RE: Arc welder as pig ballast not working right

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "david baehr" <dfb25@xxxxxxxxxxx>


Hmmm, years ago I bought a welder like that, it 
was cylnder shaped with many tap points, a real 
antique, I couldnt get it to work correctly 
either, dont know why..... got rid of it and got 
a more modern , variable shunt Miller 'Thunder 
Bolt" ,and it worked great,.......but have since 
tried to sell it, the buyer said it wouldnt weld 
as it should , so I refunded his $$,....... it 
did work great as a ballast though,.....Im in 
Colorado, come and get it if ya wanna try it 
,......that goes for anyone else in the Colorado 
area,.....if ya need a pig ballast, come and get 
it !!!,.....Ive since made my own homemade 
ballast, and have no need for it................dave




>From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
>To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: Arc welder as pig ballast not working right
>Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 12:39:58 -0600
>
>Original poster: "seanick" <edgarsbat@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>Greetings, Coilers of the world...
>I bring to you a conundrum, or at least something which makes no
>sense to me. I have an 8" coil run by 10 KVA pig and a large old arc
>welder which has 10 or 12 different places to attach the leads, plus
>2 ground choices. I have noticed lately that when I use the lowest
>power setting it works great, however at any other setting past
>that, my coil does not run continuously but becomes staccato and has
>much reduced output. I am using a synchronous rotary (@3600 rpm)
>with 4x 3/16" tungsten rotating electrodes and two stationary
>electrodes at 180 degrees offset, which are both adjustable remotely
>while the coil is running similar to Bart Anderson's rotary;
>adjusting the phase for the different power levels does not result
>in longer arcs than with the lowest setting though. I am only
>getting something like 4 feet which is WAY too low for the
>components I am using.
>
>The ballast at the lowest setting draws 17 amps when in series with
>the pig, and 50 at the highest setting, according to a clip-on
>ammeter. The arc welder itself works as expected; each higher
>setting results in more heat at the weld. What could cause this
>behavior? So far I only have two theories but I doubt either of
>these are the problem...
>1. Quenching of the gap - reason I think this might be it is that I
>threw an electrode with an earlier revision of this gap. I have
>since installed aluminum sleeves with set screws to hold the
>electrodes. this seemed to cure the problem; now the electrodes are
>not even all that warm right after a relatively long run.(15 minutes
>of tuning cycles...)
>2. power factor? I don't really know, this is grasping at straws.
>
>What could be the problem? has anyone ever experienced this sort of
>problem before? It baffles me, because I have never had so much
>trouble getting a long arc before. NST's and MOT's both outperform
>this pig, yet I know the pig is good and I can pull huge power arcs
>from it. I weld with the same welder, and have used it as the MOT
>ballast with much success until the MOT's burst into flame...
>
>Thanks in advance for any suggestions you can give!
>SeaNICK
>
>here is some of the data generated by classictesla, it saves me from
>typing it all in manually and has a formatted output.. thanks Bart
>for the consolidate function!
>
>J A V A T C v.10 - CONSOLIDATED OUTPUT
>Wednesday, August 10, 2005 08:57:36
>Units = Inches
>----------------------------------------------------
>Secondary Coil Inputs:
>4.125 = Radius 1
>4.125 = Radius 2
>27.5 = Height 1
>75.5 = Height 2
>1190 = Turns
>18 = Wire Awg
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>Primary Coil Inputs:
>5 = Radius 1
>8.15 = Radius 2
>24 = Height 1
>24 = Height 2
>9.45 = Turns
>0.25 = Wire Diameter
>0.04 = Primary Cap (uF)
>0 = Desired Coupling (k)
>----------------------------------------------------
>Top Load Object Inputs (dimensions & topload or ground connection):
>Toroid #1: minor=9, major=27, height=82.5, topload
>----------------------------------------------------
>Secondary Outputs:
>121.01 [kHz] = Secondary Resonant Frequency
>90 [deg°] = Angle of Secondary
>48 [inch] = Length of Winding
>24.8 = Turns Per inch
>0.00003 [inch] = Space Between Turns (edge to edge)
>17 [awg] = Recommended Wire Size
>2570.2 [ft] = Length of Wire
>5.82 = H/D Aspect Ratio
>16.41 [ohms] = DC Resistance
>34435 [ohms] = Reactance at Resonance
>34919 [ohms] = Forward Transfer Impedance
>12.64 [lbs] = Weight of Wire
>45.29 [mH] = Les-Effective Series Inductance
>43.841 [mH] = Lee-Equivalent Energy Inductance
>47.143 [mH] = Ldc-Low Frequency Inductance
>38.194 [pF] = Ces-Effective Shunt Capacitance
>35.954 [pF] = Cee-Equivalent Energy Capacitance
>58.107 [pF] = Cdc-Low Frequency Capacitance
>7.479 [mils] = Skin Depth
>27.287 [pF] = Topload Effective Capacitance
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>Primary Outputs:
>120.77 [kHz] = Primary Resonant Frequency
>0.2 [%] = Percent Detuned
>0 [deg°] = Angle of Primary
>32.53 [ft] = Length of Wire
>0.083 [inch] = Average spacing between turns (edge to edge)
>0.875 [inch] = Primary to Secondary Clearance
>0.064 [k] = Coupling Coefficient
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>Transformer Inputs:
>240 [volts] = Transformer Rated Input Voltage
>13800 [volts] = Transformer Rated Output Voltage
>725 [mA] = Transformer Rated Output Current
>60 [Hz] = Mains Frequency
>240 [volts] = Transformer Applied Voltage
>17 [amps] = Transformer Ballast Current
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>Transformer Outputs:
>10005 [volt*amps] = Rated Transformer VA
>19034 [ohms] = Transformer Impedence
>13800 [rms volts] = Effective Output Voltage
>17 [rms amps] = Effective Input Current
>4080 [volt*amps] = Effective Input VA
>0.1394 [uF] = Resonant Cap Size
>0.209 [uF] = Static gap LTR Cap Size
>0.3634 [uF] = SRSG LTR Cap Size
>461 [uF] = Power Factor Cap Size
>19513 [peak volts] = Voltage Across Cap
>68979 [peak volts] = Recommended Cap Voltage Rating
>7.62 [joules] = Primary Cap Energy
>592.3 [peak amps] = Primary Instantaneous Current
>92.3 [inch] = Spark Length (JF equation using Resonance Research
>Corp. factors)
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>Rotary Spark Gap Inputs:
>2 = Number of Stationary Gaps
>4 = Number of Rotating Electrodes
>3600 [rpm] = Disc RPM
>0.1875 = Rotating Electrode Diameter
>0.1875 = Stationary Electrode Diameter
>6.5 = Rotating Path Diameter
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>Rotary Spark Gap Outputs:
>8 = Presentations Per Revolution
>480 [BPS] = Breaks Per Second
>69.6 [mph] = Rotational Speed
>2.08 [ms] = RSG Firing Rate
>9.335 [ms] = Time for Capacitor to Fully Charge
>1.12 = Time Constant at Gap Conduction
>-1.78 [ms] = Electrode Mechanical Dwell Time
>67.24 [%] = Percent Cp Charged When Gap Fires
>13120 [peak volts] = Effective Cap Voltage
>3.44 [joules] = Effective Cap Energy
>437604 [peak volts] = Terminal Voltage
>1652 [joule*seconds] = Energy Across Gap
>109.6 [inch] = RSG Spark Length (using energy equation)
>
>