The degree to which the heavy 4awg cables jump at the higher gears required to weld 0.2 and thicker copper under 0.1mm stainless still alarms me.
It is violent.
A magnet nearby will jump across the table, while the cell acts like it got hit hard by a light hammer and sparks might be flying too, depending on the material you are welding, its purity, cleanliness and the cleanliness of the electrode tips too.
My previous welder at near max power, could barely weld 0.1mm copper under 0.1mm nickel plated steel, and I upgraded 10awg cables to 8awg, but the violence of the welding pulse was nowhere near what My p20B can deliver.
I have no experience with a Kweld or its display, but I can see how that information can be quite useful in determining whether more, or less power is required, after tearing off a practice weld.
For the general AwithZ curious reader.. When using these AwithZ super capacitor welders, from the main options page one can choose:
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manual or automatic. Use the pedal to fire the pulse manually, or have it fire automatically after the chosen delay in option 5
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The duration of preheating. 0.00ms to 0.50ms. This in itself is pretty straight forward, but its effects on the subsequent weld are less so.
I wonder how much room temperature, and the temperature of the copper / nickel / Stainless steel strip and cell affect this preheating. How much does it affect the second weld after the first weld already warmed everything up?
I honestly have not been able to really determine much effect of changing the preheating duration, other than when I turn it off(0.00ms), I have to use a higher gear, and if I have it at 0.20ms the electrodes can seem to melt and deform at higher gears on thicker materials.
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Intermittent. 01ms to 20ms. This is the interval between the short sub millisecond preheating pulse, and the first welding pulse. It is not the interval between welding pulses, assuming one has chosen two or three of them in 5. Again I have not fully explored the full range of this option and was not seeing any obvious difference visually, or in the tear off strength between say 02ms and 05.
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Gear, pretty straightforward. Mine is 001 to 999. I assume it is pretty linear. It seems to be. It does seem if choosing just one weld pulse, this single pulse hits harder than the same gear with dual, or triple pulses, but that single pulse does not seem to hit twice or 3x as hard when using double and triple pulses, maybe 15% harder at most, in my estimation.
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Trigger time. 0.5 to 5 seconds. This only applies if the unit is set to automatic mode, and starts counting from when there is conductivity between electrodes. I only used automatic on my very few first test welds but was having issues getting the probes where I wanted them and at equal angle and pressure, so I went to the pedal and never looked back.
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Number of continuous spot welds. 1, 2, or 3. I have not played with triple welding pulses much. I have done a lot of single pulse, mostly double pulse, but in terms of tear off strength, I cannot subjectively tell much difference using the same gear and all the other settings.
7. Interval Time of Continuous spot welding. 0.1 seconds to 2 seconds in 0.1second increments.
This is definitely the time interval between welding pulses, if one has chosen two or 3 pulses It has no effect if one chooses āNumber of continuous spot welds 1ā
I really think this Interval time should be on the main menu page and not hidden in the āsettingsā menu. I guess it would not fit, so they threw it in the settings sub menu.
I think is bad and confusing design, is that in order to change the interval between the welding pulses, one has to go up into settings, scroll down past the language options, and often scroll through the language options to return it to English, then scroll down to 7. interval time of continuous spot welds.
I have been using 0.1 seconds for most of all my earlier testing above, but am using 0.2 seconds now. I have not fully explored the effects of any longer of an interval, but I have changed it to 1 and 2 seconds and find that delay when holding the electrodes there at the same pressure and waiting for that second pulse, to be a bit nerve wracking, after being used to 0.1 and 0.2 seconds
This a huge amount of variables to dial in, and small changes the effects are so subtle, that the only option which seems to have an effect on the result, is the Gear.
In many ways eliminating preheating by setting it to 0.00ms, and setting it to just 1 welding pulse, removes all the variables other than āgearā, the pressure one uses, and the size and shape of the tips, and their length, when they are worn.
The option of choosing a preheating pulse, its duration, and the āintermittentā interval between the preheating pulse and the first weld pulse , as well as the interval between welding pulses, assuming one has chosen 2 or 3 pulses, is a shitton of variables.
Fine tuning these bells and whistles in order to achieve a solid weld with the least amount of cell heating, is a bit mind boggling, especially when the vague and poorly translated directions do not say what the effects of changing these variables is.
Changing more than one variable at a time is self defeating, as the pressure one uses on the electrodes, is hardly objective and repeatable, precise and accurate, and the shape of the electrode tips is constantly changing as well.
I only welded 0.15mm pure nickel a few times with my old āpurpleā spot welder, and was determined to use copper, and found I could only use 0.1 copper under 0.1 nickel plated steel, and at near max power, and consistency was difficult, and more so as the weld lipo aged.
The AwithZ P20B is a luxurious powerhouse in comparison, and I feed spoiled in that I have plenty of flux, know I can use far less power to weld 0.2mm copper under 0.1mm stainless, but just turn up the power a bit more.
Pecos, I am happy to see that you are achieving good looking welds using 0.3mm copper with flux, no sandwich. A 20s5P Reliance RS50 made from 0.3 copper is going to be a beast of an Esk8 battery.
I am dismayed that you find the unit frustrating and that your Pedal seems to be faulty, and I hope it is the pedal, and not the welder itself.
I have found all the available variables possible to be frustrating, and often just want to turn them off and just turn up the gear till the weld sticks, the copper tears, and call it good.
I also love me a potentiometer, and seeing pictures and videos of a Kweld in operation soothed my potentiometer twiddling nature. I hate scrolling push button menus, and repeatedly pressing buttons and beeping and more buttons, and nothing telling me voltage or amperage or wattage.
I have built several batteries, small ones, not esk8 batteries so far, using my AwithZ p20b. I have an Eve40PL 10s1P all fishpapered up and glued together into two 5s1pās , but honestly want more practice, and possibly 0.25mm pure copper, or 0.3mm before committing to finishing it.
i will just say (edited again omfg shut up me) no i wont just say
