M.B. Naegle
Diamond
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2011
- Location
- Conroe, TX USA
We have an older Miller hand held resistance spot welder that stopped working. Took it to our local welding supply and they said the transformer was dead and it was an obsolete model so we should just go buy the cheapo Horrible Fright one, which doesn't have as deep of a throat as we need anyway.
So I'm shopping around and could use your input. We don't do really heavy stuff, 1/8" steel total stack is the max we would see. We use it to make small machinery belt guards and such. 16" tongs or thereabouts. I've called a few welding supply companies and it seems that they either don't do resistance welding, or aren't aware of "local" companies that do. One Houston company told me the only one they were aware of was T.J.Snow in TN, but my next google search came up with a company in Dallas, so it's a little confusing. I thought Resistance welding was a little more common.
One other option I'm considering is going the DIY route, but not with a microwave transformer, lol. A foot operated unit would be much more helpful and I've seen where you can buy transformers and other components individually for custom set-ups and we already have a few lighter duty foot presses on hand, so I'm wondering if I could just adapt the tongs to one of those and wire them into a transformer. I know you can buy foot operated units but it seems that the used ones start at a few thousand dollars and go up from there which is a little out of the budget right now.
So, any thoughts? Any reputable brands to look towards? Anyone else professionally build their own? I'd love to stick with Miller, but I've gotten conflicting stories from different shops about if they still make/support the stuff and their website is no help on the topic. We don't see as high of a volume of spot welding as a sheet-metal goods company, but does that really drop us in the front door of HF?
So I'm shopping around and could use your input. We don't do really heavy stuff, 1/8" steel total stack is the max we would see. We use it to make small machinery belt guards and such. 16" tongs or thereabouts. I've called a few welding supply companies and it seems that they either don't do resistance welding, or aren't aware of "local" companies that do. One Houston company told me the only one they were aware of was T.J.Snow in TN, but my next google search came up with a company in Dallas, so it's a little confusing. I thought Resistance welding was a little more common.
One other option I'm considering is going the DIY route, but not with a microwave transformer, lol. A foot operated unit would be much more helpful and I've seen where you can buy transformers and other components individually for custom set-ups and we already have a few lighter duty foot presses on hand, so I'm wondering if I could just adapt the tongs to one of those and wire them into a transformer. I know you can buy foot operated units but it seems that the used ones start at a few thousand dollars and go up from there which is a little out of the budget right now.
So, any thoughts? Any reputable brands to look towards? Anyone else professionally build their own? I'd love to stick with Miller, but I've gotten conflicting stories from different shops about if they still make/support the stuff and their website is no help on the topic. We don't see as high of a volume of spot welding as a sheet-metal goods company, but does that really drop us in the front door of HF?