19 replies to this topic

[CBJ805T]

Hi Guys, 

 

I got the tips made using C101. They worked a treat! With the first couple of welds the tips initially stuck to the work after welding, but could be prised off easily.  There also get hotter than my normal tips, and you can see that there is some bluing evident - this may be down to the small diameter I was using. 

 

given it was £2.50 for the material and £20 to have them turned up I don't think I can complain  

 

 

Hope this helps, 

 

Chris

[m1cH1]

Hi Chris,

 

those electrodes look nice. Happy to hear that they are working as intended!

 

I´m also going to need to do my roof gutter drip rails as one of the next jobs on my ongoing restoration, but first I´ll have to turn a set of fitting electrodes, as the ones I own do not fit inside the roof gutter. Would you mind sharing the diameter of the very tips of your electrodes? And if the contacting faces are flat or slightly crowned/radiussed?

 

Thanks in advance,

Mike

[CBJ805T]

Hi Mike, 

 

below is the drawing - I went for a 4mm flat at the end, but as you can see from the photo above it has crowned slightly with use.

 

 

hope this helps

 

Chris 

Edited by CBJ805T, 30 August 2016 - 11:25 AM.

[tiger99]

Copper MIG welder tips are usually of far too small diameter to fit the spot welder. You will need to turn some kind of split sleeve from copper, in such a way that tightening up the fixings on the spot welder compresses it to grip the welding tip tightly. Or, maybe use the end of an old and worn spot welding electrode, drill it to be a tight push fit over the MIG tip, and slit it down the side.

As for electrode material and stupidly expensive grades of copper, silver is slightly better! But cheap copper will be ok at home. Beryllium copper presents a potentially serious toxic hazard, has higher electrical resistance, and should not be used. A copper - silver alloy may have interesting possibilities.

Please do let us know how you get on, as this topic must be of interest to many of us.

[tiger99]

Oh, and even on cheap spot welders, the maximum current is held at a safe value, for intermittent use, by the leakage inductance of the transformer. Reducing the electrode resistance is not a bad thing to do.