Re: ballast questions

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: DRIEBEN-at-midsouth.rr-dot-com 

Hi Steve,

I removed the core out of my 225 amp stick welder and
submerged it in oil for higher duty cycle operation.
Do you know if the core part of your welder is actually
bad or could it just be an external wiring issue? I can
recognize the way that you are describing the EI portions
of your welder core but I'm not really sure exactly how
all of the parts of it work. I kept all of the wiring in-
tact with mine when I pulled it from the welder box and
just submerged it in SAE 30 motor oil in a plastic file
organizer from Walmart for about $10. If your welder core
has really bitten the dust, you may be better off to just
build a homemade ballast from a ~24" length of 3" PVC
pipe wrapped with 2 or 3 layers of #10 or 12 AWG building
wire and filling the pipe with welding rods. Many list
members have successfully used the 500 ft. spools of #
12 AWG stranded copper building wire from the electrical
section of Home Depot or Lowe's as is on the spool as bal-
last for each leg of 120 volts to limit the current to
20 or 25 amps.

David Rieben



----- Original Message -----
From: Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Date: Friday, July 9, 2004 8:37 am
Subject: Re: ballast questions

 > Original poster: "steve" <steve_vance-at-cablelynx-dot-com>
 >
 > Anyone????
 >
 >
 > ----- Original Message -----
 > From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
 > To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
 > Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2004 5:46 PM
 > Subject: ballast questions
 >
 >
 > > Original poster: "steve" <steve_vance-at-cablelynx-dot-com>
 > >
 > > Hi List,
 > >
 > >   I have a few questions about making a pig ballast. My 225A
 > welder bit
 > the
 > > dust the other day. I was thinking about using the core to make
 > choke > ballast. The core is not a standard E I . It is more like
 > an E and a
 > > sideways E and an I. The sideways E is at 90deg of the Reg. E.
 > It had a
 > > small winding that had the taps for the low current side of the
 > welder > (75-110A) There are what appear to be shunts in between
 > the largest E
 > > section. ( the original pri. and sec.) 1. Would these need to
 > be removed
 > > before winding or can they be ignored?   2. I don't see any
 > practical way
 > to
 > > make an air gap in the core without cutting the top off. How
 > important is
 > > it? The core weighs around 80 lbs. I want to ballast the pig to
 > around20A.
 > > With a core this size, would saturation be a problem?   3.
 > Should I cut
 > off
 > > the E section that is not going to be used? This probably
 > accounts for 40%
 > > of the weight.   4. And finally, I know the formula for
 > calculating a
 > single
 > > layer coil but I'm not sure how to go about calculating a multi
 > layercoil.
 > >
 > >
 > > Thanks in advance for any help,
 > > Steve Vance
 > >
 > >
 >
 >
 >