Make a Spot Welder for Cheap!!

a typical resistant spot welder like
this can range in price from around $200
to over 800 that’s a little out of my
price range so for this project let’s
make this one from common materials and
for just a few bucks
[Music]
this modified transformer is the heart
of the spot welder and you might
remember it as the metal melter if this
doesn’t look familiar
check out how this was made and what it
can do in some of my other videos I
found a practical application for it in
making a spot welder like this one to
get started I’m gonna measure the base
of the transformer and it looks like
it’s about four and a quarter inches
wide
I found a six-foot piece of one by six
common board that will be perfect for
this using my chop saw I’ll cut two
pieces of the board so that they’re both
12 inches long then another piece gets
cut at 42 inches I’m trimming this piece
down with my table saw so that it’s
about a quarter inch wider than the
transformer base and in this case that
measures out at four and a half inches
then it gets chopped into three
different lengths measuring 24 inches 12
inches and 4 inches next I found a 2 by
2 and I’m cutting the nicest parts of
the beam into two pieces measuring 13
and 1/2 inches long two other pieces are
cut at 4 inches and everything can be
placed together to see how it fits
that’s the rough idea right there and
I’d like to knock down the sharp edges
so I found a 3/4 inch rounding bit and
routed the appropriate edges to give it
a smoother feel these front pieces are
gonna be my electrode holders the edge
of this scrap piece of wood works as a
template to draw a 90-degree angle into
the top piece about an inch from the end
I don’t have a bandsaw so I’m
improvising with my bench vise and a
jigsaw to cut this piece out can it work
you’ll see what this groove is for in a
bit the next part is to cut out the
pattern I drew on the back panel so I’m
gonna utilize my vise once again and use
an 1132 drill bit to cut holes in all
the corners so I can get back in there
with my jigsaw these holes will be for a
switch and a power cord and all this
panel needs now are two pilot holes
drilled in the appropriate places for
the switch I’m thinking I should give
this a paint job so all the panels get
sanded with an orbital sander then laid
out for priming and paint
four colors I’m thinking black and
yellow with the paint drying I’ve
gathered up a few components that were
saved from the same microwave I got the
transformer from to see all the amazing
things that I got from that project make
sure you check out my video on salvaging
a microwave I found in my neighbor’s
trash can I’m gonna use the power cord
these wired Spade connectors the door
handle and this contact switch aside
from the wood the only parts I needed to
buy were a single pole light switch with
matching cover copper offset terminal
lugs a couple of quarter-inch thick
screws two small nails and a length of
six gauge solid copper wire the copper
wire gets marked off in one inch
increments and two pieces are cut off
using the wire cutter on my pliers these
are gonna work as my welding tips the
copper lugs have an adjustable screw
that can be loosened to insert the solid
copper wire when it’s tightened back up
it looks like this
alright the paint on the wood panels is
dry and I’ve added the switch to the
back panel to make sure it fits so the
next step is to flip it over and press
the power cord down into the hole at the
bottom the thick piece at the end of the
cord prevents it from pulling back
through the hole I’m ready to pieces
back together so I’m drilling a couple
of pilot holes into the bottom and
securing the back panel with a couple of
screws now the front 2×2 supports are
added and the metal melter is placed on
the base about an inch back from the
supports I’ll add a screw to one of the
corners to help keep it in place and at
this point I’m ready to rig up the
electrical system taking the green wire
from the power cord I’m stripping open a
gap in the plastic to expose the bare
cord this will wrap around the grounding
screw on the power switch the end of the
wire has a hole I can use to insert
another short screw and work that down
into the opposite corner of the
transformer base not only does this
secure the metal melter in place it also
grounds out the transformer core at the
same time okay I’ve exposed the copper
on the black wire and that’ll get
connected to the bottom terminal of the
power switch and screwed down tight
this salvage Spade connector still fits
onto one of the Transformers primary
terminals so with that on the other end
of the wire can be connect
to the top terminal of the power switch
now the switch can be screwed down
permanently and a cover plate added to
protect from electric shock and to make
it look nice
the other Spade connector that was
salvaged goes on the left terminal of
the primary coil and we could finish the
electrical here but I want to add one
more switch for convenience
this switch still has the original wires
and connectors from the microwave and
I’ve just added a wrap of electrical
tape to make sure I don’t get shocked
while touching it I’ll strip the end of
the white wire and twist it together
with the other white wire coming off the
primary then use a wire nut to cover the
connection now the black wire is joined
with the white wire coming from the
power cable and the electrical system is
complete I added this microwave door
handle to the top panel and I’m screwing
it on to see how it holds up the
alignment looks good when I pick it up
it seems to support the weight without
any problem alright with the cables
laying out the front it’s time to close
up the side panels and I’m doing that by
drilling holes and adding six screws on
each panel to make sure it’s held
securely the next step is to construct
these electrode holders I chose to use a
3/16 bit to drill a hole into both tips
of the two by twos which you can see got
painted yellow the hole is big enough to
prevent the wood from splitting when
these screws go in yet small enough to
hold them in secure this is the top
piece and I’m going to add a switch to
the side about half an inch from the tip
it gets set at a slight angle and the
two small nails are hammered down into
the holes already in the switch now the
two beams can be slid into the front of
the casing with one under the wire and
the other over top to secure them in
place I’m using some scrap wood to keep
them an equal distance apart as I drill
a hole through the side of the casing
and into the beam I’ve pushed a nail
into the hole and now you can see this
top piece is able to pivot freely it
should be obvious now why we needed that
notch near the base the bottom beam also
gets a hole drilled on either side as
well as its own set of nails to keep it
from sliding around the welding tips can
be attached now so we push one of the
hex screws through the hole in the lug
and then join it to the right side cable
that gets tightened securely into our
pilo hole and all that gets repeated on
the top
the misalignments can be fixed by
bending the lugs slightly inward and now
we’ve got perfect contact to finish this
off I’d like a way for the top beam to
stay suspended on its own so to address
the challenge I’ll add a couple of
screws and a thick rubber band the
system is finished my very own spot
welder and for less than $10 in
materials let’s see if it works
power cord plugs in and with the
electrode tips touching I’ll press the
button to engage but nothing’s happening
well that’s because the safety switch is
still off let’s try it again this time
when I press the button the system hums
and when the tips touch I see the Hiab
sparks I was hoping for I don’t have any
sheet metal handy so I decided to try
using these washers for my first
experiment the pressure holds them in
place hands-free and with the system
energized it only takes about three
seconds to fuse them together
I’m trying it again with a third washer
being careful not to touch these because
they’re extremely high surprisingly it
even worked on thicker welds like
melting a washer to this steel spike
trying to break them apart by hand was a
fruitless effort so I tried using pliers
and even that was a bit of a challenge
but I got it that just goes to show the
welds are pretty strong a feature I
really like about this design is that
the electrode holders can be removed
allowing the user to extend the welders
reach and access difficult angles they
go back in as easily as they came out
and all it takes to secure them back in
place is a little wiggle and the
replacement of the locking nails the
elastic band is easy to replace and it’s
doing a great job providing back tension
after I make a connection
I tried welding a couple of iron nails
in an X pattern and since the heat was
concentrated in the center it didn’t
burn my fingers the power of the metal
melter is still evident in the way the
iron is boiling on this nail and if
allowed to continue the nail melts down
into a little ball of liquid metal when
it’s time to replace the electrode tips
just loosen the tensioner remove the
spent electrode and replace with a fresh
piece of your copper wire if you do it
this way you can get about 12 tips for a
buck because the wire is not that
expensive well now you know how to make
my version of a spot welder from easily
accessible and low-cost parts if you
like this project perhaps you’ll like
some of my others check them out at the
king of random calm
you