carbon arc welding lives again

[airsmith282]

ok here is the deal, i got some carbon gouging rods not at all the same as my carbon arc rods that are hollow all the way threw the length anyhow the gouging rods work ok but then that have there issues it seems so i did some playing a few min ago and drill a 2 inch deep by 1/8 hole in each rod this allows some airflow not alot but i dont have a long drill bit yet but ok here is the scoop it works great just like the rods that are made for my carbon arc tourch.. I ran at 90 amps at 120 volt on my craftsman arc welder i got a good 4 min out of them then i shut it off last time i went to long i threw the breaker in the house cause iam triyn g to draw more power then what i got , but at least now i only need to modify the rods to get good use out of them also i cut the length back on the rods form from lenght to 6 inchs approx each rod so i get 2 rods per full rod basicly..

now its time to pull out my holy bible of tools and see how much its going to cost me for a long 1/8 drill bit so i can start premoding the rest of my goueging rods..

[wmgeorge]

ok here is the deal, i got some carbon gouging rods not at all the same as my carbon arc rods that are hollow all the way threw the length anyhow the gouging rods work ok but then that have there issues it seems so i did some playing a few min ago and drill a 2 inch deep by 1/8 hole in each rod this allows some airflow not alot but i dont have a long drill bit yet but ok here is the scoop it works great just like the rods that are made for my carbon arc tourch.. I ran at 90 amps at 120 volt on my craftsman arc welder i got a good 4 min out of them then i shut it off last time i went to long i threw the breaker in the house cause iam triyn g to draw more power then what i got , but at least now i only need to modify the rods to get good use out of them also i cut the length back on the rods form from lenght to 6 inchs approx each rod so i get 2 rods per full rod basicly..

now its time to pull out my holy bible of tools and see how much its going to cost me for a long 1/8 drill bit so i can start premoding the rest of my goueging rods..

Did you check the price on new carbon arc rods? I mean the copper outside and hollow? We used to have a torch (on the farm) that worked ok. Problem was, with your welding hood on it was hard to tell when the metal was red, like for brazing or heating.

[airsmith282]

i looked for teh proper ones and not available so i dont mind modding these ones and they do work so iam not complaining for 20.00 for box of 50 rods even that i have to mod them gives me something to do..

[gnm109]

I have an older Lincoln dual rod arc torch that I use from time to time for brazing. I have my Dad's old Trindl Buzz-Box 90 amp AC arc welder and it works really well for the acr torch. Lincoln still sells these torches, too.

The last time I bought rods for it, I got them at the local Airgas. I use the copper-coated 1/4" rods. IIRC, they have a small hole down the center of the rod.

Both Airgas and Lincoln still stock the torches.

http://www.southernwelding.com/browse/product.aspx?Msg=RecID&recIds=232164#accessories

[seattle smitty]

New here (howdy, howdy),

A few of us on a welders' site have some interest in carbon arc welding/brazing/heating, and I'm doing a search to see if any new equipment or welding carbons are being manufactured anywhere in the world. So far as I can tell at this point, there is nothing made anymore in the USA, the UK, or Australia. I went into the local Airgas dealer, who was surprised that their website still pictured the Lincoln K1876-1 twin-carbon torch. He called Lincoln, which we knew had discontinued production of the torch; a check of the computer indicated that there is no equipment remaining in any of their warehouse or dealerships. Computers and computer users being what they are, I wouldn't take that as the final word, and there may yet be an unsold torch somewhere.

I'm also trying to find welding carbons, as opposed to arc-air gouging carbons which are readily available. The welding electrodes were 6" long and came in diameters from 3/16" to 1/2"; the ordinary ones were baked carbon and the good one were pure graphite. Carbons made in India are still sold here for old theater projectors and stage spotlights. Next week I'll talk to the vendor and see what he knows about welding carbons. It may be that some CAW/CAWT work is done in India, and I think that the Russians still use the process for some applications, but haven't got a source of info there yet.

[gnm109]

Apparently Lincoln just dropped the carbon arc torch from their line of products. It was on their website late last year. It had a long run. I still have mine that my Dad bought 50 years ago and it still works just fine.

[ckelloug]

This is probably a stupid suggestion but what about the carbon rod out of a zinc-carbon D battery. For bonus points, finf the carbon out of one of those 10 inch or so high 1.5 volt telephone batteries if they still make them.

--Cameron

[stoneysstarters]

anybody thought about acid fumes cooking out of battery rods?

[gnm109]

anybody thought about acid fumes cooking out of battery rods?


That's a very good point.

From time to time, the old Lincoln units show up on eBay. It would be rather simple to make one if you had a supply of rods. They run reliably at 60-60 amps of AC.

I once built an entire exhaust system for my old Ford using surplus tubing sections and my Lincoln brazing torch. I had no welding equipment at the time and I did a very serviceable job. It was still on there when I sold the car. LOL.

The type of heat that the twin arc torches put out is perfect for brazing as it is fairly wide and generalized and heats an area up nicely in a hurry.

[stoneysstarters]

I was looking in a vendor catalog for solder and saw a pair of tongs for silver soldering field coils, brush leads, and the like. They resembled a leather punch with the different size holes on a rotary head. I cut the head off right at the holes that it turns in, and made a rod holder out of a railroad spike. It is insulated from the handle,and has an 8 guage lead going to a solenoid.Where the little anvil was to punch the holes, I used a piece of 3/8 key stock to make a thin tip to slide in behind the stuff I'm working on.That has a ground lead coming off it. The heat is controlled by how often I hit the foot pedal to turn the solenoid on. Anyway I use 5/16 gouging rods in this contraption. It is real easy to peel them by running one side down a wire wheel and then just peeling the copper off. Oh yeah, a 12v battery will produce enough heat to punch the rod through 1/16 stainless like it ain't nothing.