Or maybe just a bigger screw? It would be easier to give @jlw advice on this if we could see the damage.
(Spot welding works best if at least one of the metal pieces is very thin, but in that case there are probably safer solutions.)
I recently gave a microwave transformer to a kid in the neighborhood who wanted one to build a Tesla coil. I don’t know if he’s succeeded yet, and don’t want to ask in case he’s managed to kill himself in the meantime.
Probably it was irresponsible of me, but I think of it as paying it forward. When I was a kid a guy in the neighborhood gave us some fulminate of mercury for our experiments in combustion.
Are used welders a good idea? What should I look for? I figure I could get a quality one for same price as a cheap new one. And cheap new ones are a bit more money in Canada.
I bought all of my three welders new. But in Ireland there are very few second hand welders available and in any case, second hand tools are weirdly expensive here.
So if there are welders on the second hand market where you are, I’d say go for it.
In my experience, they don’t really wear out but one thing to watch for is duty cycle. The duty cycle is an indication of how much welding you can do before a thermal cut-out shuts down the machine to allow it to cool. You should be able to find out online what the duty cycle is for a given machine. Generally, the better the machine, the longer the duty cycle. If the welder has electrical problems, the duty cycle might get shorter.
If you aren’t a trusting person, you might want to ask the seller if you can try out the welder. Then go at it for 10 minutes and see if you can get the thermal cut-out to kick in.
Arc welders don’t really have any moving parts. And TIGs don’t either except for a solenoid to control gas flow. MIG welders are comparatively complex. They have a speed controlled motor to feed the wire and a solenoid to control the gas and both the wire and gas are fed to the torch.
Regardless of the type of welder, check the condition of the ground cable and clamp. A bad earth will cause bad welds but is easily fixed.
I think tools are becoming cheaper and cheaper such that holders of used tools originally paid way more. As such they think they can ask more. Sometimes the quality is better; other times the tool is quality but obsolete.
If you ever do get into it, keep some vitamin E (liquid) capsules on the side. Get burned? Stick a pin in one end of a capsule and squirt the liquid on to the wound. The pain goes away almost immediately. A welder at work taught me that… after I touched a part that was still hot.
With one being in ready to use capsules, and the other being stinky and needing to be freshly cut, I’d think that “effectiveness” may do battle with on-the-spot convenience.
