nano tech batteries = portable plasma torch?

[KTP]

So I know people have arc welded with car batteries before. Actually on the 2nd season of The Colony, they did just that with 3 car batteries in series.

Well, this brings to mind the 45-90C Turnigy nano batteries

Has anyone had the idea to use a 6s pack to make a pocket (large pocket) sized welder, or carbon arc cutting torch, or possibly even a plasma cutter? (the plasma cutter would require lots of electronics though).

Even only getting 20 seconds of welding time, it would be pretty impressive to pull something out of your jacket pocket that could weld two pcs of 1/4" plate together

Or cut through a hardened chain or lock in about 5 seconds if you forgot your keys...

 

[gestalt]

yeah, "forgot my keys"

I saw a short piece with michio kaku proposing that the way to make a real lightsaber would to be by using a battery utilizing carbon nanotube technology to power a huge extendable plasma torch. to bad that tech is about 50 years off

 

[texaspyro]

Or cut through a hardened chain or lock in about 5 seconds if you forgot your keys...

Yeah, I'm always forgetting my keys... but I always remember to bring my pocket welder How about hooking your keys to the pocket welder?

Actually, my FET based
capacitive discharge tab welder (http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2633&start=570#p280216) can run off of batteries (12-30V). It is capable of generating 20,000 amp pulses.

It has a cutter mode that works much like an inverter type MIG welder. In this mode it uses a tungsten electrode. There are pics of it cutting at http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2633&start=600#p282544 I have kludged up a gas head with a solenoid valve and can use it as a small pulse arc welder.

Due to the size of my cap charging power supply (around 400 watts, 20 amp average current) it is really only suitable for use on small items... don't know how long it would take to cut a lock, but it should be doable. A good high-C battery should easily be able to out perform my AC charge supply.

With the proper weld head/gas supply it should be able to do plasma cutting. It is not quite pocket sized.

 

[KTP]

Very cool. I have messed around with capacitive charge/pulse discharge circuits in the past when I was building a power supply for a ruby laser (and later to power a nd:yag laser from a military range finder).

I was joking about the keys. I really can't think of many legal situations where you need a portable plasma torch or arc torch. A portable stick welder would be kind of cool though if you worked on a farm or something where you needed a quick emergency repair of some random metal thingy.

I also considered using the nano-tech batteries to power my 70 watt RF excited CO2 laser (uses 30V DC at 40 amps or so), but I can't think of many things to do with that either....hmmm....well, if one were into tagging or something I guess a collimating ZnSe lens system would allow you to etch concrete or paint coated metal from a few hundred yards away...couldn't get any colors though, just gray scale. It would be a quite interesting thing to do on your own property if you had a rock cliff or something that you wanted to write a message or draw a picture on from safely at ground. (I am not advocating this, it would be silly dangerous to shine around a portable 70 watt invisible laser outside).

 

[texaspyro]

I really can't think of many legal situations where you need a portable plasma torch or arc torch.

Oh, I can think of lots of uses for portable plasma cutters and CO2 lasers... some might even be legal

As far as portable stick welders go, there are lots of them. Usually integrated with a generator. No rancher would be caught dead without one. Ghetto welders just use three car batteries in series. I think that LiPo would take offense at that kind of abuse. Lead-acid is too stupid to complain.

 

[heathyoung]

Very cool. I have messed around with capacitive charge/pulse discharge circuits in the past when I was building a power supply for a ruby laser (and later to power a nd:yag laser from a military range finder).

I was joking about the keys. I really can't think of many legal situations where you need a portable plasma torch or arc torch. A portable stick welder would be kind of cool though if you worked on a farm or something where you needed a quick emergency repair of some random metal thingy.

I also considered using the nano-tech batteries to power my 70 watt RF excited CO2 laser (uses 30V DC at 40 amps or so), but I can't think of many things to do with that either....hmmm....well, if one were into tagging or something I guess a collimating ZnSe lens system would allow you to etch concrete or paint coated metal from a few hundred yards away...couldn't get any colors though, just gray scale. It would be a quite interesting thing to do on your own property if you had a rock cliff or something that you wanted to write a message or draw a picture on from safely at ground. (I am not advocating this, it would be silly dangerous to shine around a portable 70 watt invisible laser outside).

Huh - I wondered if your username signified what I thought it did. Let me guess - that would be the ex-military ruby lasers with the rotating porro prism, and the SSY-1 ND:YAG - I got one of those to produce pulsed green when fed through a non-linear crystal.

 

[KTP]

Huh - I wondered if your username signified what I thought it did. Let me guess - that would be the ex-military ruby lasers with the rotating porro prism, and the SSY-1 ND:YAG - I got one of those to produce pulsed green when fed through a non-linear crystal.

heh, yes, those would be the two (although later I obtained a monster ruby laser from a epilog summit medical laser that had capacitors the size of a large cereal box and a rod about 12 inches long.

I was actually able to spark the air with the SSY-1 focused through a microscope objective, which I thought was pretty cool.

 

[texaspyro]

A more practical battery powered torch could be done by using the pack to electrolyze water. Commercial water welders are pretty popular in the jewelry business. Even Sears used to sell one.