I just picked up a Hobart porta thaw pipe thawing machine for 15$. The guy said it was going to be scrapped if he had to load it back in his truck. I only bought it because I figured it might be possible to use it for arc welding. I tried to google it for a manual but couldn't find any information at all. About all I found were some old adds from the 60s selling them. So anybody ever have one or know anything about them.
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Anyone Familiar With A Hobart Porta Thaw Pipe Thawing Machine?
- Thread starter Ebel440
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I think those are just resistance heaters, and work by creating a short circuit, like an arc welder does, only using metal pipe as the controlled ground. It is probably worth well more than that if it works OK. They will not work with plastic pipes, and draw lots of electricity.
I opened it up last night to replace the power wire which had no strain relief on it and had the copper showing on the ground wire. It's just a big transformer with 3 taps for high, medium and low power. Theres 4 big wing nuts to attach leads to the machine. It does not have anything else besides the transformer. Not even a power switch. I'll try to get some pictures tonight. I was going to measure the voltage after I fixed the power cord. It's got a maximum output of 250 amps and runs off 110 or 220volts. I think it should work as an arc welding supply as long as the voltage is high enough. I think it should have a pretty high duty cycle.
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I've rented similar pipe thawers when I was in the ski industry. They worked OK for short runs of metal pipe, especially where the frozen pipe ran through a foundation. I don't remember much other than hooking a lead to each end of the frozen section and plugging it in. We also used welders in much the same way to thaw out pipes.
I never tried to make a welder out of one though!
I never tried to make a welder out of one though!
What's an exciter coil ? Years ago I mAde a welder from some microwave oven transformers and remember something about an inductor to adjust the current. I was trying to build a high frequency starter and diodes to run DC I still have the stuff somewhere. I never really tried it out as I already had a real mig setup. This will most likely end up with the pile of projects I never have time for anyway.
I wired it up and on 110 volts I only had open circuit voltage of 2 ,5 and 8 from the different taps. So I think that's too low for arc welding? If I used it on 220volts it would have 16 at the highest setting which is still pretty low. Does anyone know how much is needed to maintain an arc? I know two 12 volt batteries can be used which would be 24 volts