laying around, and it's very cheep and easy to rebuild. it's just bearings and brushes. The other nice advantage with a for is they do not have a limiting diode like GM. GM alternators need to be taken apart and these diodes removed, otherwise they will burn out at 30amps. They are also no good for charging you batteries after you modify it.  
  You tube has several videos of guys that have done this also. There are even videos to show you how to convert 125 amp GM frames. Mother Earth News made one several years ago, they mounted it on a 5hp lawn mower.  It worked well but it was hard on the little motor. I've run mine on a 10hp and it pulled it right down when I struck an arc.   I would recomend at least 15hp. and dual belts.

  If you have any questions about it I'll be glad to try and answer them.  I have tons of little things like this I've built over the years. Living here in the north I have had to learn to make due with what I have at hand.  It's to expensive to get new toys sent to the this end of the earth.
  I'm so glad I live in this age of information.  With the computer I have access to every little details I need to build what ever I want.
  The next addition I'm adding is an on board air compressor made from an  A/C compressor from a Volvo.  But first I have to get the truck out of the bush. ;D

[Ironwood]

Cool, never heard of this (vintage Mother Earth News mags are in the attic) :D

Ironwood

[fuzzybear]

Cool, never heard of this (vintage Mother Earth News mags are in the attic) :D

Ironwood

   They have so many old ideas that they have built on a low budget. They also have their articles online at their web sight. 

[Ironwood]

I have nearly a full set from the earliest days until they went "glossy". The mag. really changed, I have heard came back more to it's roots lately. I had a thought today while talking to the bank teller making a deposit for me, ........ "Thin Times Magazine"  :D Might actually be a great idea. ................... ??? Half Mother, half Goodwill/ flea market/ demo/ scrapper. :D

Ironwood

[WH_Conley]

I think I still have a 165 amp Leese-neville(sp) alternator and a 16 HP engine out in the barn. Could a person put a rheostat in place of the dimmer switch and get full variable amperage out of it? With an inverter, everything mounted on a skid or something a person would have the whole shootin match. 

[fuzzybear]

I think I still have a 165 amp Leese-neville(sp) alternator and a 16 HP engine out in the barn. Could a person put a rheostat in place of the dimmer switch and get full variable amperage out of it? With an inverter, everything mounted on a skid or something a person would have the whole shootin match.  

A dimer switch is basically a rheostat for 110v. It works just fine and was free. 8) But if you run a real rheostat you will be able to fine tune the arc better.  The leese will definatly throw a good arc, and be able to handle just about anything you throw at it.       The trick is not to get them overheated to the point you burn the windings.  Like I said earlier, 4 , 1/8" rods and I have to turn the power off to the alt. I turn the engine back to idle and let the alt freewheel  to cool off and then I can run 4 more through.  It's great when You need to do small welding jobs. If you take your time and don't overheat it it will do a lot.

[dovetails]

I remember as a kid,(think 1960 or so) my Dad had an old Hudson car with a welder under the hood.Don't know how it worked,but remember it was mounted on top of the motor on passenger side,he would open the hood and start welding.Used it for a few years then got a trailer mounted welder with a flathead v-8 ford motor. I have boxes of old plans from popular science and popular mechanics books that I've saved over the years for things you can make cheep to take the place of the big dollar items. Amazing the stuff you can improvise with a little thought and a good junk pile!

Question, can you use a small generator (10hp) as a welder?