RichardAllen Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Just a thought. If I had a problem far from help, is it possible to weld at all using, say, a leisure battery, jump leads and a welding rod ? I don't know what problem might come into this category, but it occurs to me that on an expedition, I will already have a second battery for leisure use, beefy jump leads, some thing I could make into a glove of sorts. If field welding of any kind can be done, then carrying a small pack of electrodes would not be a big deal. Half-decent eye protection might be harder to organise though. Just wondered whether anyone had tried it ? Regards Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingrat Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Have a look at Difflock. They do a portable (hand) welder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 It is failry common practice 'in the bush' to put 2 or 3 batteries in parrallel and attach some welding leads to them to do simple arc welding. The ready welder, as sold on difflock is also a good option. There is also a setup that replaces the standard alternator with another which has a control box to allow the alternator to produce 12V (ie normal vehicle operation), 110V for mains (ie american mains) or a welding supply. RogueVogue has had this setup and made use of it on his various trucks over the years to good effect. hth Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redneck Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Or you could try one of these- http://www.zena.net/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex Member Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 It is failry common practice 'in the bush' to put 2 or 3 batteries in parrallel and attach some welding leads to them to do simple arc welding. They need to be in series (not parallel). 2 batteries (24 volts) works fine. 2.5 mm rod, a stinger, jump leads and googles and you are good to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 fair point - I stand (or more accurately sit) corrected Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astro_Al Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Why is it hard to organise eye protection, yet easy to organise welding consumables? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardAllen Posted January 26, 2010 Author Share Posted January 26, 2010 The idea is a get-you-to-the-next-town welding rig for an expedition. Stuff needs to be small, easily packed and preferably have dual use. A welding setup comprising: batteries (already on the vehicle), jump leads(ditto), some rods (small, easily packed, though keep dry, usable for anything needing a bit of metal rod) face and hand protection (wrap round old shirts etc) meets all the criteria, assuming a rod gripped in a jump lead clip will do for a stinger. Eye protection is different. The only arc welding protection I know of is some kind of hand shield or helmet, neither of which are small, easily-packed or dual use. If you could get arc welding lenses for gas welding/brazing goggles, at least they would be small and easily packed, if not dual use. Perhaps I could take a spare hand shield welding lense and tape it over some sunglasses; it would be small, easily packed and dual use - you could use it for looking at eclipses and sunspots ! Now that I have a spare battery, when we get some decent weathewr I will lash this lot up and see if I can get anything like a useful weld. There is a question as to what might break that could actually be fixed this way, but being prepared and having a tiny bit of spare kit is better than being remote and stuck because you did not think of it and did test it. Regards Richard Regards Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRecklessEngineer Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 If you take the glass out of a standard welding helmet, you can use it to shield eyes for a temporary repair. Use with caution though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Readywelders are lovely, with three batteries they give a good weld although two will suffice. The jumpleads & stick method also works, as does generator + arc welder. Generator + MIG welder requires a bigger generator to get a good result. We've done various stuff from cracked spotlight brackets to welding an ali transfer case back together in the field (the latter being done with arc welder & ali rods I believe), anything's possible. Mind you, the travel insurance did sound confused when I claimed for my Speedglas auto helmet that got damaged in my luggage paid up in the end though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Attryde Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 As for eye protection :- How about something like this ,ok they are for gas welding but they are reasonably cheap and small enough to stash in the vehicle easily. Pete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Sparkes Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Surely the point about arc welding is that the arc light is brighter than the glow from gas welding, so a darker shade is needed. Plus arc welding gives you radiation burns on bare skin. Thus the rest of the face benefits from protection by a shield. I appreciate that breakdown repairs normally call for only short periods of welding, but who knows what readers may decide to do if they are restoring a vehicle away from mains electricity :-) Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Attryde Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Surely the point about arc welding is that the arc light is brighter than the glow from gas welding, so a darker shade is needed. Plus arc welding gives you radiation burns on bare skin. Thus the rest of the face benefits from protection by a shield. I appreciate that breakdown repairs normally call for only short periods of welding, but who knows what readers may decide to do if they are restoring a vehicle away from mains electricity :-) Cheers. Absolutely agree, but the o/p was talking about holding a welding stick in a jump lead clip, so not exactly a restoration type situation. It may also be able to get a couple of lenses cut in a darker shade for not a lot of dosh. It would probably be possible to get a couple of replacement lenses for a cheap mask and get a local glass cutter to cut them. Pete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex Member Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 You can buy welding goggles, at least you can here. They are the most compact. In the list above, I would include some steel scrap as well. You need two sets of jumper cables or some other means to join the two batteries. One battery won't work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oddballrovers Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Hi Folks We did it last year at the annual national LR meeting, it was one off the tasks at our "trophy", the teams had to weld to 5x50mm plates togther,they where supplied with two rods a set off jumper cables a plier to hold the rod and finally a pices off normal window glass and a candel!! Now it is the last two bits that are interesting, you simply use the candel to "blacken" the glas until enough to use as eye protection, I know it does not protect the face and also the eyes not perfect but we are talking field repair under certain circumstances. All the teams did the task and about 80 people total now know whyy to carry welding rods and jumper cables traveling and competing in the outback. Just my words. Regards Ole. Ps they also had a normal welding helmet as this was not a "live" situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardAllen Posted January 29, 2010 Author Share Posted January 29, 2010 I was up in Barrow-in-Furness in the week where we build nuclear submarines, and discussed this over a beer with one of our nuclear welders. Two main points came out. One was try hard to get rid of any rust and the other was that it is worthwhile making sure the rods are kept as dry as possible and are dried out before attempting the repair to minimise splatter. We also reckon the RN use some weld-anything stainless rods, but I don't have the spec yet. Regards Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redneck Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 If you want a welding mask that folds up small try one of these- http://www.ukwelder.com/shop/helmets/monkey_masks.php There are different ones I have used, but this was the first result on google for an example Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbocharger Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 If arc shields are darker than gas shields, just take six and tape them together? Definitely sounds like one to try before you go though - don't want to be learning with your broken car and your only batteries etc if your life depends on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobbymogs Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 Rogue Vogue is your man or Si @ X-Eng Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluemoon Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 If you want a welding mask that folds up small try one of these- http://www.ukwelder.com/shop/helmets/monkey_masks.php There are different ones I have used, but this was the first result on google for an example I like them, you can have different shade lenses aswell, kinda "Mad Max" look, cool. I want one Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disco tony Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 dont risk "arc eye" it just aint worth it! if you really cant find space for a full mask, at least get this for peanuts! Just be carefull of the radiation, severe sunburn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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