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Byron writes “After seeing the inspiring portable glass blowing studio and the Crucible’s fire truck of fire at the Maker Fair, I found an interesting Make… take away style. A improvised battery welder made with 3 12v batteries and a few jumper cables make it easier to share Making or may save you in a pinch.” – Link.
18 thoughts on “Emergency welding using automotive batteries”
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MacGyver did this (in episode 6) with a portable generator and some 50 cent pieces. I guess it really works.
While this may work to some degree, its an incredibly bad idea. It looks like the electrode is being held by a pair of vicegrips. At least get a proper electrode holder ($12) and WELDING HOOD ($20). And please be wearing gloves and proper clothing. This rig as-is can easily overheat/melt/explode or even kill you.
I grew up with weldors and I’m sure not a single one of them would touch that thing. I’ve been hobby welding for around 8 years and I know I wouldn’t.
I would not mess with lead acid batteries – better off soldering
I second what scranfor says, I would not mess with lead acid batteries – they can kill
If you were stuck in a desert, as TFA states, I think that you’d change your mind pretty quickly.
I would never recommend this to a hobbyist, but for emergency purposes (as in MacGuyver’s case (-:) I’d use this.
“oh no the lead acid battery might asplode” “get the proper equipment you could get hurt”
wah wah waaaaaah.
I will vouch that this works – we use this to weld body panels back onto “Rum For Cover!” and “Rubbery side down” – our two Amateur Rally Cars.
Though, I will say this – Why bother wasting three batteries? We only use one, and it works every time.
Only difference is we use a Rod clamp from an old CIGWELD arc Welder attached to 4mm Electrical wire that we Duct tape onto the contact terminal, Ditto the ground clamp, An Ancient Welding helmet we found in a scrap-yard, and a box of CIGWELD electrodes that we usualy get from BOC Gas and Gear, and or course, a Heavy duty battery from one of the 4WDs(Or else you need to lug about three batteries, which is stunningly inconvinient on a Rally.)
Extra helpful hints – If we need to bits off instead of weld them on, we simply dip the rods in water before we use them.
I don’t believe MacGyver’s way (a portable generator) would work. There is no way it would generate the current needed.
The linked page has moved. You can now find it here.