Basic components of an arc welder?

[Cadillac fan]

Hey all at GarageJournal

Today I was at an op shop and came across and old arc welder. It had a heap of stuff with it but was missing powercord. It was $15 but I decided to leave it because I was unsure about it.

I couldn't find any identification on it (probably on the bottom or behind price tag) but it had 3 knobs titled something like Work, Power, Ground. What do they mean. 2 of them had red leads twisted onto them.

There was a bag of electrodes, a pair of gloves, 2 cheap masks, a welding handle, ground cable clip and a long black cord with this weird metal thing over 1 end of it that I couldn't get off.

If anyone can understand what I am saying could they please tell me what all the stuff was. Unfortunately I couldn't get a photo of it but I will probably go back next Thursday and hope it is still there.

 

[91bronc300]

Hey all at GarageJournal

Today I was at an op shop and came across and old arc welder. It had a heap of stuff with it but was missing powercord. It was $15 but I decided to leave it because I was unsure about it.

I couldn't find any identification on it (probably on the bottom or behind price tag) but it had 3 knobs titled something like Work, Power, Ground. What do they mean. 2 of them had red leads twisted onto them.

There was a bag of electrodes, a pair of gloves, 2 cheap masks, a welding handle, ground cable clip and a long black cord with this weird metal thing over 1 end of it that I couldn't get off.

If anyone can understand what I am saying could they please tell me what all the stuff was. Unfortunately I couldn't get a photo of it but I will probably go back next Thursday and hope it is still there.

Twisted on? That bad boy must be old. Well the 'work' would be the cord that goes to your welding rod. The 'ground' would be the cord that clips onto your workpiece. And the 'power' should be your amperage adjust. It is probably a movable core type transformer and the power knob moves the core closer or further from the field windings. Go get it. You'll be getting more than $15 worth of copper for sure. Even if it's broke it sounds like a great deal.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Its probably worth more than that in scrap if you tear apart the transformer !