Outback Arc Welding Help Thread

[baggs71 Inactive member. Find all posts View Profile Close baggs71]

Hi chaps....Everynow and then you hear of someone welding something or needing to reattach stub axels etc in the bush with a welding rod and some cables...

Things like the old 120 series inner wheel guard or underneath the battery location cracking...yes it happens to the best of us.

SO let me ask all the Forum Pagan Gods to please submit the following:

1. Type of setup.
2. What to use
3. How to set it up
4. Photos with explanations

If this becomes a sticky thread then ill be chuffed as it is a Topic worth explaining

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

I haven't done this in the bush but I have done it a number of times now conducting training sessions to show people. Most recently at the 2012 GTG and also at the 2011 GTG in QLD.

Not a lot of detail but a bit of a video and some pics here from the 2011 GTG. http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...h-Welding-Demo

Basically you need 3 batteries, its possible with 2 but difficult, 3 is ideal. A normal ARC welder puts out around 32 volt at the stick so 36 volt is near as we can get.

You need to connect the three batteries in series, ie postive goes to negative, same again for the next battery and that leaves you with one positive and one negative terminal to hook your welding leads (jumper leads) to.

Obviously you need welding rods, given that the likely things you might be welding in the bush are suspension components, springs, stub axles etc then a normal GP rod may not cut it. I carry stainless rods, they can weld pretty much anything, hard steel, spring steel mild steel, and are also generally very easy rods to weld with.

A pair of vice grips to hold the electrode and a welding lens, I carry a number 10 welding lens, well wrapped in paper and cardboard and it has survived years of outback touring. A makeshift welding mask is easily made from some cardboard or what ever you have available.

Hook your leads up to the battery, the Positve lead needs to go to earth this is DC welding so positive earth as opposed to a home welder that is AC and negative earth. Clamp the electrode in the vise grips and clamp the vise gips in the jumper leads, you could put the electrode directly in the jumper lead but its not as good. The electrode is obviously Negative.

Thats about all you need to do to start welding, however like most things there is a lot more to a successful repair than a quick bush welding job.

The following is true for pretty much any welding but it really applies for emergency bush repairs.
The cleaner the metal the easier it is to get a good weld.
A good earth to clean metal as close to the welding site as practical is a good idea.
Preheating the weld area will produce better results (particularly on something like a leaf spring)
The slower the weld cools the better, again with a spring, heat it in the fire before hand and bury it in hot sand after to slow the cooling if you can.
Welding in the flat position is much easier than going up or overhead, remove the part to be welded and get comfortable if its posible.

The biggest issue with battery welding is the lack of adjustment for AMPS, the only way to lower the amps is the same way it is done with a normal welder, introduce resistance. Usually this is done by joing the batteries with longer or thinner cables. some people will tell you to use a bit of fencing wire, thats OK but if you wrap it around a battery terminal and it shorts out with 36 volts it will melt the terminal off in the blink of an eye.

I am happy to do this demo again, maybe at Mount Pleasant if people are interested. I just need to start carrying cheap rods for demos instead of the million dollar top shelf jobbies I carry for a real world repair.

I'll get some pics of my kit at some stage, not a lot I need to carry for this.

Cheers Andrew

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Here is a basic setup I grabbed of the net, I use short cables with eyes that I attach to battery terminals for when I weld, just a bit better than jumper leads, but use whatever you have in the bush hey!



And the DIY welding mask for one of the demo's, also the results of the bush welding class at the 2011 GTG. A couple of the welds are mine, Lfar and Stewy can take credit for a couple of the others!



Cheers Andrew

[baggs71 Inactive member. Find all posts View Profile Close baggs71]

Crikey folks!
Looks like AJ has killed the thread!!!
Hahahahha just kidding but seriously a brilliant post and thorough to boot.

Question....to make a "kit" could you do the following:?
1. Grab 6 little battery cables; and
2. Salvage the leads from an old arc welder.

That way you could keep it in an old roll ready to rock if the need ever arises?

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

Very helpful, thanks AJ

[mackayvx Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close mackayvx]

Good info- certainly very handy.

So what effect does welding have on the batteries?

Beside draining the power, does welding stuff the batteries up?

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Question....to make a "kit" could you do the following:?
1. Grab 6 little battery cables; and
2. Salvage the leads from an old arc welder.

That way you could keep it in an old roll ready to rock if the need ever arises?

If you are like most of us you already carry enough stuff. I generally try to make anything I carry have more than 1 possible use in order to justify taking it.

I carry jumper leads anyway, so thats not an extra. Likewise with the vise grips (a seriously useful tool anytime) I have 2 short heavy cables that came with my bullbar, no idea why but thats where I got them, these could also be used to replace a fried power cable or earth lead or a winch lead repair if desperate. The welding rods and lens aren't useful for much else but aren't that big or heavy.

This is my basic kit.


I also carry a couple of spare battery terminals that can be used in the operation. If i need to reduce the amps I also carry a roll of small electical wire and a selection of terminals, just a matter of making a series of small short cables with an eye each end until I get the desired result.

Welding something heavy like a spring or a stub reducing the amps probably isn't nescessary anyway.

I should also mention the safety side of things. Keep a fire extinguisher or water close by welding in the bush, no use fixing the problem and burning the vehicle to the gound Also keep sparks away from the batteries that give off hydrodgen gas, don't want a big boom either!

As for the effect on the batteries, I would think nothing more than normal use. I ran a tech day at our place a few years ago for our club and we did this among other things, there was around 8 of us, we all had a go, used a few differnt sized rods and thickness materials for a bit of experimenting. We probably burned 6-8 rods up and the voltage drop in the batteries was around 0.1 volt from memory, and they were smaller "car" batteries not N70Z size.

If in doubt about draining them in the bush, check regularly with a multi meter, If they are going down a bit, stop welding, and throw them back in for a charge up. In reality, 8 rods for a bush repair is a pretty significant repair, In most cases I suspect you would run out of rods before you flattened the batteries.

I have also used a combination of different types and sizes of batteries when doing this, normal wet cell, long life wet cell, AGM and my optima blue top, doesn't seem to matter what type of battery you use.

Cheers Andrew

[baggs71 Inactive member. Find all posts View Profile Close baggs71]

Awesome AJ

[Ken in Cairns Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ken in Cairns]

Great post, thanks for the information.