On 11/12/2010 9:33 AM, Reo43 aol com wrote:
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.
Yep. However what makes the Elec-trak welder kind of really nice is that it's a true DC welder. And the 36 volt source is just about right to maintain a nice stable little arc for some reason (little, heh. I look at the sun through the welding helmet and it's a dull little ball. The weld is a nice bright red spot....
It's actually pretty easy to get an arc going, even at the low or medium settings (I think the arc is more stable at low oddly enough so I tend to use that for most work)
Chris