Reddit mentions: The best spot welding equipment

Nothing to show yet, but I managed to braze some wire coat hangers together pretty easily using flux coated welding rod and the 0-size tip that came with the Victor kit. Had to be pretty quick to avoid burning through, and my brazing rod is way too big (1/8") but it's definitely possible and the brazing connection was very strong. Certainly good enough for sculpture, wall hangings, etc.

Brazing 1/8" RG 45 rod together is very easy. I'm just using 1/8" flux-coated brazing rod from Home Depot and it works fine. 1/16" rod would probably be better, though. And Goehl is right when he suggests scraping off about half of the flux coating. If you don't it leaves a sticky clear residue. I think I'm going to switch to bare bronze and powdered flux. I ordered a bunch of welding rod from Weldfabulous during their Black Friday sale so I can try some smaller size rods.

I'm glad I have the Victor 100FC handle so I can tackle a variety of stuff but for tiny wire work it seems like a light duty torch might be a better option. I've noticed that Goehl also uses a Smith AW1A light duty torch a lot. For a cheaper "airline" style torch there's the Uniweld 71 and the Ameriflame knockoff. Both of them are cheap and have good reviews on Amazon.

So far I'm mostly practicing laying 1/8" RG 45 down on black iron pipe to try to practice puddle control. My results are terrible but this is a really good practice material. Cheap, easy to get anywhere, and easy to work with. I just throw a set of cheap locking pliers on one end of a piece of pipe to keep it from rolling and go to town on it.

I also did some tests welding short lengths of rebar together and that worked out OK but I think a 0 tip is too small. Probably need at least a 3 or 4. The 0 tip worked but it took a long time to get the material up to temp.

will these work?

http://www.amazon.com/Hobart-770513-Copper-Coated-Oxy-Acetylene--18-Inch/dp/B002AKJ1Z8

These are copper covered steel welding rods. You should probably be able to solder them without issues. I've only used copper-covered MIG wire, which is much thinner, and it soldered OK.

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May i suggest some spot weld bits. They greatly reduce the problem of drilling through the base metal. Use a spring loaded center punch and maybe a 2mm drill bit to deepen the divot slightly (just through the top layer) then hit it with the spot weld cutter. Typically the center punch is enough, but sometimes in tight areas or with wear, the center of the cutter will wander and not stay centered when the cutter teeth starts to bite. The drilled divot helps keep this from happening.
https://www.amazon.com/KCC-Industries-DR4402-Value-Pack/dp/B073Z2L2C2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1506277484&sr=8-3&keywords=spot+weld+cutter

subscribed to your channel, look forward to seeing your future progress.

Can you post a picture?

You could try some UV curable solder mask like this. I haven't tried that specific product though, so I don't know how strong it will be. You could just add kapton tape on top of the curable solder mask to be safe.

I found some pretty cool nickel strip on Amazon with that slot down the middle and bought 10$ worth. Sadly I didn't pay attention to the thickness so its 0.1mm 😕 I honestly don't know for sure if they have a PTC in them, I assumed they all do. I guess I got to short one fully charged cell out and watch the fireworks if there isn't a PTC 😁

I might build that open source spot welder GreatScott! featured that uses a car battery or a big high C rated LiPo, if this spot welder Turns out to be total shit after fixing.

I would also like an easy way to test their capacity. I might see if my lipo charger is up to the task of that. It can do a discharge on the cells and measure capacity although it doesn't make any discharge plots.

I use this propane regulator, I'm sure you can find something similar with the correct connectors.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007VLW464/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This uses the same connector as a barbecue LP Gas connection. It also fits a common rubber hose w/LH thread hardware (Which I covered with 1/2" Flexible electrical conduit).

Worth noting that soapstone is available for use as a marking tool. I've used it in blacksmithing for making chalk-lines on iron. Actual chalk won't survive the forge, soapstone will remain visible.

So it doesn't look like a souls one, but you can get some and make a white soapstone sign anywhere you please

This is my new grill brush, holds up much better than the typical grill brush: http://www.amazon.com/US-Forge-Welding-Stainless-00303/dp/B0000DD6JI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373467204&sr=8-1&keywords=welding+brush

Most cheap brushes are brass. I bought one of these stainless steel ones and it's gone about two years without shedding. Time to replace, though.

Do you not have automotive repair shops? Airgas? Linde? Every country on the planet uses welders.

Heres one on amazon

Here's one on Alibaba

You tell me where your located and i'll find a store that sells welders within 2 hours of where ever you live 100% guaranteed. Even if you live in a warzone.

And even if that fails here is how you make one with super basic parts, a single microwave transformer. Spot welders are dead simple man, literally just a transformer. You could make one with literally just copper wire and a hunk of iron.