Spot Welder Crisis: Buy, Borrow, Build?

silentflight · Apr 16, 2015

I bought 60 Sony 18650s from Battery Space to make a pack for my cargo bike and vacuum cleaner. I've soldered packs before, but after eight years in e-biking, I would prefer to use a spot welder. The problem is that my local Batteries Plus won't spot weld any battery with lithium in it. As much as I would like to build my own spot welder with a bank of capacitors controlled by FETs and an Arduino, I don't have time to even think about it for the next year. I would like to buy a DN-5, but at $550 and on a longterm student budget it doesn't seem justifiable.

Other than battery stores and ebikers, who might have a welder available on a job basis? Who else uses these things for batteries? Is there anyone in the greater Chicago area with a spot welder for rent or use on a job basis?

ohzee · Apr 16, 2015

That's a good question and a situation a lot of us hobbysists are in currently.

I think that is why the service okashira is trying to ramp up could be some decent business just in pack assembly.

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=67661&start=75

riba2233 · Apr 16, 2015

silentflight said:
I bought 60 Sony 18650s from Battery Space to make a pack for my cargo bike and vacuum cleaner. I've soldered packs before, but after eight years in e-biking, I would prefer to use a spot welder. The problem is that my local Batteries Plus won't spot weld any battery with lithium in it. As much as I would like to build my own spot welder with a bank of capacitors controlled by FETs and an Arduino, I don't have time to even think about it for the next year. I would like to buy a DN-5, but at $550 and on a longterm student budget it doesn't seem justifiable.

Other than battery stores and ebikers, who might have a welder available on a job basis? Who else uses these things for batteries? Is there anyone in the greater Chicago area with a spot welder for rent or use on a job basis?

I will be offering available spot welder pretty soon

wb9k · Apr 16, 2015

You might try calling Sybesma's Electronics, who are just across the pond from you in Holland, MI. They have a Sunstone Orion, a very nice spot welder for building packs. If you can hand-carry your cells and busbars, they might weld it up for you while you wait. They have a website.

Good luck!

dbaker · Apr 16, 2015

Impressive Sybesma :mrgreen:

website

wb9k · Apr 16, 2015

They're a small, family business. They are also smart, decent, honest folks. You won't meet finer people. Holland is a nice little town too...not a bad place for a day trip or overnight.

Nobuo · Apr 16, 2015

riba2233 said:
I will be offering available spot welder pretty soon

that's nice, I can add to the repository if you want. There are not enough resources for getting spot welders

riba2233 · Apr 16, 2015

Nobuo said:
riba2233 said:

I will be offering available spot welder pretty soon

Click to expand...

that's nice, I can add to the repository if you want. There are not enough resources for getting spot welders

That's great, just please wait until I have some units done

That will be soon, I'm just waiting for the PCB's.

mfj197 · Apr 16, 2015

I bough a 788+ spot welder from China for not much over £100. It performed perfectly for welding up my pack. Longevity isn't proven, but performance is. Might that be an option?

Michael

silentflight · Apr 17, 2015

ohzee said:
I think that is why the service okashira is trying to ramp up could be some decent business just in pack assembly.

Thanks, ohzee- I hope his welder arrives soon.

riba2233 said:
I will be offering available spot welder pretty soon

This is very intriguing... Looking forward to seeing what you have come up with!

wb9k said:
You might try calling Sybesma's Electronics, who are just across the pond from you in Holland, MI.

wb9k- Thanks for the recommendation.

mfj197 said:
I bough a 788+ spot welder from China for not much over £100.

mfj197- I may buy a 788+ myself, but I'm concerned that it won't work well on 110 volt US systems- I'm guessing that you run yours on 220 across the pond.

Just an update and a thank you to all of you who responded. I have made more calls and have a line on a few businesses that have spot welders in the greater Chicago area. I'm hopeful one of them will work out. I have also ordered some sheet nickel for the tabs which should arrive next week. Weather is warming up and it looks like I'll be ready for it with a new battery that will do double duty running my new Rubbermaid backpack vacuum for 30 minutes at a time!

arkmundi · Apr 17, 2015

riba2233 said:
I will be offering available spot welder pretty soon

What I would love to see is tried & true low-cost, open-source design for a spot-welder. Then a group buy where all the parts are bought, sent to a single location. Re-package it all as kits to be assembled. Dedicated thread for the Q&A. I'd be willing to play agent if there were interest.

MrDude_1 · Apr 17, 2015

silentflight said:
mfj197- I may buy a 788+ myself, but I'm concerned that it won't work well on 110 volt US systems- I'm guessing that you run yours on 220 across the pond.

don't forget, most us households have 220v sockets for the stove and the dryer. I used to use the 220 dryer outlet for my welder.

silentflight · Apr 18, 2015

arkmundi said:
What I would love to see is tried & true low-cost, open-source design for a spot-welder.

Hello arkmundi- This sounds like a very good solution. I would be interested if it were available today.

MrDude_1 said:
don't forget, most us households have 220v sockets for the stove and the dryer

MrDude- thanks for mentioning that, my building in Chicago does not have any 220 volt outlets, unfortunately. The dryers and stoves run on gas and have 110 plugs for their clocks and timer circuits to run on.

riba2233 · Apr 18, 2015

arkmundi said:
riba2233 said:

I will be offering available spot welder pretty soon

Click to expand...

What I would love to see is tried & true low-cost, open-source design for a spot-welder. Then a group buy where all the parts are bought, sent to a single location. Re-package it all as kits to be assembled. Dedicated thread for the Q&A. I'd be willing to play agent if there were interest.

It will be tried, low cost, and partially open source. I will be easy enough to build one for someone who wants it, but it will be hard to beat my price

Shipping around the globe isn't problem, and I will offer option for buying boards only.

silentflight said:
Hello arkmundi- This sounds like a very good solution. I would be interested if it were available today.

MrDude- thanks for mentioning that, my building in Chicago does not have any 220 volt outlets, unfortunately. The dryers and stoves run on gas and have 110 plugs for their clocks and timer circuits to run on.

It will be available really soon, I will have it in my hands next week.
I also works on car starter battery, so it doesn't matter what voltage do you have around

mfj197 · Apr 20, 2015

silentflight said:
mfj197 said:

I bough a 788+ spot welder from China for not much over £100.

Click to expand...

mfj197- I may buy a 788+ myself, but I'm concerned that it won't work well on 110 volt US systems- I'm guessing that you run yours on 220 across the pond.

Yup, you'd be quite right - mine's running on UK mains voltage (240V). They do a 110V version of the 788+ but I don't know anything about it.

Michael

Spot Welder Crisis: Buy, Borrow, Build?

silentflight

100 W

ohzee

100 kW

riba2233

100 kW

wb9k

10 kW

dbaker

100 kW

wb9k

10 kW

Nobuo

10 kW

riba2233

100 kW

mfj197

10 W

silentflight

100 W

arkmundi

10 MW

MrDude_1

100 kW

silentflight

100 W

riba2233

100 kW

mfj197

10 W

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