Reverse the polarity and you'll see how much better it works. This will keep the electrode from attracting to the material you are welding, it will also cause the molten metal to stick to the material instead of splatting all over the place.

Your rods are wet! Stick them in the oven for a couple hours and dry them out, your using too much power/heat and your polarity is backwards. Also welding galvanized will create poisonous fumes

I see a lot of negative comments! That's to bad! As a welder, I can tell you we are a rude breed, and are very critical and prone to judgement! LOL. You should see the comment section of a welder group forum! That being said, I think your experiment was interesting. 1). All fumes are hazardous to inhale, but Galvanized materials put of an exceptionally toxic cloud. 2). As you stated, you aren't familiar with arc welding, so that was one of your big issues. when the flux, (that cattail like coating around the filler metal that makes up a welding rod) gets hot, cracks, and falls off, you have a problem welding, even if you had the finest welder in the county. Try striking the rod like a match when you start, and drag the rod around some, while you establish a good steady arc. Never start by just poking the steel. That will stick every time. 3). I believe you had the right conditions to weld when you had 3 batteries / 36 volt set up. However, I would try reversing your electrode polarity. 4). I know nothing about the risk of the batteries exploding. I would try to find more out about that however, because if it did happen, it doesn't sound like much fun. I hope this was "constructive criticism." I thought it was a cool Video!

I’m only making a comment because in high school ( almost 41 years ago ), in Metal shop high school we had tons of war surplus machinery to use...! It was great...! Milling machines, giant Lathes, DC welders and regular AC welders....! We were taught how we could wet The welding rod reverse the polarity, and use a DC Welder as a cutting device....! And that is exactly what you done here especially with those thick rods.....! I have a old Lincoln and a Miller Stick welder and use them quite often.... When I saw you using car batteries, your cables hooked up incorrect, with your ( too thick welding rods lying on a wet table..! ) , It brought back High school memories of “ good old Mr. Jackson “ teaching us different techniques and Tricks of welding like.... Using a Wet Rod and a Reverse powered DC welder to cut metal with.....!

wow you weld as good as I do.

Try setting the batteries up in series-parallel. That way you get 24v to start a bead and enough amps to keep it going

You need a little help here super genius. The black wire should go to the negative post of the battery and the welding rod "electrode" holder. (not the red) It is DC electronegative welding. The red wire goes to the positive battery post and to the worrk piece. You did not have quite enough amps to get your weld going in the beginning. You could use 2 or 3 batteries in series. Or you could use 2 batteries in parallel. In either case still use the negative to hold the electrode. At the end you were using too much amperage and it melted the work piece. next never weld or heat any galvanized pipe with zinc. The zinc will go into a gas with the heat and poison you. Bad medicine if you like living. Third when you weld don't drag the electrode across the work. Hold it just about the work to allow the arc. Make small circles to get the liquid metal puddle going. Then move the little circles in a line over the area to be welded. Forth the rod you were using was way too big. It is for deep welds at high amps on very thick metal. A 2mm rod will cause a load of 90 to 150 amps. This will be a good load for the batteries and it is less than a car starting. It will be very safe. You should be able to weld for probably 15 minutes according to battery charge and condition.

You should try putting the batteries in pairs parallel and the group the in series so that you are welding with 24 volts but have more amperage. That will help the problem of sticking the rod also you can tig weld with that set up using electrode negative. It is much more controlled that way.

Everyone seems to have a problem with getting batteries to work well. Another problem you might have had was the moisture content of your rods. If they haven't been kept completely sealed they absorb moisture and perform like crap. I remember my dad putting his in the oven to drive off the moisture. Personally I have only occasionally had the use of large dc welders. Mostly I have had little buzz boxes that work like crap. I much prefer mig welding as a result. Enjoyed the video.

I love experimenting. Thanks for doing this for me! Nice video.

I feel your specialty is batteries......not welding? Might want to call your dad and have him bring your welder back!

You know I now have more confidence in trying to weld for my first time ever ! I have a harbor freight 110 stick welder and a garage with a concrete floor.

Gotta love all the tradesmen throwing a hissy like a boss angry with an apprentice. Rinoa doesn't work for you, he can learn to weld at his own pace!

Works ! Just as a spot welder in a pinch . Can improve it with a heat dial from an electric stove top (table top hot plate) negative electrode , minimum 2-12v batteries in series connection . 1/8 or smaller 6010,7018

Thanks on the info on how too make a home made welder! Awesome i see it gets really hot. Thx for ur time

Nice job! I’m not a welder but learned a lot from those who are here. I’m a Gold Prospector, and this has possibilities for high temp kiln to smelt Gold with!

I know this was like a year ago. But people if you have a safety concern simply tell the person. But the computer chair jockeys being a$$ O's will only hinder intelligent people who are generally shy and reserved from sharing their knowledge with the rest of us idiots. Thank you man for your video and saving me the time experimenting. Keep up the good work you're still helping people a year later.

Your sticking is due to the fact that you don't have the last part of the welding rod in the holder. If you look there will be some bare rod with no flux. There is where you put the rod in the rod holder. Not like you see in the old movies.

Great video. I learned from both the video and the comments. I don't have a welder and am just about to give this a try. The tip to replace the end of the battery cable will really help. I am less scared having watched this.

u need to hold the electrode in the negative and earth the metal with the positive I know it's opposite to a welder but given it a try

trying to get the arch just right is difficult and needs some practice .. had the same problem as you wen doing this the first time , took some thick sheet metal and started laying strips of weld , now that i got used to it , it is great. i use it all the time now with three 65 amp batteries in series so 36 volt. works perfect. even made a cart for it .. the only downside is when charging i have to disconnect my link cables on the batteries course i only have an ancient 12v charger. Great video

You suppose to really have the positive in this DC case as the ground,and weld with the negative that's why it keeps sticking and coming out as laggy splattery beads

You should connect a rewounded microwave oven transformer (even a transformer from a really old 110 volt AC buzz box) between a positive terminal and the stinger to stabilize DC current. That way, you can run 6010/7018 rods as smoothly as a brand name AC/DC stick or inverter welder. I didn't know what the hell a choke was, but then I realized that chokes and transformers are the same thing and they both produce alternating current, but for some reason, they can stabilize direct current produced by batteries or bridge rectifiers. Other than that, I would like to use Christmas lights in a series to control current.

when your out in the woods with a couple jeeps and break some shit comes in handy

Great video! I couldn't see the rod type but it kinda looked like 7018, it is a fast freeze rod. Just chip off/scrap off the oxidized tip after the arc has been extinguished. before restarts. Keep up the great videos! looking forward to more!

Thanks for doing this. i wasn't sure if i NEEDED two batteries but this video shows i will need two, maybe 3. GOOD VID!

Super genius, ”screw thingy”. Lol

I had to this this one time at a mill I worked at. I used a 48 volt electric forklift battery. It had an open top so I could tap it at different voltages to control my power. 2 volts per cell so it made controlling the easy. Just remember car batteries (lead acid batteries) vent hydrogen.

Love seeing a plan come together :)

I love the effort mate, Ive always enjoyed working out impossible solutions to technical problems and i have done my fair share of wrong repairs to keep the gears turning. I know there will be alot of criticism to what you are doing, which will mostly be technically correct, and i know you probably will ignore most of it, but i have to try and point out things unnoticed. There were some tricks to last ditch welding that can save you alot of trouble; There is no war between series and parallel, use both, im sure you can figure out how A welding rod is of the same basic nature as a resistor, changes in length change the nature of the welding action, you can take advantage of this Welding is a hot process, ice cold steel assemblies can weld more easily if you take the time to preheat the work, you could have welded well with one battery if you had everything already hot enough (rather hard but you can) Welding is a dry process, moisture will make weak welds Lots of sparks are pretty and should be involved in fireworks, not welding Electrons have more important things to do with their time and enjoy efficiency, their minimum use lends to better welds i cant think of anything else i can tell you that i think you will at least consider, which is good in its own way, have fun and keep up the great videos

I think thats brill...I think if your rods have been a smaller size the results would have been better...but I get the idea....never realized it was possible.... Nice jobs thanks for uploading...keep up the good work. Nick in the UK.

I can smell burning galvanized metal just watching this

Nice Video! I always enjoy your videos, I think(from watching other videos) that you are supposed to use the Negative Terminal as what you're actually welding with(the one with the welding rod) and the Positive Terminal hooked up to the metal of what you're trying to weld. Kind of makes sense, because the electrons are negatively charged and seek the atoms in the positive terminal(since the atoms in the positive terminal are positively charged). If the negative pole is hooked up to the steel, the electrons have to flow through the metal and then into the rod and back out to the positive pole, but if the positive pole is hooked up to the steel, the electrons(flowing from the negative side) will flow through the rod and into the steel, thus concentrating the electrons in a smaller space and creating more heat(a side effect of all the amperage in a concentrated space). :) :) :) Oh! And nice job on the welding!

Seems very useful. Great vid

I love it. its called experience. You learn what TO DO and NOT TO DO. Keep Going! We all could use 15 minutes more experience. Again, Keep Going!

Didn't know you could do this, that's wild thanks bro

Is very good to keep the stick very dry, always !

Do you think if I use my golf cart batteries to weld with it would hurt them much, I wold disconnect the cart from the batteries first, it is a 6 battery x 8V. (48V.+) system but I don't have to use all the batteries if I needed a lower voltage, they are Deep Cycle Lead Acid Battery?

I've welded with my truck battery more times than I can count. Just using jumper cables. Also it's a lot easier to do so with it in a truck running. Works pretty damn easy.

You should use POS for the ground and NEG for the stinger. When DC welding, POS ground is much smoother with less spatter.

we all started off in the beginning and it was a cool experiment i mean freezing cool welding in the cold something i learned was to heat up your welding rods up to 120 f makes it much easier to strike

On your next video show how a plasma cutter can be used with the 48 volt setup. A carbon stick will work best instead of a thick weld stick. Also, keep in mind that the electrons flow out of the negative and back into the positive, so I believe you had the polarity wrong, which is why you were getting so much splatter, and not only for the over voltage. The best combination is the matching of battery CCA, age, Ah, and hooking them up in parallel for increased capacity, and another two in series for 24 volts. Also, use thinner welding rod, and especially warm them up first. Place them in the exhaust pipe with the engine running for a few minutes. The flux will behave better and give you better control. Lastly, never touch the work piece with the rod, always strike at it as if you are striking a match The momentum will prevent the sticking, especially if you you have the positive on the electrode and not on the work piece. Question: were your batteries fully charged before you started? It would have been nice to see the state of charge with a voltmeter reading first. That was great how you increased the voltage for the difference of effect on thin pipe. Great job!

Great video and looks a lot of fun. Your welding is far better than mine was last year. It took me 3 days and 14 rods to weld 3 pieces of 1x1inch box section together. It was only an eighth inch thick. Looking forward to next video. 190.

That is so cool man!

Great video

Not done correctly, but interesting to see all the problems you have when its done wrong. Ended up with at least one good looking weld in the end. Zinc fumes are pretty bad. Overheated some molten zinc in my furnace once. Not recommended.

Thickness of the material and the rods appear to be 7018 which translates to keep them dry additionally a clean work surface will help one maintain and arc using proper arc length.

Nice explanation on how the batteries work together for more volts ! Your welding explanation was off. Good to see your trying to teach people something . And to the comments below he wasn't teaching how to weld , he was teaching how to get enough power to do so in a pinch . He openly admitted that he didn't know how to stick weld. Obviously he isn't a welder by trade but at least he is trying .

That was Excellent!!

An explorer after my own heart. If I don’t burn down the house tonight I’ll be back tomorrow to check out more of your vids. Bravo!

In another video it was recommended that you connect the Negative to the stick and the positive to the body being welded. Why is this? which one is correct? Thanks.

I know you are trying to weld the most economical way possible, and you are on the right track. Remember that it's not voltage you need it's amperes. Using car batteries you will increase both at the same time.. This type of welding is very old and has been used reliably once the learning curve has been successfully overcome. The amount of batteries you are using would be equivalent to the cost of a welder. But Cheers and keep on keep on.

You'll get a cleaner and better weld if you reverse it.. supposed to use negative weld. put the positive to the substrate and hook up the welding rod to the negative.. it works better.

Hi Rinoa, we call stick welding Arc welding this side of the pond, the first electro welding invented. You have done a dam good job of welding with car batteries, being as there is little control with the power for the right gauge of metal. Arc welding like all welding takes practice to master the technique, the last time I had a go at it was in metal work class at school and that's going back a bit LOL. If memory serves me right, we started off striking it on the surface about 45 degrees and then holding it a few mm's cant remember how far, so it Arc's hence arc welding I have never tried any other welding Mig tig etc then most I have done was oxy acetylene welding and that's at school

correct me if i am wrong but wouldn't he get a better weld with less splatter if he grounded the metal using the positive side of the batteries and using the negative side with the stick

May I suggest your next project be getting a large magnifying glass and on a sunny day setting an ant colony to blazes.

Good stuff! If you can replace the jumper cables connecting the batteries together with some short, thick metal bars, you should get quite a bit more power.

Great, first time I know that can cause arc welding with DC current from the cars Battery !

Try switching the leads around and you shouldn't weld on galvanized pipe but looks like you are giving it a good try

2 batteries at 24 volts or so, and just reverse leads on the electrode and work price so the electrode is coming off the negative batter post for DC negative then you’d get a smoother arc instead of the popping mess... ☺️. Cheers!

I can see many errors in this video. However, this is all part of learning! Leave this guy be!!!

How to make a DIY Battery plasma cutter (Without the plasma) Connect 4 batteries and attach a welding rod and enjoy your new cutting tool.

Consider DCEP/electrode positive polarity. Connect the electrode holder to the bare part of the electrode. And consider smaller diameter electrodes. Works great for me…

Nice video - thanks for honesty - on 1.5mm rods you can go 24 volt - maybe rods is wet or damp -☺☺☺

It takes a while to get the hang of striking an arc, then keeping it going at the correct distance so that arc is not too cold that it penetrates poorly or so hot it burns holes in the metal. Eventually you can tell by the sound of the arc. I used to clamp a piece of scrap metal under the ground clamp and strike the arc like striking a match several times on it to heat up the electrode tip - this reduces the electrode sticking when you touch the cold metal you want to weld with the electrode as you strike it. Good luck with practice. I would not weld so close to a SLA battery as I have read of one blowing the top clean off whilst fitted under the bonnet in routine service - I think the cause given was a blocked filter and gasses could not escape. At welding currents you are driving these cells quite hard - do beware!

Thought you used the positive lead as the ground cable, thus the term electro-negative DC arc welding

Some fuuunnnny stuff here LOVE IT ! Quick thoughts::: Use hot/heated VERY DRY rod, 3 batteries(12v) (because they are always LOW/dead '"series" - + - + - + or POS to Neg, POS to Neg etc. ') , no melt if work piece is 1/4 plate or inch stock with negative to ROD like -ROD black neg holding weld rod .... and +work piece

mentioned in one reply. It's shorts weather year round here. I am heading up coast for next hospital.rebuild in Santa Cruz.

ask your grandpa to find you a welder in the trash with a how to weld book

Thanks for sharing. the first pipe was too thin for 36 VDC. and yes it is obvious ure learning to stick weld so it is not that bad of an experiment. also positive DC goes to the weld piece and not to the stick.

his dad should take ALL of his welding equipment!

the Winchester mansion is there. Always wanted to see that. Husrt castle is another on my list of things to see.

Awesome!

That's quite creative! I never thought of using batteries to weld with but hey they have hundreds of cranking amps so why not! You could recharge them with solar panels if you wanted to.

Great fun! I think my little AC welder is the one thing I would never lend anyone. It's there, just at the front of the garage ready to run at a moments notice. You never know when you might need to run a quick bead.

Next time I catch you out here stealing muh damn batteries! Somebody going E.R. by God. With a damn big black eye I'm telling ya!

Cool video thanks. I was wondering if 36 to 48volts would be better. Now I know to stick with 24 volts.

Your Dad Is Going To Be Pissed At You When You Tell Him You Just Blew Up The Farm ! !

Good job trying things out! "Stick" with it - LOL!!!

clean welding surface

Heads up, use 3/32 rod, w/ battery welder, a little hot but not for thicker steel, DC reverse polarity maybe?

I like those welding videos :)

What material is used in the core of welding rod is it just pure iron ?

It really works

you can do it whit eather positive and negative but it is a 70 30 split of where you wil put your heat

Question...the cost of batteries, jumper cables, and alligator clips, and sticks totaled???

Man,you have a lot of snow....In Europe, more exactly ,Romania,we didn't have snow,and neither today,although you may think it's too late :)

you need to use the positive termainal as a ground

What about a parallel circuit? Perhaps with a couple of copper tubes used as cummuter bars?

You'd probably get better results with better connections -- lots of contact resistance with all of those jumper cable clamps. If you had the cables bolted to the batteries, you wouldn't weld the stick to the workpiece as much.

At 4:15. Why grab the electrode on the flux? Isnt that less conductive?

I saw one guy do This using only 24v,but using positive clamped on metal and ground jumper cable attached to vise grips to hold stick..but idk if It matters what way you do it...

Nice try. At least you are honest enough to show us the ups and downs of welding.

REVERSE THE POLARITY!!! YOU GET A CLEANER WELD!!!

"issues you may see me have in this video" hmmm ALOT!!! lol

Awesome

If the stick gets stuck, you must release the stick from the holder immediately and separate the stuck stick with the pliers. Then cut with the pliers the peeled part of the stick.

Use vise grips for grounding and electrode.

Tambah nemen ae cak.. kate marai ngeletno kawat las ta?

The "thingy" is a Allen head bolt, and you used an Allen wrench. I have heard that with battery welding, it is best to connect the piece your are welding to the positive, and the rod to the negative. This deposits the metal onto the piece,