WW2 Aircraft Generator Welder

[Farmall 1066]

Bought this for no reason other than it's cool, for $16 at local consignment auction.
Post WW2, Burdens Surplus Center, forerunner of today's Surplus Center, in Lincoln, NE, assembled and sold these.

Not sure if I'll hook it up to an engine, or try to set up a jackshaft and run with tractor PTO.

Got a decent Lincoln engine drive welder, but thought this was too cool to pass up.
Anybody ever weld with one? Rated to 200A, DC, so should weld nice.

 

[Provincial]

If I remember correctly, there is an electrical item referred to as an "arc controller" that needs to be wired into the exciter circuit to stabilize the arc. Otherwise the output varies too much to get a good weld.

Lots of these were used on WWII aircraft, but I think also on many ground applications that had the same drive pad/spline off their engine. 200 amps was common, but I remember seeing up to 400 amp units. Many manufacturers, including Bendix-Eclipse, Jack & Heinz, and others. Basic brush/DC design, only bigger!

 

[Farmer J.]

I had never heard of these before, thanks for posting it. Seems a great fun idea for a portable engine driven welder!
I have only ever welded using AC, but a friend of mine says DC is much smoother.
I 'googled' it to find out more and this website came up
http://www.api-assembled.com/design/tech/welder/welder.htm
they say to even the current flow with an inductor, made of 15 turns of insulated 8 gauge wire tightly wrapped around a 1 1/2" steel pipe, which would seem to me to function as the required 'arc controller' as mentioned by Provincial, and allow a smoother weld.
Please let us know what fun you have with it. Driving it from a Farmall PTO shaft would seem appropriate..