carbon-arc help, please.

[welder_one]

i heard an old-timer at the plant (no offense, bert....hehehehe) talking about carbon-arc torches today. said that they were used to weld aluminum and brazing, and heating or bending parts. anyone know about this. i assume that it is an old technology, but i would like to learn about it. heck, maybe buy a set up and use it.

[Bert]

old-timer...yeah right:Old, but new to welding!! Interesting, the only carbon arc we did at tech school, was the rods we used to scarf-out steel plate! Instructor was retired Pearl Harbor, so they used that a lot!!!

[Agri04]

carbon-arc help

I took an Ag mech. class and the professor knows about the carbon arc torches. They also used them back before they got the xenon bulb for a light source for movie theaters. If i am not mistaken they are just two sticks of carbon that are set at an angle and you hook your welding leads up to them. I am not sure on all of the details, but i may be able to go talk to him about them and find out more specifics.

[DDA52]

Dang...when did I become an old timer????

Carbon arc can be done without the dual torch as well. We used it to weld 24 ga sheet metal all the time. We would just put a 1/4 carbon or 3/16 in a stinger and use it like a TIG. The carbon has to be sharpened about three times pointier than a pencil for it to work right. Otherwise the arc is too big and you'll tend to blow stuff out. I believe we used OA filler rods with it when welding bigger stuff. Little tacks were just carbon rod only. It was not my favorite process either, but then I have more patience now.



Man I just thought I lost all this. Cat sat on the keyboard.






















3

[Synchroman]

Dual carbon arc torch

I have a Lincoln dual rod carbon arc torch that my Dad and I used many years ago when we were building pole lamps. We used it to braze with a vintage Trindl 90 amp buzz-box AC welder. It worked beautifully with tubing and sheet metal and, best of all, no cylinder gas to buy!

Lincoln still sells these and they really are quite economical. With enough power, you could probably gouge with one and certainly do some nice pre-heating.

[HMW]

Thats pretty interesting. I had forgotten about those. I have seen a dual one but never used one. Any pics would be cool

I was just checking around the internet and there is some interesting info out there

[welder_one]

I have a Lincoln dual rod carbon arc torch that my Dad and I used many years ago when we were building pole lamps

does it use standard carbons, or are they special carbon rods? ac or dc? around what amperage? sorry, i am pretty curious about this thing now.

[chris madden]

The only thing we use it for is cuting out bad weld in ss.So for use its not a good thing to get out.

[Synchroman]

does it use standard carbons, or are they special carbon rods? ac or dc? around what amperage? sorry, i am pretty curious about this thing now.

I have used 3/16 and 1/4" carbons in mine. I still have a supply. They have to be copper-coated. I tried plain ones once and the arc was very poor.

The code number at the Lincoln site is K1876-1 for the arc torch. The rods are KP1905-1 and KP1905-2 for the 3/16" and 1/4", respectively. The rods are also available at most welding stores.

As I said, my old Trindl Buzz-Box is rated at 90 amps AC and I could get a nice arc on about 60-70 amps. It has different holes to plug the cables into on the face. I'm sure if you had more power, you could run 5/16" or even 3/8" rods if you could stand the heat. You could use any stick welder to operate one of these by connecting the ground and stinger to the leads. I don't know how it would work on DC since I never used it on DC. I guess it would work. I also never tried it for gouging. I think a single rod gouging setup would be much better.

This type of torch is ideal for brazing and also pre-heat on aluminum. I've used it numerous times to pre-heat Harley Panhead cylinder heads so as to weld new exhaust stubs on. It works like a charm, it's cheap and very clean heat. What's not to like?