If anyone is interested I have a video breaking down this mod step by step. Thanks Merlin for the diagram! I made a slight modification from yours as I added an external rectifier. I believe that will avoid the burnt diode that your alternator experienced.

I dont know if Merlin was a teacher at 1 point in his life if not he'd make 1 helluva teacher! Thanks for the videos you're a cool dude.

Merlin and Jimmy are becoming my favorite Sunday morning duo 😂

I wish you would do one more follow up video here that's focused on how to run your "Welder alternator" like a regular welder again, with the external regulator and how to hook it all up correctly and how it should work, what all the wires do, etc.. That would be a perfect sister video to this one. I really appreciate you teaching this stuff, because most people like to keep these types of things their little secret. cheers.

1 HELL OF A VIDEO AND EVEN BETTER TEACHING ! You've knocked this outta the park, Fella !! Thank You for sharing buddy

Just some things to add to this. There are two flavours of alternator delta and y. Delta are better at producing current You really need a control on your rotor. To control the voltage. Stick weld is not constant voltage but constant current. There is a circuit on line that varies the rotor voltage to keep the output current constant. The other thing is to use reactance on the out put cable. Just the weld cable rapped around a pipe. This will stabilize the arc by building a magnetic field if the arc breaks the magnetic field collapses and the high voltage will re light the arc. Lastly newer alternator diodes are made to blow with more than 40ish volts to protect the ecu in a car. Use an old bosh they are rated for full current and are delta wound. I’ve done this same thing and learned a lot Good luck.

I bet you could go hundreds of how to videos. Thanks Merlin, going through my alternator’s right now.

I worked at an alternator shop 30 years ago and built one for my landcruiser. I used the big case ford off an off a LTD. They hold up better. Bigger heat sink. Worked great!

i did not realize your diagram shows how to not only turn your alternator into a welder, but still use it to charge the vehicle... that was pretty cool =)

Wish my auto shop teacher was as easy to understand as you are. Great video Merlin!

Did this over 30 years ago. Taught myself to weld with the set up. Even repaired and got people out of the woods with it.

Had a buddy that had an Alternator welder run off an old Homelite Chainsaw, worked fine and a lot better than goofing up a vehicle. He used a rheostat too control the Imput too the Alternator rotor though the brushes, this is actually a 40 year old trick.

I was introduced to this method of welder from my mentor at a very young age. He told a Korean war reconnaissance mission for returning a crippled tank. It had suffered a broken axle so he welded it up for it to be loaded on the truck. He also used a pickle crock to boost amperage and a set of jumper cables to finish the task. Thanks for sharing

I am a retired physicist who grew up in Eastern Oregon. My dad, and other WW2/Vietnam Veterans, taught us how to use electricity from the resources available, just as you describe, but in order to survive. My brothers and I were often Stuck, far into the woods, but made it home by understanding the incredible power connected to a piston engine via. generator or alternator, as Our Veterans needed to survive. You explained this PERFECTLY, RESPECT for the ingenuity of neccesitty! Dribbling gas through the valve stem to reinflate our tires was a very bad idea...but it worked 'Just Say'n (Huge Smile)

Always enjoy learning new things, don’t let age stop you from growing, I’m 65 and love learning new things

Great video and great example of how to get it done I put one alternator on my truck for charging the battery and one for welding God bless from GA and stay safe

I sure would like to see a full install video from start to finish.

Very educational video Merlin, I had a conversation with my coworkers about how people were doing trail repairs using their alternator to arc weld with just a couple modifications to their alternator, they just couldn't believe it so now I will share your video with them, then they will finally get it.

With a simple explanation the idea of approaching that myself is doable rather than daunting, thank you.

Legit. Such a good piece of information, and a very good way to get concepts across to your audience. You use a first-person POV (real-time, from Jimmy) to make it happen. So good.

OMG... LOL... Safety at it's finest. Not to mention welding while work piece is clamped to a plastic milk crate. Holding work piece in mid air while my buddy grinds it and shoots sparks into my eyes. Love it

Oh yeah! A bunch of us will be welding on the trail thanks to you!

Amazing. Now let's see how you setup those cheap air conditioner systems in your vehicles you've talked about. Great stuff!

Excellent video as always!! Reminds me of my childhood watching my Dad weld a muffler on his 53 International pickup on the side of the road with jumper cables and a coat hanger. Please keep making videos and pass on your skills and wisdom to future generations. God bless you and yours!

That was a incredible video my father was an electrician and in his old 1966 GMC K 2500 he had an outlet for running AC power tools very similar to what you just showed us minus the welder. Keep up your awesome content absolutely love you channel, Thank You for what you do on You Tube 👍

Over 30 yrs welding and I'm impressed. Thank you sir!

Awesome vid! I remember reading up on this welder set up years ago in 4wheel mags but never did one and have since thrown out 38years of my mag collection. I will be printing off what you gave us to print and utilizing it this time!

I looked at vehicle mounted welder after seeing fabrats had one. Your way appears to be as good a welder but way cheaper, for me cheaper is good as it’s something I’d use but not a lot. Thanks for sharing it Merlin👏👏

Great information. Instructions are spot on. Understood the diagrams all the way. Bring more of these videos.

Great video Merlin!! A lot of us dyi ers love this kind of stuff! Not sure I'll ever use this particular method but it's nice to have in the cupboard for "in case". Thank you for teaching this kind of thing!!!

I found a kit with everything you need to convert an alternator like that about 25 years ago. Never installed it, still out in the garage right now. lol. Super cool device, thanks for reminding me of this!

That was a fantastic lesson and something to have even if you don't go 4 wheeling. Thanks to all of you for sharing this with your subscribers & viewers.

And this is why I'm subscribed to this channel! Thanks Merlin.

What I found funny, was a quick picture of a Palm Tree in the background, One guy is wearing only a TEE-Shirt, the other (Merlin) wearing first a hoodie sweat shirt, than put's on an extra coat. The poor women looks as if she's in Alaska freezing to death. Great video, very informative. Thanks for sharing.

Wow Merlin, that is really cool that a person can convert a normal alternator into a stick welder that actually has some power and works. Your video, explanation of the why's and wherefor's of the process and your diagram will be helpful to a lot of people. I think I'll build one and put it on my van. The look on people's faces when I fire it up and weld something together will be priceless!

Merlin I’ve been actually thinking about getting one of those on board welder setups but was kinda not wanting to spend the money on one quite yet!!! I’m definitely glad that I waited and seen how you do them!!! I’ll definitely be trying to make myself a setup for my 1981 Chevy 1Ton 4x4 that way when one of my buddies breaks down on the trail and is wanting to call a wrecker to have it hauled back to the shop for a repair I will be able to just do it out on the trail!!! Awesome video buddy!!! Hopefully I can figure it all out and get it figured out Wright!!! Lol!!! Well thanks again and remember keep up all the hard work buddy!!!!

That is cool I have welded with 12 volt batteries before but never with a alternator I got to say that is cool. Man you can have a alternator for a welder and turn a A/C compressor into a air compressor you can have a whole service rig running off your engine.

Thank you sir you're a scholar and a gentleman and ignore everything else I say about you you're a good guy I think God bless you

We had a alternator welder in the 80's it worked great.

That was amazing thanks Merlin 👍🏼 that weld came out really nice

Excellent video and description with one flaw. The switch is a double pole, double throw. Not a six pole. Keep up the good work.

My X Father-in-law over 40 Plus year's ago built these to run off your vehicle. Sold thousands of these throughout the United States. Pretty cool concept

MERLIN is the GOD of mechanics and AWESOME tricks..

Very good job. Nice teaching basics and to set up a welder on the rig u go off road in. Stay safe.

EXCELLENT video, Merlin. Fun and educational plus the coolest golf cart on the planet. Thanks for doing this!!!

You are a wealth of knowledge and appreciate your information sharing and teaching. You clearly explain the workings, required changes and execution. 👍🇨🇦

Nice post! In a pinch I've welded with 3 car batteries in series. Simply use 2 sets of just jumper cables. You'll end up with two nice clamps left over. Wire for positive ground, a piece of welding glass and some 6014 sticks. Modulate the power with the angle of the stick. I've successfully repaired motor mounts and idler arms.

I gotta admit .. I was kind of waiting/hoping for an Electroboom moment!!! Pretty cool stuff! Thanks for sharing 🇨🇦

In the immortal words of Mr. Spock; Fascinating. Thanks for the video.

This video alone is worth a million subs man!!! 👊

Just reading some of the other comments. I’m thinking that I would never be in a situation where I need a welder out in the wild. I’m also thinking that the welders Paul and Rory use are just commercial versions of what you taught us about in today’s video. DIY is my normal MO. Thanks for the info.

Its very cool 😎 seeing what is old technology being explained by a great teacher. Pay attention to people with this type of mind bc you will learn much!

That's bloody fantastic fella. Great tutorial, really easy to follow.

Man I wish I was your neighbor. The stuff I could learn from you.

I like to learn something new every weekend. This might be the most useful so far. Thank,you.

That is cool, my dad's work truck had a welding alternater called high frequency. Instead of using high voltage to make heat it used higher wave frequency. Thanks Merlin Central California watching

Thanks again for all of your content Have a Great Day 👍 God Bless You and God Bless America 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🙏

I have done this with a tractor to have a portable welder. I added a second alternator, leaving the first to keep the battery at a full 14 volts. Then I put a big rheostat in series with the welding alternator field to fine tune the heat. Nice thing with a tractor is the engine speed is controlled by a governor, so is more constant. Found a Lincoln weld pak 90 with a bad transformer or diodes, wire feed still worked. Connected it up to the welding alternator and a small inverter to run the feed motor and could do flux core wire welding with 100 percent duty cycle instead of 10 percent for the stock Lincoln. The cheap gun would get hot after a while.

Merlin the Magician comes through again ! Thanks for the tutorial. Outstanding.

He asked about the phases: (I can't draw a sign wave, so I'll just use 'n and u") When you stick a single phase through the rectifier, it turns all of the negative AC pulses into another positive pulse; so then your signal likes like this: From AC= n u n u n u n u To rectified = n n n n n n When you have more phases, it will do the same things, but just at a slightly shifted time frame, and make the signal look like this: Single phase rectified= n n n n n n n n Only two phases rect. = nn nn nn nn nn nn nn nn Three phase rectified = nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn So it's the same things happening, there are just three of them happening slightly ahead of one another in time, which fills in the gaps between each pulse. Giving you a higher resolution of pulses, basically turning it into nearly a smooth DC voltage.. They could even put more phases and it would smooth it out even more, but that costs more money and isn't necessary, because 3 phases already smooths it out quite a bit... Very cool stuff-- I learned a lot here and I'll be building one. Cheers.

Wow, that is an amazing set up, but only the Savvy smart cool guys who actually work with their hands. Very nice thanks

Excellent video. The only thing that threw me a bit is you called a Double Pole Double Throw switch a "six pole". So I was staring at your diagram trying to figure out the other four poles when I realized you are counting all the connections on the switch as a poles.

That makes it much easier for trail repairs instead of having to buy the vehicle welder that Paul uses. Much cheaper too.

I remember about 30+ years ago my father did that to his truck, you plugged the welder in a connector in the grill also had a receptical there to plug in 120.

Nice walk thru, I made one of these for my 87 Suzuki Samurai out of the 60amp Delco 10si. I made one for my buddy out of a Ford top post alternator. Good old "Weldenator."

Awesome job!! Now I have another project!! Thanks a lot!!

Thanks you Merlin for sharing this it will be very helpful for me in the future.Keep the great videos coming!

This is the coolest thing! I wanted to put premier power welders on my jeep and my truck but really didn't want to spend the money... now I'm gonna go do this to all my vehicles, because why not?

Great video and very well done. Thank you so much for taking the time to get the information out.

Fascinating video, I built an external regulator for a friend's car years ago to save him the cost of buying a new alternator (it was a weird one with a vacuum pump on the back of it). The regulator itself is super simple circuit with just 2 transistors and a few other components. Watching your video I realise I could have done so much more with it. I was going to attach a car alternator to a lawnmower engine for charging car and boat batteries but making it into a welder as well would be really useful. Thank you for posting the video, you have given me a few ideas.

Well done Merlin !!

Great teacher, Merlin!

Am I the only one that immediately squints when they see an arc strike even on video..? 🤣

Thanks. I've been looking forward to this since you mentioned it. I'm going to do this to my Ford after Snowbird season.

Merlin, you really are a wizard! Thanks for the lesson!

Thanks Merlin! Awesome video, great for those trail repairs, helpful and complete, full of detail and very understandable, now I just have to get off my but and do mine!

Thanks, Merlin, that's awesome!!!!

Awesome knowledge dump. Thank you Merlin.

This a fantastic idea Merlin I'm going to give this a go I'll print your diagrams off to keep thanks bud.

Gotta give him credit.... he's been at it a while......good job ! 😅

back in the 80's we used the 100 amp Lincoln continental alternators and the big dodge 90 amp alternators to make welders . we also took the air conditioner compressors out of the dodges to make air compressors the old dual head dodge compressors worked great as air compressors and lasted for ever . we also used alternators to make power generator's for wind mill power poles back in the 70's and 80's so If you lived in the woods you could still get 120 volt power . it's an old farmer trick from the 20's and 30's but it still works

My welding instructor in HS has an old international truck, he had 2 altanator one for the truck the other was the welder I think. We all got to try using and he took us out to a farm to weld on some farming implements.

I know you learn something new everyday but dang this is worth more than the things learned in the past week! Thank you for sharing. From my view it looks like you are living the dream.

I have done this for the past 22 years, and the alternators really do stand up to the load amazingly well. My rig was able to supply a steady 240A, while delivering 9KW into the welding electrode, at 100% duty cycle. Today's alternators are OK, but their diode packs are not rated for the higher voltages, so external ones should be fitted, for long term reliability.

Great video. All the need info in a format easily digestible.

Thank you for sharing this. I have heard of it but never saw the schematic. You have done the DIY guys a big favor here. Thank you so much.

I am impressed. Thank you. Your content is more than interesting. It's intriguing.

After seeing this video, I’m thinking about putting a dual alternator setup on my truck. One for charging and one for welding and as a backup for the first alternator. By doing that, I would essentially have a backup alternator if my primary ever went out and I wouldn’t be worried about stressing my primary alternator from welding. I may take it a little further and put a voltage and frequency monitor on it to regulate for grinders and stuff like that. A friend owns a generator shop and we could probably come up with a way to put a generator style voltage regulator in the mix to provide “clean” ac power to charge power tools.

WOW That's amazing Merlin thank you!

I run my own shop on the side. I would love to come learn from you for a week. You are a wealth of knowledge.

You are a smart feller !! Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Good man .

Thanks for the video from Indiana

Sweet Merlon ! Awsome video my man ! I wondered how to do it but now I can , thanks again !

Yes. See the light on above his head already 👍🏻👍🏻

I always thought you could do that, now I'm going to build it. Thank You

Jimmy he one of the guy's forget twins and cook on Black Stone griddle . Awesome 👌

Just like Jimmy said that's the coolest thing I've ever seen . Great video thanks .

Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us old school is the only school!

This was super cool , very handy for sure , I love this kind of stuff . I am now a new subscriber .... Oh , I love that Dually old truck in the background , plus the golf cart was a screamer , thank you .

Thank you for the education and knowledge, Merlin. In this life I try to learn at least one new something everyday, you just took me to school.