Compliant connection for welding???

[831]

I'm a motocrosser and as such a member of a MX related forum. This was recently posted in a discussion about welding gear:

 

[wireguru]

what the.......

is he welding with line voltage, with the bucket of ? acting as a current limiting ballast? I also like the melted white conductor on the romex feeding that disconnect switch.....

 

[zbang]

The (hopefully) salted water will act as a ballast resistor. Back in the really early days of electrical theater lighting, the dimmers were large jars of salt water with movable plates. Not nice to work with, I'm told. I love the greenish wire coming out of the bucket; looks like it gets the line side of the disconnect. Nice welding gloves, too.

 

[infinity]

I'm not welder but after looking at some of those joints I wouldn't be riding on that thing. I don't know what's worse, the welding process or the final product.

 

[ItsHot]

DooOOH!

DooOOH!

How do you increase the amperage? Dip water out of the trash can!!

 

[iwire]

I'm not welder but after looking at some of those joints I wouldn't be riding on that

Good call.

Lots of sparks and smoke but little penetration, it looks to me like all he has there is a pile of melted electrode on top of the base metal. Kind of like just dripping melted solder over a wire instead of getting the wire hot enough to melt the solder.

I would not call myself a welder but I can weld pretty well, Arc, MIG, TIG or gas. I bought my first welder at about 15 years old.....yes I know I was a weird kid.

I would be setting an arc welder in the 80 to 100 amp range for that metal, I doubt he is getting a steady 80 amps out of that circuit.

 

[mxslick]

Let's see how much stupidity can be found...

Let's see how much stupidity can be found...

..in this little gem.

• Melted romex at disconnect;
• looks like one side of "welder" connected to grounding conductor;
• Nice bucket full of who knows what chemical;
• Our intrepid welder wearing tennis shoes;
• shorts;
• no gloves;
• on bare concrete;
• holding welding electrode connected to line side(?) of 120 or 240 volts..

This guy takes the Darwin Award for 2007 AND 2008!!!

And as Bob pointed out, that crappy weld wouldn't hold up anything..I sure wouldn't ride any bike this yahoo has worked on!!

Hey 831, motocrosser here too! Just got a 2000 YZ 250 a few months ago...I'll try to link up a pic...here it is.. View attachment 1027

 

[HighWirey]

"How do you increase the amperage? Dip water out of the trash can!!"

Very funny . . .

Why is he even wearing a hood? Just has to close his left eye.
Least he is using an A/C rod to generate those globs.

Merry Christmas Everyone, and Best Wishes

 

[831]

Hey 831, motocrosser here too! Just got a 2000 YZ 250 a few months ago...I'll try to link up a pic...here it is.. View attachment 1027

I'm one of them freaky 4-stroke guys:

450:

250F:

Big fat baby:

 

[ItsHot]

good lookin' baby

good lookin' baby

Beautiful child !! You will be buying a PW-50 also! (pre-mix 4 ever!)

 

[831]

Beautiful child !! You will be buying a PW-50 also! (pre-mix 4 ever!)

He's got (3) older brothers that ride and I'm certain that with his severe case of "big brother syndrome" (having to do everything they do and more) he'll ride even sooner than they did.

Basically I start 'em on 4-strokes (CRF50) and then have to put up w/ 2-smokers thru a couple of steps (KTM ProSenior 50, KX65 & maybe CR85) then back to 4-strokes w/ the advent of the CRF150R. I'm the wrench so what do they care so long as it runs right??? Just went thru some top end internal basics w/ one of them last week. Was amazed at how the kid took to it. He actually came back to me (on his own) a couple of days later furthering the discussion. :grin:

 

[mxslick]

Wow..nice bikes...

Wow..nice bikes...

Hey 831, those are some nice clean bikes!! Great job. What's that funny white stuff on the ground behind the 450, lol? Haven't seen that in years, personally. I did have one race here in the high desert of So Cal where it did snow during the event! (Back in 1992)

Sounds like you've got a full stable of bikes and riders..and the newest one looks like a future champ!! Congrats!!

I'm just getting back into riding and racing after a 14-year layoff (just never had time/money to get another bike) and I'm sticking with the 2-stroke for now, I'm more comfortable with it (and it was all I can afford right now.) I'm gonna try a 4-stroke after I get my rusty skills back up to speed....hopefully my body will cooperate..it hasn't so far (I was hospitalized with clots in my leg and both lungs shortly after my first ride back.)

Back to on topic, I am still amazed that someone would be dumb enough to use that set-up. I have heard of set-up using a car battery and some sort of ballast resistor, which would certainly be a lot safer!!

I'll stick to my MIG welder, thanks. It works great, is safe, and all I need to do is get back into practice with it.


Oh, and for those who noticed the name of my photo link, I hope it doesn't offend anyone..it is the bike's official name since it's a model year 2000. :grin:

 

[wireman71]

That's some funny stuff!!! Holy smokes that takes the cake for being a moron! Darwin award material for sure.