Battery Tab welders and embossed heat shield.

[Firebrick43]

Has anyone done any welding/assembly of hard embossed heat shielding?

I have installed it on marine engines and know its used on high HP turbo cars and such. I would like to use some of it and actually weld it instead of just fold and safety wire.


I found some youtube videos and the welder they are using looks very similar to a battery tab welder. Does anyone know if they are powerful enough? It seems the embossed sheet is around 0.35mm

 

[Rabid Badger]

I don't see why it wouldn't work. Steel is far easier to weld than the nickel strips used for batteries.

You'll want to get a decent one, though. Preferably one that operates by measuring weld energy rather than weld time.

 

[Firebrick43]

I don't see why it wouldn't work. Steel is far easier to weld than the nickel strips used for batteries.

You'll want to get a decent one, though. Preferably one that operates by measuring weld energy rather than weld time.

Any suggestion on what a decent one would be?

 

[cgrutt]

I recently bought one but the welds are similar in size to a pen point not sure how well that would hold up even if it worked. I wish I had a piece of heat shield lying around I'd try it to see if it worked.

BTW I think the "heavy" pure nickle strips are 0.15-0.20 mm thick.

ETA I had a thread about these spot welders here

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/rebuilding-cordless-battery-packs.524737/#post-10426181

I bought a Malectrics Arduino based DIY model from Germany. Kweld seems to be the "gold standard" though. There are many Chinese clones out there that are hit or miss. Again these are meant for batteries have no idea if they would work or not on heat shields.

 

[LopezBart]

I'd try a spot welder on stainless or titanium foil. I have the HF 220 volt one and have been pleasantly surprised about what can be spot welded.

 

[Firebrick43]

I recently bought one but the welds are similar in size to a pen point not sure how well that would hold up even if it worked. I wish I had a piece of heat shield lying around I'd try it to see if it worked.

BTW I think the "heavy" pure nickle strips are 0.15-0.20 mm thick.

ETA I had a thread about these spot welders here

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/rebuilding-cordless-battery-packs.524737/#post-10426181

I bought a Malectrics Arduino based DIY model from Germany. Kweld seems to be the "gold standard" though. There are many Chinese clones out there that are hit or miss. Again these are meant for batteries have no idea if they would work or not on heat shields.

Thanks let me process that.

I was thinking if someone had what they thought would be powerful enough to send a piece of it.

I'd try a spot welder on stainless or titanium foil. I have the HF 220 volt one and have been pleasantly surprised about what can be spot welded.

The traditional spot welder doesn’t work as you don’t have access to the other side most of the time.

Most of the videos show a twin pronged electrodes on the same side like a battery cell welder.

One guy had what appeared to be a mug welder with a modified point tip(using no wire) and I may try that but it appears he was just manually timing trigger pull.

 

[Rabid Badger]

Any suggestion on what a decent one would be?

kWeld is the gold standard. It requires assembly, but the quality is as good as it gets.

A big plus for your application is it uses replaceable tellurium copper tips that can be easily customized to suit your needs (sharp, round, blunt, etc). It would also be easy to make a custom negative lead with a clamp.

I recommend running it off of a lipo battery rather than the capacitor setup. It's cheaper, easier and just as effective.

 

[Firebrick43]

kWeld is the gold standard. It requires assembly, but the quality is as good as it gets.

A big plus for your application is it uses replaceable tellurium copper tips that can be easily customized to suit your needs (sharp, round, blunt, etc). It would also be easy to make a custom negative lead with a clamp.

I recommend running it off of a lipo battery rather than the capacitor setup. It's cheaper, easier and just as effective.

Do you have one?

 

[Firebrick43]

This video shows one at the 7:55 mark and he is using it later.

I can’t understand a word he is saying but in the comments he says search “ML for 3000w point welder”. I don’t know what ML is?

 

[Rabid Badger]

Do you have one?

I don't, but I've used one.

I built mine from scratch. It's based on the Malectrics design, but with a few tweaks.



Mine gets the job done, but the kWeld delivers much more consistent results because it makes sure the same amount of energy goes into each weld.

 

[cgrutt]

You may want to look into jewelry spot welders they seem to be more powerful. Still pretty fine point as far as the weld goes though.

 

[Rabid Badger]

This video shows one at the 7:55 mark and he is using it later.

I can’t understand a word he is saying but in the comments he says search “ML for 3000w point welder”. I don’t know what ML is?

I don't know where he got that welder, but I can tell you it isn't a good one. Those leads are made of thick stranded wire, rather than proper welding cable.

As for the 3KW rating, a Malectrics or kWeld running on a good lipo battery can easily exceed 10KW.

 

[Firebrick43]

You may want to look into jewelry spot welders they seem to be more powerful. Still pretty fine point as far as the weld goes though.

I went and looked at jewelry spot welders.

First I had the notion it was for making jewelry but n0000.

People are having permanent jewelry such as bracelets and necklaces welded closed so they cant take it off?
t
I thought the woman with a tag announcing she was the slave of her boyfriend at the last place I worked was odd (much more than odd) and I didn't want to hear it when she tried to tell me. Maybe I would have known about the welding on of jewelry. Of course I probably would have learned a lot that I didn't want to know as well if I had not of stopped her.

They are rated for the most part in Joules. Many of the common brands top out at 30 joules. Expense seems to be more on the optics for the Jewler and features with the stylus stand for the customer than the welder itself.

Its hard to find joule ratings on the battery tab welders but seems several are in the 60 joule range?

 

[cgrutt]

I went and looked at jewelry spot welders.

First I had the notion it was for making jewelry but n0000.

People are having permanent jewelry such as bracelets and necklaces welded closed so they cant take it off?
t
I thought the woman with a ag announcing she was the slave of her boyfriend at the last place I worked was odd (much more than odd) and I didn't want to hear it when she tried to tell me. Maybe I would of known about the welding on of jewelry. Of course I probably would have learned a lot that I didn't want to know as well if I had not of stopped her.

They are rated for the most part in Joules. Many of the common brands top out at 30 joules. Expense seems to be more on the optics for the Jewler and features with the stylus stand for the customer than the welder itself.

Its hard to find joule ratings on the battery tab welders but seems several are in the 60 joule range?

I'm not sure but think a lot depends on battery/power source. The kweld apparently measures output in joules and has a range of 0.1 - 500 0 joules (again I think power supply is limiting factor here). Manual recommends 100 joules for 0.30mm nickle. Can download manual here https://www.keenlab.de/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/kWeld-operation-manual-r3.0.pdf

I think Malectrics is similar in terms of rating but don't think they specify joules. I think kweld can use up to 1000 CCA automobile battery whereas Maletrics can only use up to 800 CCA.

 

[Rabid Badger]

A rating in joules is a good indicator that a welder measures energy input (kWeld) rather than being timer-based (Malectrics).