AC to DC Welder conversion?

[DrkZide]

I'm picking this little guy up to learn some welding at home (mainly cosmetic stuff, some exhaust hangers and potentially more if I get good enough) and I was told that if I were to convert the machine from AC to DC it would produce much better welds and less spatter due to the constant current. I searched online and found a few posts advising the use of a bridge rectifier and some capacitors but none really explain how to do the actual conversion. I could figure it out myself but for the sake of not destroying the welder, I figured I'd ask if somebody has done it before.

 

[DrkZide]

Bump?

 

[TerryD]

I'm no electronics genius or anything, but you'll need some pretty stout diodes to build a rectifier and the caps are to smooth out your output. As for sizes, I'm sure that's all related to the capacity of the welder.

A quick search turned up these in the first 4-5 results on Google.
http://www.doityourself.com/forum/welding-metalworking/224297-ac-dc-welder.html

http://www.blinkenbyte.org/welder_conversion/welder_conversion.html

http://weldingweb.com/archive/index.php/t-5382.html

 

[DrkZide]

Yea I saw those, but none really described how/where to wire it up to the welder. Either the wiring is really easy and I'm just not getting it or I'm blind as a bat.

 

[TerryD]

There is not a clear schematic in either, but if you look closely at the different pictures in the 2nd link, you can get a good idea of what you'll need to do.

Basically just hook your A/C to the input side of the rectifier, D/C comes out of the rectifier and then across the caps to stablize it, then out to the welding leads. I didn't look very closely, but that's what it looked like to me.

 

[TerryD]

Did you ever give this a try?

 

[DrkZide]

Not yet, still doing a little bit of research plus the $1800 bill on the wife's transmission overhaul put a little hamper on buying welding stuff for a few weeks.