Anyone have experience or have used these arc welders?

[rankrank1]

I think I got one of those "Twin Carbon Arc power" thingies when I bought my welder several years ago... have no clue what it is used for. The old sears welder, helmet, gloves, hammer, tons of rods, and that thing for $125...

I thought the old man told me that it could be used to cut metal... I don't know if I'll ever use it tho... Tips are broken on the unit now but got full box of refills.

Read any of my posts on this thread or other threads and and you will know what it is used for. Extremely useful for any type of heating, but it is NOT for cutting metal.

 

[teg]

Teg you want rid of that thing?

James K0UA

...unless my wife starts "complaining" about it, I don't get rid of (hardly) anything Forget who said this first but I live by "...you'll never need something until you get rid of it, at which point you'll desperately need it..." (or something like that).

Now that I know I can braze with it... I'll get some rods. I like doing that back in high school and the wife wanted to know if I could do a gate, this will work. Was looking at getting tanks for heating metal up, may give this a try.

I need to look this up "....improvised flame fill weld..." if it has anything to do with filling blow through, I'll have to keep it.

but James, if it scares the bejebes out of me, I'll mail it to you :ashamed:

 

[teg]

Read any of my posts on this thread or other threads and and you will know what it is used for. Extremely useful for any type of heating, but it is NOT for cutting metal.

I did... and thanks!!! I was a little excited when I started to read your post... ended up running down stairs with the camera - looking through several draws before I found it!!!

I was going to google it but can you explain "....improvised flame fill weld..." is that filling holes with brazing rods? or something else...

 

[k0ua]

...unless my wife starts "complaining" about it, I don't get rid of (hardly) anything Forget who said this first but I live by "...you'll never need something until you get rid of it, at which point you'll desperately need it..." (or something like that).

Now that I know I can braze with it... I'll get some rods. I like doing that back in high school and the wife wanted to know if I could do a gate, this will work. Was looking at getting tanks for heating metal up, may give this a try.

I need to look this up "....improvised flame fill weld..." if it has anything to do with filling blow through, I'll have to keep it.

but James, if it scares the bejebes out of me, I'll mail it to you :ashamed:

Ok cool, Those torches remind me of a piece of Russian Military Equipment.
dangerous as all get out, but can sure be usefull when you need it:laughing:

 

[rankrank1]

...I need to look this up "....improvised flame fill weld..."

"Improvised flame fill weld" is my non-proper term so I doubt you find it anywhere. In essence, it means to control the flame so well and so concentrated that you use it sorta like a tig welder (minus the shielding gas that the tig welder would provide) to weld metal using any filler welding rod that you desire. (note: I can not control my flame that tightly, but I do not even try or practice to do so - old time craftsmen could. That said, I can easily produce a larger flame that is suitable for bending and brazing and I am a self admitted hack of a welder with a very limited skill set).

Twin Carbon arc was really useful back in the 1940's when the Forney welders became somewhat popular to farmers/homeowners. Houses that were lucky enough to have electricity back then only had 60 amps of total electrical service - the Forney welder would draw slightly less than 40 amps at full power. Using the Twin Carbon Arc was an affordable way for the craftsmen to weld aluminum as there were not many common arc type rods back then for applications other than steel elctrodes - few specialty electrodes existed. Welders like migs, tigs, etc were unheard of at the consumer level and would have been totaly unaffordable anyway even if they did exist. So people learned to do a lot with using only the welder as the powersource. (weld, heat metal, cut metal, flame weld metal all became achievable with one simple low cost tool - an AC transformer welder).

Do not let Twin Carbon Arc scare you. Cover all skin and wear your welding helmet and you will not have any issues. It is not overly loud or scary in any way. The sound sorta sounds like a force field special effects from a science fiction movie to me.

Here is a couple Youtube links showing demo's (Neither video is 100% accurate in statements made, but useful for general pictorial principles anyway)

YouTube - Demonstration of The Carbon Arc Torch

YouTube - Carbon Arc Torch

 

[rankrank1]

Ok cool, Those torches remind me of a piece of Russian Military Equipment.
dangerous as all get out, but can sure be usefull when you need it:laughing:

Twin Carbon Arc is actually safe as long as you cover exposed skin and wear your welding helmet- although it is admitingly somewhat crude. It works and is cheap to use.

Scary dangerous is actually Acetylene gas. Many people do not realize how dangerous acetlynene actually is.

 

[teg]

Scary dangerous is actually Acetylene gas. Many people do not realize how dangerous acetlynene actually is.

I had to "learn" acetylene back when I bent my tie rod... Not bad so actually looking forward to the new experience... Thanks for the write up, really good and interesting :thumbsup:

 

[Soundguy]

Twin Carbon Arc is actually safe as long as you cover exposed skin and wear your welding helmet- although it is admitingly somewhat crude. It works and is cheap to use.

Scary dangerous is actually Acetylene gas. Many people do not realize how dangerous acetlynene actually is.

are you talking about something other than flamability / heat related?

soundguy

 

[dcyrilc]

are you talking about something other than flamability / heat related?

soundguy

I think he's talking about getting a sunburn from the light of the arc.

 

[k0ua]

are you talking about something other than flamability / heat related?

soundguy

Probably referring to what happens if you have a leak and then a spark in a building or vehicle, Kabooom! or maybe flashback.. I dunno, but there is danger in everything we do.

James K0UA