Copper Spot Welder Recommendations for USA?

[YoshiMoshi]

I'm looking for spot welder recommendations and I live in the states. I would like to spot weld copper.

I know a lot of people on these forums use a spot welder called "K Weld" but this doesn't seem to be purchasable very easily in the states. There's also multiple pieces that have to be purchase separately, and requires assembly.

I would to just purchase one, open it, turn it on and go. I would like to purchase one from a reputable site.

Nickel is just too thick for my application.

Can anyone make any recommendations?

This is for spot welding to make battery packs, to spot weld copper strips to cells. Or at the very least is strong enough to make a copper nickel sandwich.

One with a probe holder would be helpful.

 

[Zambam]

Glitter 811H, expensive though.

 

[YoshiMoshi]

Glitter 811H, expensive though.

Thanks for the recommendation. Do you have this welder? Dang, it is a little bit more than I was hoping to spend at over $500. Is there nothing in-between the "cheap stuff" on Amazon for $50 to $100 and this $500 plus welder that can spot weld copper?

 

[Zambam]

I do not have one (I wish!). I heard about this model from someone and found the 2 videos showing welding copper to copper.

A cheaper welder is the Malectrics (I do not have one) that welds copper but a nickel strip is needed on top, per this video.

 

[YoshiMoshi]

I do not have one (I wish!). I heard about this model from someone and found the 2 videos showing welding copper to copper.

A cheaper welder is the Malectrics (I do not have one) that welds copper but a nickel strip is needed on top, per this video.

Do you know we're I could buy one?

Looks like Glitter 811H can weld copper that is up to 0.45 mm thick lol, that's crazy.

But yea I don't need something so powerful.

As long as I can do 0.1 mm thick copper (perhaps something even thinner). As long as I can layer it on.

Meaning if a welder can weld 0.2 copper great! But if one can do 0.1 mm copper and I just have to stack two strips on top of each other and it's half the cost, than why not?

Also any idea why you need flex when spot welding copper to copper?

 

[YoshiMoshi]

I did some digging. The welders that I found that could spot weld copper are as follows:

Manufacturer	Model	Power	Copper to Copper	Price from Manufacturer	Manufacturer Website
Sunkko	A330H	42 kW	0.15-0.5 mm	$1,099.99​	SUNKKO A330 Series Gantry-style Pneumatic Battery Spot Welder Capacitor Energy Storage Pulse Welding Machine glitterwelder.com
Sunkko	A330+	27 kW	0.15-0.3 mm	$749.99​	SUNKKO A330 Series Gantry-style Pneumatic Battery Spot Welder Capacitor Energy Storage Pulse Welding Machine glitterwelder.com
Glitter	811H	42 kW	0.15-0.4 mm	$429.99​	Spot Welder - 811 Series - High Power - Glitter glitterwelder.com
Glitter	811H	36 kW	0.15-0.3 mm	?	Spot Welder - 811 Series - High Power - Glitter glitterwelder.com
Glitter	811A	36 kW	0.15-0.3 mm	$339.99​	GLITTER 811A Battery Spot Welder Capacitor Energy Storage Pulse Welding Machine Industrial Intelligent Spot Welder Specially Designed For Welding Copper, Aluminum and Nickel Conversion glitterwelder.com
Glitter	811A	27 kW	0.15-0.25 mm	$289.99​	GLITTER 811A Battery Spot Welder Capacitor Energy Storage Pulse Welding Machine Industrial Intelligent Spot Welder Specially Designed For Welding Copper, Aluminum and Nickel Conversion glitterwelder.com
Glitter	811A	30 kW	0.15-0.3 mm	$319.99​	GLITTER 811A Battery Spot Welder Capacitor Energy Storage Pulse Welding Machine Industrial Intelligent Spot Welder Specially Designed For Welding Copper, Aluminum and Nickel Conversion glitterwelder.com
Glitter	811A	22.8 kW	0.15-0.2 mm	$269.99​	GLITTER 811A Battery Spot Welder Capacitor Energy Storage Pulse Welding Machine Industrial Intelligent Spot Welder Specially Designed For Welding Copper, Aluminum and Nickel Conversion glitterwelder.com
U.S. Solid	USS-BSW08	42 kW	0.4 mm	$679.99​	U.S. Solid Battery Spot Welder - 42KW 7000A Capacitor Energy Storage P Product Features The newly designed U.S. Solid USS-BSW00008 high-frequency inversion battery spot welder equips with the six super capacitors for energy storage and power supply for pulse welding. Unlike traditional AC transformer spot welders, it does not cause any interference to the electric... ussolid.com

It appears that the Glitter 811A 22.8 kW is the cheapest one that can weld copper. As long as your willing to stack, I don't know what additional applications the more powerful ones would get you.

All the spot welders above don't appear to be something you can buy on like Amazon. They are all made in China, and I'd be worried about warranty. I have seen people complain about the Glitter spot welders on Amazon, the ones that are sold on there.

If anyone knows of other spot welders that can spot weld copper, please post them here. I'd hope to find one that has a good warranty, or something that I would at least not have to import from China, and be a big hassle if I receive a welder that gets damaged in shipping or doesn't work. I think I would be out of luck.

Were if I were at least able to buy one of these on like Amazon or Ebay, I would at least be protected and able to return it.

I see a lot of these high powered spot welders are on Alli Express or Alli Baba. Anyone ever try returning something purchased from them. Is there good buyer protection for the buyer?

Essentially, people say don't buy batteries on Alli Express because it's flooded with fake cells or cells that are used and rewrapped. So I'm a bit hesitant at buying a welder from Alli Express?

 

[Zambam]

Do you know we're I could buy one?

Looks like Glitter 811H can weld copper that is up to 0.45 mm thick lol, that's crazy.

But yea I don't need something so powerful.

As long as I can do 0.1 mm thick copper (perhaps something even thinner). As long as I can layer it on.

Meaning if a welder can weld 0.2 copper great! But if one can do 0.1 mm copper and I just have to stack two strips on top of each other and it's half the cost, than why not?

Also any idea why you need flex when spot welding copper to copper?

DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder Kit V4 Full Bundle For Car Battery - Malectrics

What is it? This is the full product bundle for the DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder for use with a car battery. It contains the basic parts you need to start welding plus all optional parts like 3d printed case, fuse and foot switch. What you get: DIY Arduino Battery Spot Welder Prebuilt Kit V4...

malectrics.eu

Looks like only available from EU and they do ship to the US.
You should write them and make sure it will do everything you want before buying

 

[AllDIYtoyz]

Honestly I can’t believe more people don’t diy these types of capacitor spot welds like Iv pictured. The controller board can be found for $40-$100 depending on the model. Different models allow higher charging currents also higher balancing currents between the capacitors. This ensures the capacitors are balanced to the same voltage even if your using older cheaper super capacitors sourced of eBay. They have the ability to connect 2 or 3 capacitors in series and as many in parallel as needed all while charging and balancing them. You can even use lithium batteries instead of super capacitors if you want.

Other than the controller you need a MOS board, which are ~$20 plus the cost of the MOS tubes you won’t to use. All in I have probably $400 but I invested in a lot of expensive mosfets.

Iv ran the Kweld and have a 811H. Both welders work but the Kweld is not near as powerful and the Glitter 811H only lasted a few hundred welds before loosing most its power, haven’t got around to looking into the problem yet.

 

[TPEHAK]

I'm wondering if it is possible to write a special welding firmware for VESC motor controller so you can use it as welding machine so you can use to weld battery for itself.

 

[AllDIYtoyz]

I’m not sure of the programming possibilities but if it is possible I don’t think it would make a good spot welder.

 

[A-DamW]

I'm wondering if it is possible to write a special welding firmware for VESC motor controller so you can use it as welding machine so you can use to weld battery for itself.

Hacky babel of 3shul motors has.

I read about it on the VESC development Discord

You could contact him on his website for full details.

 

[rafalg]

The capacitors look impressive and surely can deliver a lot of power, but i'd be worried about mosfets burning out all the time - they need to handle extremely high amps. Don't think VESC or any other motor controller is anywhere close to that.

 

[AllDIYtoyz]

From my experience you need the lowest resistance possible across the mosfets board to achieve the strongest welds. This also is the key to keep from blowing your mosfets, if resistance is slightly higher in one area Fets are sure to blow. The ones with lower resistance end up doing most the work and eventually the current gets them, or the ones with higher resistance blow out from heat because they turn on slightly slower. Atleast this is my theory, maybe my reasoning is wrong but from first hand experience if the resistance is not as low as possible Fets will blow and/or welds will be inconsistent..

This mostly applies while welding with high current, straight copper to cells or while welding multiple layers of nickel/copper.

 

[rafalg]

I wonder if there's a mechanical switch that could do the work. Of course it would burn out too, after some time, but at least you don't need 12 of them. And no need to worry about switchin off - the capacitors can be charged with just the energy needed for a single shot. Maybe something similar to how car starter is controlled? [edit:nope, this is done by electromagnet engaging the gears]

 

[AllDIYtoyz]

Not sure how clear it is but my first welder used just a relay (the gray/white thing in bottom right of picture). The relay was controlled by a simple timer board (thing on top of plexiglass).

You hit a switch, the timer closes the relay for your desired amount of time, then timer opens in turn opening the relay. I ran this type of setup for many batteries, it is definitely the cheapest way to make a welder.
But it does come with some issues, biggest issue is when the relay welds itself closed and you blow a hole in your battery from all the current coming from capacitors. Choose a good quality high current relay and this issue is lessened but I always had the fear of it happening again..

 

[sternwake]

My previous welder was a 21$ 'purple' spot welder.

I used a separate 12v battery with xt90s antispark to safely power up the board, and used a 5.2ah 3S Zee lipo as the weld battery.

It could weld 0.1mm copper with 0.1mm nickel plated steel sandwich with a 65-70ms pulse when the lipo was new, and 85ms pulse plus after it had aged.

I had beefed up the welding cables and solder to and from the mosfets.


When faced with a new Lipo purchase, and a desire to weld 0.15mm+ copper, I was upgraded to an AwithZ P20B supercapacitor based 14.6kW spot welder.

I have used it to weld upto 0.35mm copper under 0.1mm stainless steel, using the copper brazing paste/welding flux, at about 95% of its power. 0.4mm copper under 0.1mm stainless sticks to a cell, and cant be ripped off with fingers, but pops off too easily with pliers, using flux.

These have a user adjustable preheating function and ability to pulse 3 welds with an adjustable interval too.

I used it yesterday to weld 0.2copper under 0.07mm stainless steel, no flux to install Ampace JP30's into my vacuum's battery.
Gear 550(of 999)
0.15ms preheating
Double pulse
2ms pulse interval.

It is a ~250US$ machine, and seems to outperform welders with higher kW ratings and much higher prices. AwithZ has supercapacitor based models from 10.4kW to 69.2kw, 150 to over 700$.

I've no doubt the 150$ 10kw base model can weld 0.15mm copper sandwich, and if using the welding flux, and stainless steel sandwich brings 0.2mm copper well within its ability.