Arc welding is probably the most easily and readily available welding process on the face of the earth.
Just about anyone can get access to an one of these machines. Also called stick welding, and the technical name for this welding process is manual metal arc welding or MMAW for short.
But don’t go around town saying that you can do or are doing MMAW welding or that you are doing manual metal arc welding. People will look at you and think you are a few beers short of a six pack.
It is just called arc welding or stick welding.
One of the main reasons why arc welding and stick welding is so readily available in any county is the simplicity of the arc welding process and machine.
Essentially an arc welder is just a big electrical transformer. Its job is to transform electricity. What does it transform it into you ask? Well the transformer in an arc welder will transform the power coming into the welder, i.e. from the power point at 110v, 220 or 240v or 415v etc into a more stable and controlled power supply that is usable for welding.
As hard as it is to believe, when you are arc welding the actual voltage at the welding arc is only very small, around about 20 volts give or take up or down a few.
So the transformer transforms the power from say 240volts down to about 20volts and in doing this it will allow there to be a usable welding arc.
Most arc welding and stick welding machines are DC, which is direct current. The electricity comes in from the power lead that is plugged into the wall socket at say 240v AC, and the transformer does its bit and steps the voltage down and rectifies the circuit so that it is now a DC source, ideal for welding.
You know that you can grab two 12 volt car batteries and hook them together to make 24 volts, and like this you can weld with them. Yeah true. Car batteries have very large current drawing capabilities, which is exactly what you need for welding. And see how the two batteries will equal 24volts, this is good enough to arc weld with.
Many people who go four wheel driving and long distance bush driving in Australia will usually have two batteries in their four wheel drives (SUV). So all you have to do is throw in a pack of general purpose electrodes either E6013 or E6012 of a small diameter (try 2.0mm) and you can arc weld out in the middle of the dessert if you needed to.
Any smart traveler will have a set of jumper leads in the back of the vehicle. So all you have to do is join the two batteries together using some existing wiring from the vehicle. This is done by joining the positive terminal of one battery to the negative terminal of the other battery.
Then simply clamp the jumper leads to the now larger 24volt battery, and you have a quick and simple arc welding machine that you can use to make roadside repairs in the middle of nowhere.
Cool…
Arc welding can be easy to learn if you do it the right way the first time.