TIG welding battery strips

[cricketo]

[ ... ]

You forget the need for a gas bottle! Has always been the main drawback of shielded arc welding in my opinion.

Full gas bottle (argon) is like $300 for 250cf (MANY hours of welding), refills are about $50-60. Good Tig welder is easily $3000... so no need to overemphasize the gas as an obstacle

 

[cricketo]

I don't think so. First of all, much or most of the heat from a soldering iron is discharged elsewhere, whereas almost all the heat of welding is dumped first into the workpiece.

How much heat would make you happy ? That's the thing about Tig - it's one of the most adjustable processes. Not only you can change voltage, amperage, arc size, arc DIRECTION, shielding gas (affects heat transfer), but also as was suggested earlier you can utilize timing features of some welders to reduce energy transfer even further.

In the case of soldering, only the solder is being melted, and in the case of resistance spot welding, the mass of material being melted is less than with arc welding, and it's concentrated right at the surface.

Where do you think the low powered Tig weld is going to concentrate ? Penetration is a product energy transfer, which in itself is a product of many variables as I outlined above.

I would like to see measurements, but I have my doubts that TIG welding can be used without causing greater cell heating than resistance welding.

Well, you're just academically skeptical. If you were considering the process for your own needs, it would make for a more interesting conversation.

 

[Chalo]

In the case of soldering, only the solder is being melted, and in the case of resistance spot welding, the mass of material being melted is less than with arc welding, and it's concentrated right at the surface.

Where do you think the low powered Tig weld is going to concentrate ? Penetration is a product energy transfer, which in itself is a product of many variables as I outlined above.

With a resistance weld, the heat propagates out from the interface of the two surfaces being welded. With TIG, it propagates from a melt puddle that has come through from the other side of the connecting strip. A resistance weld can melt all the way through (with a milliseconds-long duration), but it doesn't have to. A TIG weld isn't a weld unless it does (and it has a longer duration).

It would be easy enough to convert a 50W TIG arc such as you have described, times however long it takes to get the weld, into joules. Then we could compare total energy against proven settings for resistance welders. That would be informative. Whichever process uses more watt-seconds is going to be hotter.

 

[cricketo]

With a resistance weld, the heat propagates out from the interface of the two surfaces being welded. With TIG, it propagates from a melt puddle that has come through from the other side of the connecting strip. A resistance weld can melt all the way through (with a milliseconds-long duration), but it doesn't have to. A TIG weld isn't a weld unless it does (and it has a longer duration).

No, it doesn't need to come through. I specifically said - do a fusion on the edge, basically a tiny lap joint. Required duration is a product of power - you can set it up for a millisecond pulse with a larger current, or a longer or continuous with a little current.

 

[DogDipstick]

I am an accomplished Tig welder, with many hours on many machines of many sorts, from battleship building 1/8 rod 3 phase Millermatics that shake the building, to Vulkans, Airco kitchen welding machines, ect. I have welded pure copper bus bars many times. There is a 25 cent coin ( a quarter) currently welded to the aluminum dropout on my frame for decoration on the rear. It is not hard to weld copper. Copper is quite forgiving, honestly.


I aint setting up my tig and trying to connect a bunch of expensive lil firecrackers with the desire of reliable, and repeatable, as the amateur I am. Hello No. Ohno no no no. There are easier, better ways guaranteed to last longer for this ( the) level of conductivity required.

We need ( I would like) to see real time thermal images of this weld action to see if the cell heats up. Then compare to typical spot welding apparatus.

 

[m3vuv]

Talking of welding,i had to go to T.W.I the welding institute near duxford uk to sit my welding inspection exams for gas pipeline work,in the lobby of one of the main buildings was a cylinder about 3/4 feet round and maybe 5feet tall with about a 6 inch wall thickness,in the top welded to the copper was a stainless steel plug,the welds looked superb,it was to hold vitrified spent nuclear fuel,it was impressive,and was electron beam welded,i imagine the cost would of been eyewatering.