I just bought a battery pack welder

[LuxLuthor]

I was looking at various battery pack welders for making my own MadMaxaBeam/Mac type battery packs that use the nickel strips, and most of them are several thousand bucks....with one highly recommended exception...This Sunstone single phase welder is about $1,000 but once their last two are sold, their lowest end model will be $2,200...with some improved features.

I talked to several people who have used this with Li-Ion, LiPo, NiMH, NiCd and say it works great, and with a power booster can make a double spot weld every 1/2 second. I also wanted one of these to be able to weld Li-Ion since you cannot solder them.

Some guys buy lathes.....this just seemed like a fun and useful toy. The Nickel strips work well in packs up to about 30-40 Amp draw. Beyond that soldering works better, which I also have started doing.

If anyone is thinking of getting a relatively low cost battery pack spot welder, they now have one left at this price model.

 

[TigerhawkT3]

:thumbsup: Congratulations, Lux!

Can't wait to see what you churn out with that beast.

 

[LuxLuthor]

Yeah, I wanted one even though I know I will never recoup the cost of it...and also because I want to be able to make Li-Ion packs with secure balancing taps.

I have all the parts to make any of those battery packs like these:

 

[Norm]

Those packs look fantastic Lux, when do you start offering them for sale?
Norm

 

[wptski]

I was looking at various battery pack welders for making my own MadMaxaBeam/Mac type battery packs that use the nickel strips, and most of them are several thousand bucks....with one highly recommended exception...This Sunstone single phase welder is about $1,000 but once their last two are sold, their lowest end model will be $2,200...with some improved features.

I talked to several people who have used this with Li-Ion, LiPo, NiMH, NiCd and say it works great, and with a power booster can make a double spot weld every 1/2 second. I also wanted one of these to be able to weld Li-Ion since you cannot solder them.

Some guys buy lathes.....this just seemed like a fun and useful toy. The Nickel strips work well in packs up to about 30-40 Amp draw. Beyond that soldering works better, which I also have started doing.

If anyone is thinking of getting a relatively low cost battery pack spot welder, they now have one left at this price model.

Can you bore a hole, face, turn or cut threads with that battery pack welder? No comparison to a lathe at all!

 

[Raoul_Duke]

I didn't read it as a direct comparison. Lux wouldn't try to tribore his light with a welder, in the same way you wouldent try to weld a batterypack together with a laith.

I read his post as, Lux has, in part, justified the high expence of this welder to himself because some people go to the extravagance of buying a lathe to mill their own mag's, when they could be milled buy other people here on CPF.

Lux has bought a fairly pricey battery welder, even thought he has adequate soldering gear to do the job, as a nice to have extravagance, as he is keen to use the best materials and tools in his mods, to get the best out, rather than get a company like cheapbatterypacks to do the welds for him.

Nice find lux, but a bit on the pricey side for me though, How about some pics of the packs you've made please, if you get the time.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello LuxLuthor,

I think it is a great investment...

Tom

 

[CM]

Yowsa! Wish I had a spot welder. I didn't realize they cost that much. The only drawback would be that I would probably be swimming up to my ears in battery packs that I would want to assemble with one

 

[jtice]

Ah very nice ! :thumbsup:

So, how long can you get my 2C ROP Mag to run? :naughty:

~John

 

[DM51]

Interesting piece of kit - I'm sure you'll enjoy making extra packs for your hotwires, and designing new ones. You could recoup your investment making custom packs for other CPFers too.

 

[jaybiz32]

Lux,
Let me know when you strart to make soe lights of your own.
Joe

 

[wptski]

I didn't read it as a direct comparison. Lux wouldn't try to tribore his light with a welder, in the same way you wouldent try to weld a batterypack together with a laith.

I read his post as, Lux has, in part, justified the high expence of this welder to himself because some people go to the extravagance of buying a lathe to mill their own mag's, when they could be milled buy other people here on CPF.

Lux has bought a fairly pricey battery welder, even thought he has adequate soldering gear to do the job, as a nice to have extravagance, as he is keen to use the best materials and tools in his mods, to get the best out, rather than get a company like cheapbatterypacks to do the welds for him.

Nice find lux, but a bit on the pricey side for me though, How about some pics of the packs you've made please, if you get the time.

No need to justify the purchase or mention a lathe. If you want to do pro work on flashlight heads, tubes, etc., a lathe would be the tool/machine to have. If you want to be a pro at battery pack building, I say a spot welder is your ticket.

If you've seen some of my posts, you'll know that I purchased some pretty pricey equipment myself, it's my money!

No spot welder but I have a 10" Rockwell/Delta lathe that I purchase it 1972.

 

[Fallingwater]

I need a spot welder too, but I can't possibly spend so much money on one.
I tried using my soldering gun with two sharp thick wires in place of the tip, but it's too low power.

The next project involves using a large capacitor... a few dozen amps blasting through the tab should do the job.
What could possibly go wrong?

 

[matrixshaman]

I need a spot welder too, but I can't possibly spend so much money on one.
I tried using my soldering gun with two sharp thick wires in place of the tip, but it's too low power.

The next project involves using a large capacitor... a few dozen amps blasting through the tab should do the job.
What could possibly go wrong?

Yeah I was thinking along those lines too. Get a couple of huge UltraCaps and as long as you're not in a hurry probably a computer power supply should do the trick. Or just use a 12 volt car battery to charge the caps and keep a charger on the battery. It looks like they are just using 800,000 µfd caps at 4 volts. Of course if you got the Bux like Lux then you go for the lab grade setup

 

[bfg9000]

Wow Lux, way to go!

I was actually rather surprised that someone who clearly appreciates quality as much as you would cheap out on both a multimeter and digital caliper

, and this is more inline with what I expected. It will let you make super-clean OEM looking connections.

Hope you go into business assembling custom battery packs for sale in Custom & Mod B/S/T! May I suggest Li-ion M6-R packs with balancing taps?

 

[scott.cr]

Wow, what a neat tool. I'm anxious to see what you'll offer CPFers in order to recoup your investment plus make a few $ for yourself.

 

[wptski]

I wonder, after welding, do you check the quality/resistance of your work? You'd need a milliohm meter or impedance meter for that! A DMM with REL/Zero would be marginal for that purpose.

 

[LuxLuthor]

Yeah, I was just trying to justify my extravagance on this...comparing it to some of the other expensive tools this hobby has pulled some of us into buying (like a lathe). I thought about getting a lathe, as my dad had one and a lot of other machine tools, and he taught me how to use them growing up. A lathe would be another nice tool likely in the category of spending more than you would recoup for the expense.

I did return that Tripplett DMM after I blew an Amp fuse, and could not find replacements anywhere, and with the generosity of a CPF member, got a Fluke 179 which I'm appreciating more and more over time.

I'm sure I will make some packs including Li-Ion with tabs for members. I just thought I would grab one of these because the lowest priced quality welder will double in price after they sell their last unit.

 

[N162E]

Way Cool!! What type of handpieces/jigs ? do you have to apply the welds? Did the tools come with ithe welder? Pictures please!!

 

[LuxLuthor]

Way Cool!! What type of handpieces/jigs ? do you have to apply the welds? Did the tools come with ithe welder? Pictures please!!

I got a power booster that lets you do welds every 1/2 second, dual probe electrode so it does two spot welds each time, foot trigger pedal. I'll take some pix when I get it in the next couple days.