Re: Welder ballasts vs. other types

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Welder ballasts vs. other types
From: "Edward J. Wingate" <ewing7-at-frontiernet-dot-net> (by way of Terry Fritz <terryf-at-verinet-dot-com>)
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 17:39:34 -0600
Approved: terryf-at-verinet-dot-com

Tesla List wrote:

> Ed, all,
> 
> I know the variacs usually won't work well unless they have a gap cut
> into them.  Did your's have a gap, and did Steve Cole's have a gap?
> I realize some folks use them without gaps.
> 
> I was thinking mostly in terms of other types of ballasts I guess, such
> as straight core types, etc.  What I'm really wondering is just how
> critical the whole ballasting thing is, and is there some special aspect
> to the welder that permits it to run without the resistors.  I agree it
> would be interesting to see more examples of various ballast
> comparisons.
> 
> John Freau

John,

Neither Steve's nor my varaic had gapped cores. I would need at least
two for the current loads I commonly deal with and I could never bring
myself to ruining two perfectly good variacs to get the cores for a
current limiting inductor!  Especially when the common "garden variety"
of A-C arc welders are readily available and inexpensive and do just
exactly what I need them to do.

I have had reports from other coilers who have tried it that slotting
the core of a variac doesn't make it work any better for current
limiting than leaving it unslotted.

Ed Wingate RATCB