I put all the boards and circuits together this weekend and made a couple of test welds. The capacitor I used is the biggest of 7 capacitors and the capacitance is 35 % lower than it should be. I welded a couple of small washers together and there were problems from the start. At first I could not get a plasma flame going and after adjusting the argon gas pressure lower I started seeing results. Another problem was that the capacitor was not discharging completely and it means that the plasma flame was dieing half way through the weld. The total energy roughly worked out was about 50Ws and with only half the capacitor discharging was more in the 25Ws range. This welder is going to be 250Ws and after I get all the little growing pains shorted out, It just might live up to its full potential.
The following two photos was taken with my microscope of both sides of the washers :
Three welds on this side
Two welds on this side
It doesn't look like much but it is a start.
SUCCESS
The welder needed to be tweaked and after receiving some parts from Digikey today I managed to adjust the precise pulse timing for this welder.I welded two screws together with the weld energy set to 50Ws. The welds are very shiny, clean and strong.
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| Two 9mm casings (Brass) welded together |
