I swapped to the 8" 1/8" copper rods and the results are better but it still likes to spark on about half the welds, I can’t get it to make good contact every time even though I’m pushing on both the electrodes pretty hard. I will try and get more of a point on them tomorrow before the last set of welds
It’s not blowing though the nickel except that first weld, so I can’t imagine it’s the contact force but maybe the edge of the electrode is arcing or something?
Weird enough that was on my fyp the other day
Not that I use tik tok
no…
no.
I have a roll of marine grade 8GA. Multi strand but Not the most flexible like silicone wire. I can cut you some.
i had trouble getting good contact with some home made pens when I had them together. it was really tough to line the battery up so it made perfect contact on both probes. I had better results when I separated the pens
Make double extra sure that both electrodes are the exact same length if they’re not independently movable and independently sprung.
Awesome, is 8awg enough to made a big difference or should I try for 6awg?
8AWG is ~40% better than 10AWG, whereas 6AWG is ~60% better.
If I make new pens I’ll definitely keep them separate, I always had reliable (although still ass) welds when I held the pen at angle (copper was filed flat so it was on an edge)
The 8" electrodes are sperate so I can get pressure from both (wrapped my finger in tape so I could press down while welding)
6awg is 60% better than 8awg or 10awg?
6AWG is ~60% better than 10AWG.
You don’t need to insulate your finger from the welder. They only put out like three volts.
Also would I be able to get better resistances if I split open the welder and wire straight from the switches?
The shorter the current path and the fatter the conductors, the better.
You can take that to as much of an extreme as you feel comfortable, up to and including rewinding the transformer with fatter wires (if you can make them fit.)
Ahh okay, I might go for that then. Lol I start sweating when it Sparks at me so I think my fingers would actually be conductive
Oof playing with the actual electronics is a bit much for me…I don’t want to burn down the place
lol it’s cheaper to buy 4awg wire as jumper cables than 8awg wire as normal wire…is that a good idea?
The jumper cables may have less strands making it less flexible. Could be a pain to work with. Just a thought
That is a very fair point
Maybe I should just double up the 10awg?
west marine has all kinds of super thiccc sizes by the foot. also, they have the lugs and the swage there to use. maybe a bit pricy per foot, but they will sell you a whole roll or 2"
I go in there all the time just to use the swage 