good quality spot welding electrodes?

hi..

unlike pure nickel strips where they keep telling you to get good quality ones, scratch and dip them in salt water, i didn't find any sources about welding electrodes, difference in quality, sources to get good quality ones, and how identify such quality (if there's a way that is)

i'm talking about 3 mm diameter electrodes for the sunkko welders.

Here is where I buy mine..... http://sunstonewelders.com/products/accessories/electrodes/

they build some of the best/most expensive welders in the world. The electrodes work well. The glidcop are best for nickel.

Tom,

Thank you for contacting Sunstone Engineering. The electrodes that we recommend using for welding nickel battery tabs is Glidcop, it is a copper/chromium mix. We have special electrodes that we sell for battery welding, part number EL125BATT. These are 1/8” shaft with a 1/16” welding surface on either end. You can find them on our website here:
http://sunstoneengineering.com/products/accessories/electrodes/

Look over this information and let me know if you need anything. You can order electrodes online, or you can contact me directly to do it as well. Let me know if you have any questions or need anything else, I’m always happy to assist in any way.

Best wishes,

Bryce Bytheway
Welding Consultant
Sunstone Engineering
1693 American Way #5
Payson, UT 84651
Direct: 1-385-999-5222
Office: 1-877-786-9353
Email:bryce.bytheway@sunstoneengineering.com
Web: http://www.sunstoneengineering.com

Tom

a battery spotwelder from Sunstone costs about €10000 and only comes with one year warranty. Has anyone actually bought one of those?

well i do have the glicop nickel i plan to use them as last resort, cause even though i got a new 709A welder, nothing sticks, i'm even 3d printing a single cell holder to make sure the tabs are tight.

edrift.eu said:

a battery spotwelder from Sunstone costs about €10000 and only comes with one year warranty. Has anyone actually bought one of those?

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Sunstone has much cheaper models than 10K euros. I have a sunstone spotwelder. I bought it used for 1/3 the original price from a pack rebuilder that decided to retire. I talked to sunstone on the phone before buying it, they said the warranty isn't a big deal as if the welder fails, 90% of the time its the caps and they can sell a set of caps for like $100 or something, or I can send it in for them to fix it for a bit more.

I've had it for a little over a year. My last Chinese welder lasted a year before going out and I could never figure out what actually went wrong with it.

Which welder do you have? What are its capabilities?

Tom

this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/192062431723?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

For electrodes, I get 182 chromium copper rod (1/8" dia) from McMaster-Carr and just cut to length and file/sand the desired shape for the tip.

PaulD said:

For electrodes, I get 182 chromium copper rod (1/8" dia) from McMaster-Carr and just cut to length and file/sand the desired shape for the tip.

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Do you get electrode sticking when welding pure nickel?

I get sticking with my stock sunstone engineering probes, but if I lift off right away its not bad at all.

redilast said:

Do you get electrode sticking when welding pure nickel?

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I did until I sanded a larger flat spot on the tip. Having the larger surface are seems to prevent sticking, although I haven't really done a controlled experiment.

"cause even though i got a new 709A welder, nothing sticks"

are you using the probes that are on the welder are the handheld cables? because the probe tips shouldn't be a big deal as long as they are copper.

I used solid 10 gauge copper wire as probe tips, and now I been using copper nails which won't bend like the copper wire did. Both gave me good welds even at the low settings. I use 015 nickle strip.

Maybe the welder isn't putting out enough power.

copper nail probes tips works excellent and you can get a bag full of copper nails cheap

PaulD said:

redilast said:

Do you get electrode sticking when welding pure nickel?

Click to expand...

I did until I sanded a larger flat spot on the tip. Having the larger surface are seems to prevent sticking, although I haven't really done a controlled experiment.

Click to expand...

This is because amperage is too high for that diameter of copper wire. Use 5mm copper and make round tip - this should solve your issues

https://www.keenlab.de/index.php/product/kweld-electrode-set/

get these.