Spot Welder at PA

[Janger]

Hi,

There is a spot welder at PA. 240V. Dabbler and I have some interest in it. It's a propoint and claims to weld 3/16" material.

https://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/240v-spot-welder/A-p8784720e

Anybody have one or used one? Any comments?

J

 

[Tom Kitta]

I have same size US made welder but 120V. I paid a bit less for mine then the Pro Point not on sale. I used it over the last two or three years dozen times or so. Works great on thin stuff. My supposedly smaller less powerful welder is about same size - small but very heavy.

 

[Janger]

Well Dabbler and I went halfsies and bought the thing. Dabbler is pretty good at spotting deals so we managed to get the sale price - $90 each. We'll let you know what we think of it...

 

[Dabbler]

It looks good, so we will be trying it out on Friday.

 

[Tom O]

I almost bought one for my Sons Birthday but thought the 3 in one bender would be better and both my welders have the spot function on them but we will see what happens. they are looking for a new house so any sheet metal related things will probable go over there.

 

[kevin.decelles]

I have the PA 120v version, impulse buy. I’ve used it a couple of times, decent results

Metal choice and prep are key to good welds

In high school, we made Coleman style camp stoves. Had to create drawings by drafting, use the sheet metal shears/break to fold/bend metal etc.

Looking back, I see how many skills and learning that was baked into that one project.




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[Tom Kitta]

I would be surprised if it did not work very well - these things do not exactly have any moving parts / no need for accuracy & making a simple transformer is well within Chinese capability to build to last a lifetime. Maybe actual mechanisms are weaker then on US model but then again if it is a pro point they could have invested in something sturdy - Chinese are now fully capable of matching or beating almost any US product in quality - you just have to pay $$$ for said staff.

 

[Janger]

I ....
In high school, we made Coleman style camp stoves. .....

Did you blow yourself up Kevin?

 

[DPittman]

n high school, we made Coleman style camp stoves. Had to create drawings by drafting, use the sheet metal shears/break to fold/bend metal etc.

That sounds like fun project...does anyone know of any plans for that project?

 

[kevin.decelles]

Did you blow yourself up Kevin?

Back when you could have a lighting party in the parking lot as 10 kids fired up their stoves at the same time. Good luck nowadays (I’ll probably get a letter from the ministry of education for writing this post and inciting others to contemplate this project )


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[YYCHM]

IIn high school, we made Coleman style camp stoves. Had to create drawings by drafting, use the sheet metal shears/break to fold/bend metal etc.

Looking back, I see how many skills and learning that was baked into that one project

Did you make the whole thing burner assembly and all?

 

[kevin.decelles]

Methyl hydrate poured into reservoirs. Nasty stuff. Knocked a cup of that over in a pasture when I was in scouts . Liquid blue flame in a ten foot circle real quick!

Good snow melter for hiking though
Before the MSR pocket stoves you see today.

I still have methyl hydrate in the shop though





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[DPittman]

Methyl hydrate poured into reservoirs. Nasty stuff. Knocked a cup of that over in a pasture when I was in scouts . Liquid blue flame in a ten foot circle real quick!

Good snow melter for hiking though
Before the MSR pocket stoves you see today.

I still have methyl hydrate in the shop though





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Oh so not a pressurized tank of white gas?

 

[Tom O]

Probably why they came out with sterno.

 

[Hruul]

If I am thinking of the right thing, it works good for getting sanding dust off and raising the grain on wood before using the next higher grit sandpaper. Evaporates way faster from the wood than water so allows for quicker turn around.

 

[Johnwa]

Amongst other things its also known as methanol, lock de-icer and gasoline antifreeze. I think the gasoline antifreeze for fuel injection has some additives to be injector friendly.

 

[kevin.decelles]

Was helping my son mount a job box to his truck tonight. There was a small square hole in the one corner that was letting water in

He suggested riveting a patch in , I suggested we test drive the spot welder

We ground everything to near-bare metal and welders it right in the box of the truck. Awesome result

Not quite “paying for itself” but easy fix and no drilling !


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[Canadium]

I see the 240V spot welder at PA will be on sale again next week. I'm trying to decide if I should get one or try building my own. I'd like to have one like Dan Gelbarts! But then considering I've never used one before maybe the 240V PA model would be a better starting point? What think you all???

 

[Dabbler]

@Janger and I bought one on sale. but we haven't learned how to use it well, yet.

 

[DPittman]

Hey I've been trying to justify buying that one also, but it hasn't been on sale in the time I've decided that I "need" one.

With not buying it ON regular price, made me consider making one also. The building of one looks fun and interesting but the examples of homebuilt ones appear to loose a functionality of the commercial ones and that is portability. I would think that being able to manover one into awkward positions is key to its versatility. Now there are probably homemade versions that do allow this feature but the ones I've seen are basically bench mounted units.

Do you have a particular need for a spot welder? I sure don't, but like to try to think of where I would need one.