Re: (ET) Welder-sort of on Ebay

[Reo43 aol com]

On Thu, 11 Nov 2010 23:58:22 Chris Zach wrote  cz alembic crystel com
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
An  Elec-trak welder is up on Ebay. Price IMO is way high ($330) and 
that's 
without  the welding cables.

However I will say they are pretty nice actually. But  really, it's a 
strap 
resistor set. Hm, does anyone know if one can make a welder  out of the 
E15-20's main  resistors?
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

I believe one could probably do that. Some years ago Popular Science (or a 
 
magazine like that) had plans for building a welder that could be used on 
120  VAC household current. It was very simple - a resistance wire in 
series 
with the  ground and electrode wires. It is limited to the amperage 
available fron a  standard 20 amp circuit.

I still have the one that I built, using a  heating element from an 
electric furnace. You have to use a very small welding  rod, and it is 
difficult to 
start the arc, but by golly - it welds. I also built  a carbon arc head 
for 
this which throws one heck of an arc.

I would  suppose that the low voltage/high amperage available from the 
Elec-Trak would  work even better. I would guess that if you look inside 
that 
Elec-Trak welder it  would have little more than a resistor strip inside 
it. 
Has anyone looked inside  one of these? 

BTW - The Ebay ID number for this one is  110609278471

Erv Troyer
Lagrange, IN