Another "What is it"!

[julianthegypsy]

This came with a SIP 140 along with a twin carbon torch and some bronze rods out of an old shed, but I've never seen a torch like it! I don't think it's supposed to have an arc welding rod for some reason, more likely carbon? The front part of the rod holder is sprung forward, which is odd, as the trigger moves forward to make contact in the same direction as the spring. The lead terminates in the crocodile clip and there is no other lead. The red button screws in or out but again, I can't quite see why. Answers on a postcard/fag packet please!

 

[mfletch]

Its for welding from a car Battery

 

[julianthegypsy]

Its for welding from a car Battery

So you'd need another jump lead to complete the circuit, but the rod holder isn't quick release, there is a screw to hold the rod which would be a b---pain to change rods, and the brass filaments at the back of the drum bit can't be heavy enough to take welding amperages. I'm wondering if it isn't a carbon arc brazing torch, with an on/off trigger?

 

[Appyasme1]

View attachment 78697
This came with a SIP 140 along with a twin carbon torch and some bronze rods out of an old shed, but I've never seen a torch like it! I don't think it's supposed to have an arc welding rod for some reason, more likely carbon? The front part of the rod holder is sprung forward, which is odd, as the trigger moves forward to make contact in the same direction as the spring. The lead terminates in the crocodile clip and there is no other lead. The red button screws in or out but again, I can't quite see why. Answers on a postcard/fag packet please!

The fag packet answer is,be

So you'd need another jump lead to complete the circuit, but the rod holder isn't quick release, there is a screw to hold the rod which would be a b---pain to change rods, and the brass filaments at the back of the drum bit can't be heavy enough to take welding amperages. I'm wondering if it isn't a carbon arc brazing torch, with an on/off trigger?

I thought thatJulian

 

[Cobbler]

I've got one in the shed, made by Kelarc. They were sold as a way of welding sheet metal with an arc welder. There is a coil to make the current pulse & a diode in the handle of mine to give half wave rectification, this can be connect or disconnected by a screw up the base of the handle. As mfletch says you can weld from a car battery I think.

Had it years, never found it any use apart from getting people to say, what the hells that!

It takes 1.5mm rods from memory & you can only use the diode at lower ampere settings. I bought it donkeys years ago when mig was prohibitively expensive, I used it once & got it to work ok, just & never succeeded again to get usable results. Kelarc used to have a stand at the shows, with a guy patching a bonnet or something.

 

[julianthegypsy]

I've got one in the shed, made by Kelarc. They were sold as a way of welding sheet metal with an arc welder. There is a coil to make the current pulse & a diode in the handle of mine to give half wave rectification, this can be connect or disconnected by a screw up the base of the handle. As mfletch says you can weld from a car battery I think.

Had it years, never found it any use apart from getting people to say, what the hells that!

It takes 1.5mm rods from memory & you can only use the diode at lower ampere settings

It definitely looks like a coil in the middle, and the rod holder can move backwards and forwards through it, but is sprung forward. I'll have a look and see if I can see the diode or the screw to turn it on/off. So am I correct in assuming you'd use it with a carbon tip? In the box with it, apart from the bronze rods, then were lots of coils of thin wire. Might they have been for use with this thing? I might have to clean it up and leave it somewhere prominent for people to see, if only I can think up some entirely implausible uses for it!

 

[rikrobson]

you can still get them from frosts

http://www.frost.co.uk/auto-bodywor...cessories-welder/body-welding-attachment.html

as far as I know the coil acts on contacts turning the current on and off and therefore reducing the overall current.

 

[gordon stephenson]

They were advertised a lot in car mags years ago

 

[Cobbler]

It definitely looks like a coil in the middle, and the rod holder can move backwards and forwards through it, but is sprung forward. I'll have a look and see if I can see the diode or the screw to turn it on/off. So am I correct in assuming you'd use it with a carbon tip? In the box with it, apart from the bronze rods, then were lots of coils of thin wire. Might they have been for use with this thing? I might have to clean it up and leave it somewhere prominent for people to see, if only I can think up some entirely implausible uses for it!

No you use ordinary 1.5mm arc rods. From memory when you make the arc the coil retracts the rod, breaks the arc, then allows the rod to come forward to give a sort of pulse arrangement & so-say self striking. I don't know whether they all have the diode, but the screw to connect it it up through the base parallel to the cable. You screw it in to disconect the diode by shorting it out.

 

[julianthegypsy]

Well well. Interesting that they're advertised by a company doing restoration. So somehow it produces a pulse and that reduces the overall heat input to stop blowing holes/melting things? Any idea what the adjusting screw on the trigger is for? It still seems strange that you'd have to do up a screw to hold the rod in place!

 

[Cobbler]

You adjust the arc length with it to give a the best result

 

[julianthegypsy]

No you use ordinary 1.5mm arc rods. From memory when you make the arc the coil retracts the rod, breaks the arc, then allows the rod to come forward to give a sort of pulse arrangement & so-say self striking. I don't know whether they all have the diode, but the screw to connect it it up through the base parallel to the cable. You screw it in to disconect the diode by shorting it out.

Ah, so the screw on the trigger would adjust the distance it moved back for a larger or smaller pulse? Curiouser and curiouser, but it makes (gulp) sense?

 

[julianthegypsy]

You adjust the arc length with it to give a the best result

Cross posted. Again!

 

[colnerov]

IIRC as above, the screw is for adjusting the stroke, They required a lot of practice so weren't very popular.

 

[brightspark]

they were-a rawlplug -welders mate run off 2 car batterys a total waste of time here

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/rawlplug-welders-mate.17057/

 

[Paul.]

They've been mentioned a few times on here, here is mine, brilliant piece of kit, used it just before Christmas on bridge repair in Scotland...... or may be not.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

I've got a 1970's KelArc that I bought new. Still works fine even though I've had it 40 years !. It's low amperage but higher volts than normal welders which was supposed to make it easier for DIY use. I suspect if you used the accessory as the original post on a normal welder then it wouldn't produce the type of welds on thin metal as designed for use with the KelArc.

 

[julianthegypsy]

Ok, so what we have here is a useless but really cool looking piece of kit that might just be handy for welding paper if connected to an arc welder. I actually hate welding paper thin steel, probably because my migs are on 1.0mm and 0.8mm so I might just give it a go next time...or I might just use the acetylene instead and sell this on ebay as a steampunk raygun...

 

[brightspark]

Ok, so what we have here is a useless but really cool looking piece of kit that might just be handy for welding paper if connected to an arc welder. I actually hate welding paper thin steel, probably because my migs are on 1.0mm and 0.8mm so I might just give it a go next time...or I might just use the acetylene instead and sell this on ebay as a steampunk raygun...

clean it up and then put on ebay theres allways a mug about that will buy it

 

[graffian]

My dad bought a Kel Arc welder. It didn't have a shield for the copper leaf. I got home from school the day after
he got it and "did some welding", I put the torch down and it fell on the sledge i was trying to repair,
it burnt half way though the copper leaf;-)
Years later Halfords were flogging them as XP welders, I say flogging i seem to remember them chucking
one in with the 30 quid stick welder my dad bought.