Never saw him do it, but a diesel mechanic friend of mine was always claiming to be able to burn a 3/32" 7018 from an alternator mounted on the engine with the car running.
They do make a "welder" that you can have under your truck hood. It runs off a high output alternator an a couple other things if I remember correctly. The 4x4 and rock crawler guys usually got em if they do some of the really extreme off-road stuff.
Its always good to have a reliable Ford to repair the others who seem to be broke down in the way aint it? Those onboard welders work very well, but your truck has to still run to use them so a GM is usually out.They even make a 24 volt wirefeed that will weld for about 1/2 hour with two small car batteries. I tried one but they arnt good for much, dont usually have too work on lawn mower decks.
Powerline, Lestec and a few other alternator companies make or made welding capable alternators. To get CC output they used a different regulator. While it may be an interesting project to cobble together a machine like theirs, from My point of view, an old 330 A/BP that can often be had for $300 makes more sense. Contrary to what the article states, alternators ARE NOT rated at 100% duty cycle. The rating You see is a room temperature rating, output falls off quite a bit when they heat up, and they do get hot.
I remember a portable machine they sold at the local welding suply shop that had a modified automotive type alternator couppled to a "lawnmower" engine. It was a 130 amp machine.
I have on of those under the hood welders for my 95 jeep wrangler but never installed it. Brand new never used. Got it from a wealthy uncle who rock climbs. I always wondered how well they work.
I have seen advertisement for them and talked to reps, but I don't have any first hand experience with them. A friend mentioned that He had a device that put full battery voltage to the field on a pickup truck alternator while isolating the output from the vehicle, the idea being that You could run power tools with it. He said He made an emergency repair weld with it. My Dad had a similar unit, it fryed the alternator on the first and only try. Bear in mind these used the stock alternator, not one designed for abuse.
mine actually came with a h.o. alt. and will reportably weld 1/4"
Well they make some pretty high output alternators now to support the booming at stoplight vibrating the trunk lid with your music clubs. Interesting read though.
Keep in mind that the belt drive for the 150 amp unit needs to be able to transmit 10 HP for full output and the 200 amp unit will pull about 14 HP. This is a lot, and will require a deticated drive, not one that goes around 3 pulleys like a normal old type auto alternator. You might get away with a direct alternator replacement with a serpentene belt, but that is a whole lot more load than it was designed for.
Lestek & Hehr Powerline both made similar units, If I remember, both companies were in Ft Worth Tx.
Hi everybody, I've seen an old Jeep with a lincoln mounted in it set up for military I believe and it was run off the power take off unit of trans.
Very interresting don't know what ever happen to the owner.
Forum
