Normally MIG welding requires a big fancy machine, sometimes also with a large tank of pressurized gas. Instructables user TimAnderson managed to hack together a hand-held wirefeed MIG welding gun and a couple car batteries for a more portable effect. He writes:
Here’s my new wire-feed (MIG) welder.
All of it.
They sell these things as accessories for commercial MIG units, but they can also work great on 24 volts from two car batteries.
I have it loaded with .030″ flux-core welding wire.
It cost me less than $100 on ebay.
The “Ready Welder” is a similar commercial product.
WARNING: The tip is electrically on all the time!
6 thoughts on “HOW TO – Car battery-powered MIG welder”
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Strictly speaking this is not a MIG welder. MIG stands for “metal inert gas”. Without the shielding gas component this is really more of an arc welder.
Well, it’s FCAW (flux core arc welding) to be *really* picky…
All you need is a BAR (“Big-A**ed Relay”), or a second switch (such as a battery master switch you can get at any farm or auto parts store ~ $7) to safety the power supply so you don’t get bad surprises when you set the gun down on a grounded surface.