Homemade TIG Welder

[wakmat]

Hello

How you all going I'm very interested in building a tig with an alternator,but I,m struggling to find a suilable alternator,I have found a Lucas 14ac,Lucas 14 acr and a bosch uk 41,but all seem to have internal voltage regulators,Capt Ahab what model and brand alternator are you using,or does anyone know what brand and model alternators have external regulators down here in Australia,everything seems to be Bosch.Any help would be great.

Thanks Tim

[Fricke]

Hi.

Almost any alternator will work. It´s easier with an external regulator, but an internal regulator can be modified.

What you need to do is to bypass the internal regulator, to do this unsolder the wire from the regulator cicuit and the ground from the brush holder.
Then solder some wires to the brush holders and route them out of the alternator to either a simple rheostat to regulate the field or a bit more complex circuit as in some of the links below.

I hope it will help you.

Some links.
http://diy-welder.com/index.shtml
http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=125923
http://myweb.cableone.net/rschell/TIG.htm
http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/my-diy- ... 77730.html
http://www3.telus.net/public/a5a26316/TIG_Welder.html

[GRIM]

Hi Fricke ,
Excellent links, Many thanks ,

I Have been toying with this idea for some time now, I was aware of the Hot rod Troy wellington machine , and have attached a pdf of the same circuit , but with an external rectifier bridge , (because i have a box full of 40A stud mount diodes ),

I like this circuit for its simplicity ,

We have a LIncoln at work with all the bells and whistles , whenever I use it I switch off all the slope and crater fill and other nonsense , and just use the foot pedal ,

But thats just me , I learned to tig on a good quality but basic Miller and cant get used to all this modern stuff ,

I agree virtually any alternator should work , you just need to dismantle it , loose the regulator, and in my case the original diodes too, then just locate the three pairs of wires from the windings and silver solder some decent wires to them ,

Check out the Miller web site , theres a bunch of very good manuals and sound advice on tig welding in general ,

http://www.millerwelds.com/ WOOT

[wakmat]

Hello

Fricke,I have found a alternator with the brush holders on the rear,you said unsolder the 2 wire and run them to a rheostat,Do I join these wires together and run my positive feild to this? also what sort of voltage should I aim for so I can set my rpm.Any help would be great

Thanks
Tim

[Fricke]

Hello

Fricke,I have found a alternator with the brush holders on the rear,you said unsolder the 2 wire and run them to a rheostat,Do I join these wires together and run my positive feild to this? also what sort of voltage should I aim for so I can set my rpm.Any help would be great

Thanks
Tim

Hello Tim

Sorry that I´m late responding to you, been busy with the off-line world.

One wire to the rheostat and then to your positive on the power source.
Connect the other wire to the negative on the power source.

I´m attaching a crude drawing.

AlternatorWelder.png

By routing both brushes outside the alternator you have more to play with, if you are going to experiment with more 'advanced' control of the welding current.

Once you have the basic design working I believe that you would like to build the DIY TIG welder of this universe!